The Only Honest Sport in America
Horse racing has its share of problems, but it’s not a complete sham like the NBA, college football, and many other mainstream sports.
Take a look at referee Tim Donaghy, who made thousands of dollars betting NBA games and alledged that league officials intentionally influenced the outcome of games. He not only made money on games he officiated, but on games he wasn’t involved in because he knew how they’d be “called.” By “called” he meant how a referee’s grudge against certain players would influence foul calls.
Donaghy (and the mob) profited as referees waged secret vendettas against players and teams. He correctly won a phenomenal 75-80% of the time against the spread in games in which he wasn’t involved.
The real bombshell from Donaghy is that league officials influenced playoff games by instructing referees to favor marquee, big market teams over smaller market teams (e.g., Kings vs. Lakers in 2002 playoffs). When teams took commanding leads (say 3-0), referees also took steps to make playoff series last six or seven games.
If players were involved in fixing games, there’d be a federal investigation. But instead of players betting a few thousand bucks, the league apparently manipulated the outcome of games to make millions.
Donaghy’s accusations strike at the heart of the NBA’s credibility and call into question how fairly other sports are officiated as well.
This may explain why professional leagues are run like Stalinist dictatorships in which owners, players, and coaches are punished for criticizing officials. It makes you wonder if a “racing Czar” is really such a great idea for horse racing.
Would you want this person to run horse racing?
College football is another sham. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) system favors major conferences (e.g., SEC, Big 12, PAC-10, etc.) over smaller conferences for the national title, and more importantly, millions of dollars in TV and sponsorship revenue.
This year, five teams went undefeated: Alabama, Texas, Cincinnatti, TCU, and Boise State. To no one’s surprise, Alabama (SEC) and Texas (Big 12) are in the BCS title game while TCU (non-BCS Mountain West Conference) and Boise State (non-BCS Western Athletic Conference) play each other in a glorified exhibition? This is particularly egregious for a TCU team that dominated their competition all year.
After it’s all said and done, horse racing could be the only honest sport in America.
There’s no pretense that gambling is woven into the very fabric of horse racing. There’s honesty in the fact that wagering is ever present and financially undergirds the entire sport.
Racing isn’t perfect, but its dirty laundry is out for all to see: lenient medication rules and lax enforcement; outdated tote infrastructure; and industry infighting and chaos. These issues hinder the sport’s credibility as proven in the latest NTRA poll.
During this period of relative mainstream anonymity racing should enact reforms to shore up the sport’s credibility. This will pay dividends down the road and position racing for a resurgence.
Blogger Amateurcapper provided a link to some rules of the Japanese Racing Association. Judging by the 100,000 people at the Japan Cup, they must be doing something right. Shouldn’t US racing aspire to similar standards of integrity?
Some JRA measures may be over-the-top, but at least integrity is taken seriously. And if you expect the public to collectively wager billions of dollars, gaining and maintaining public trust is vital.
Given the sullied sports landscape, horse racing has a chance to become the only honest sport in America. Now wouldn’t that be ironic.
08 December 2009, 2:26 am
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08 December 2009, 10:37 am
An interesting post.
I realize you have linked to several sources so I’ll have to come back and read those too before commenting.
As for the need for a nationally empowered czar in horse racing. I think we do, considering we’re not making much progress at all at the state levels.
Why not a racing czar.
It can’t get any worse than it is, can it ?
08 December 2009, 4:54 pm
TKS,
I’m not in favor of a racing czar. I realize chaos and disorganization cause many of racing’s problems and the NFL provides a great example of what happens when a sport unites under strong, visionary leadership.
But league commisioners tend to be shills for owner’s (“the few”) rather than caretakers for the greater good of their respective sports (“the many”). David Stern made the NBA a fairly popular and profitable sport. But it’s always been closer to professional wrestling than a legitimate sport. The same can be said for NASCAR. Both leagues stress entertainment over sport.
