Hear me out...Some good news just can't wait

I like to take a break from the column during the postseasons for the fall, winter and spring high school sports but on special occasions like what happened this week, a column is needed.

For most of us, whether you’re a Republican, Democrat or politically agnostic, those running the show in Washington, D.C. are frustrating and annoying. But in our current climate with Trump running the show and Pelosi and her sniveling band of Democrats, that frustration and annoyance has gone to a new level. It’s a bit depressing to watch people you assumed were adults when you voted for them, act like middle school cliques. Pushing that depressing aspect of D.C. aside, every now and then, fantastic and glorious news arises from that historical swamp city. And Monday morning such a moment took place as the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that the legality of sports gambling was up for each of the 50 states across this glorious nation to decide. Meaning sports gambling is finally legal from coast to coast and not just in Las Vegas.

Former Republican governor Chris Christie deserves a lot of credit for this because he initially pushed for this. In fact, Murphy vs. the NCAA was originally Christie vs. the NCAA. It just goes to show you can have an atrocious political career and have it all redeemed by one win, and Monday was that win for Christie. In terms of politicians who’ve had their careers redeemed by a massive win, I’d give the nod to Christie for leapfrogging Jimmy Carter. (Carter’s presidential term was uneventful until the movie Argo. I know Ben Affleck took plenty of artistic liberties with that story but it was still a damn good movie. Plus his philanthropic work is truly amazing.)

Back to the matter at hand.

Sports gambling is legal and I couldn’t be happier. The world seems much brighter now and full of endless possibilities. No longer do I, or others, have to scream out to the heavens and complain about the only way to lay money on America’s team, the Jacksonville Jaguars, is either going to Vegas or taking your chances on shady offshore online sportsbooks. Gone are the days of having a state-sponsored lottery, which for the record is gambling at its dumbest form, but taking the over in the Rockies game is forbidden.

I understand there will be things to iron out, having this industry turn into the wild, wild West would be a disaster. Rules and regulations are necessary and that’s why Utah senator Orrin Hatch is planning on introducing a bill here soon to address those concerns for each state to say yay or nay. One area of interest about this bill is the influence of the various sports leagues.

NBA commish Adam Silver has floated a 1 percent “integrity fee” which on initial thought seems reasonable but when you listen to people much smarter than me, it’s absurd. Basically, the NBA is getting too greedy and that 1 percent would be passed on to the gamblers creating lower payouts and driving people right back to those shady offshore sites or underground bookies.

Silver’s integrity fee received enough blowback from the gaming industry that he and his suits had to rebrand it to the “royalty fee.” A royalty/integrity fee is fine but within reason and may have a suggested .25 percent fee which is more than enough, and the cost won’t ruin the sportsbooks or gamblers.

There are going to be many exciting things to watch when Hatch’s bill goes through, like which states plan on legalizing it, how much value it’s going to add to franchises like Mark Cuban was talking about and how it’s going to change sports media. (Finally SVP and Al Michaels are free to speak about the spreads, over/unders and future bets without tiptoeing around it anymore)

But the most intriguing thing to keep an eye on is the NCAA. They were leading the charge against this as their allies like the NFL and MLB switched sides (Because so much MONEY!!) and now they’re looking at their very existence being threatened because they don’t pay their workforce.

Before it was easy to sign those billion dollar TV contracts, apparel deals and make a profit off the players likeness. Now that gambling is going to become legal the game is going to change. Look how easy it was for those shoe companies to direct the top basketball players toward the blue-blood programs. With sportsbooks open for legal business, pointshaving is a real concern and players pulling a Pete Rose is well within reason.

I don’t expect the NCAA to just lay down and take this loss, they have something crafty up their sleeves. I wouldn’t be surprised if they made a deal with Hatch or other lawmakers to take college sports off the books or ask the NFL and NBA to help them out.

All of it is going to be engaging to watch and I plan on following every step of the way, as well as seeing what our great state of Wyoming plans to do with sports gambling being legal. So stay tuned.