This guy, whose net worth is over $500m, has a huge following among young sports-minded men. He has won over $2m picking the winner of the last two professional golf events. You can take this to the bank—his recent, short-term luck will translate into hundreds of millions more lost by sports gambling addicts.
The steady expansion of legalized college and pro sports gambling coupled with the free flow of “Name Image and Likeness” money in big-time college sports is rapidly changing the sports landscape.
Reporting on these trends continually refers to all of the “unintended consequences” of the changes. Which is laughable. Most, if not all, were entirely predictable. . . a marked increase in the number of people addicted to sports gambling now that it’s damn near “frictionless”, the mind-numbing non-stop use of instant replay leading to interminably long games, players being compromised by gambling interests, coaches being threatened by “monied interests”, college players steadily switching teams annually to maximize their “NIL” opportunities, etc.
It’s unlikely that this toothpaste will ever be put back in the tube so what’s a lifelong sports fan like me to do? Be more selective and watch even less? Follow poorer nichey sports more closely whether women’s golf, cycling, triathlon, or track and field? Or stop watching altogether and use the saved time to talk a walk, hit golf balls, swim across that lake, anything that doesn’t require video replay and gets the heart rate up.
Pressing Pause 