Bud Selig’s tenure as MLB commish is tainted by the steroid scandal. Many blame the players union but league office knew somehting was amiss and did nothing because HRs were good for the bottom-line.
So while a “racing czar” might clean up the sport somewhat (and get trains running on time); at what cost? What freedoms that we take for granted will be limited to benefit the few at the expense of the many. How does that saying go? “Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutley.”
As you can tell, I’m a staunch (small “d”) democrat.
09 December 2009, 3:51 am
Thanks for the reference.
I agree, the czar angle is a scary way to go but how can anyone argue with the commercial success of the NBA, NASCAR, NFL, and MLB with their commissioner style hierarchy?
Have the industry heads (breeding, race track owners, jockey’s guild, owner and trainer organizations) elect one representative to sit on the Board of Directors and have the industry elect the commissioner. The BOD is the check and balance so the commish won’t get too powerful, but the commish carries serious weight in the voting process.
Draft a constitution like the JRA appears to have in place and horse racing is right back where it needs to be, at the top of the sports landscape!
Good read!
09 December 2009, 10:28 pm
Yes I agree with AmateurCapper. The term “czar” sounds like too much of a power trip of a term. A commissioner sounds like a reasonable thing. I think everyone uses “czar” because Andy Beyer used it in his books.
But I did read these scandalous articles that are linked here.
I’ve come away feeling that there is more to this ref-NBA battle than is currently known. Until then I’m giving commissioner Stern the benefit of the doubt.
I lost interest in NBA after Pat Riley left for the Miami Heat,
so I can’t say that I’ve been following the recent doings but I’ve always been intrigued by the home team advantage over the years. That’s one of the most remarkable things in all of sports I believe.
Anyway please check your e-mail box.
10 December 2009, 12:52 am
AmatuerCapper, TKS,
I can’t disagree w/ either of you that strong leadership is needed. The current structure (or lack thereof) isn’t working and a national racing commission w/ an elected commissioner might work.
But that requires industry power brokers to relinquish control and for tracks, racing associations, state regulatory commissions, owners, breeders, horsemen to all cooperate.
All tall order, but not completely impossible.
As always, thanks for the comments.
11 December 2009, 11:42 pm
Well I’m all for power brokers to relinquish control. But they’ll try mightily to hang on to their salaries paid for by the horse racing customer.
As requested I’ve created a poll and placed it at several precincts. I’m very surprised at the lopsided-ness of this one. But it’s still very early on this question.
12 December 2009, 2:35 pm
Organized Thoroughbred Horse Racing has been around for over a century in the country and has survived without a “czar”. It’s also not the first time this “leadership plan” has been suggested or even tested. Horse racing was the biggest sport in the country (and the world for that matter) from the early 1900′s up untill the early 70′s with exceptions inbetween where Boxing and Baseball began to take over.
While appointing a “Czar” could bring about tremendous publicity and open powerful new avenues for Horse Racing I don’t think it will solve the problem. I firmly beleive one of the best ways to re-establish racing as a major sport in America is to create ways to keep our champions and big-name horses running for longer periods and keep them in the limelight. We need continuity! Storylines to follow for more than just 3/4 of the year.
I agree that strong leadership is needed, but I think it needs to come in the form of exceptional marketing/advertising skills. We need a good “face” for Thoroughbred Horse Racing.
13 December 2009, 4:28 pm
Thanks Brian, you make some excellent points. The best way to improve racing’s appeal is to improve the product. This means lowering takeout, better customer service, improving equine & jockey safety, and funding thoroughbred retirement. And as you suggested, getting the best handicap horses to have longer racing careers is critical.
I’m torn on the commissioner idea. Centrally managed leagues usually favor the “few” over the “many.” But then again, you could argue that’s already happening w/ hidden agreements and backdoor deals among industry power-brokers that protect their interests at the expense of the sport and its customers. A league commish may be held publicly accountable instead of a collection of fiefdoms all blaming one another.
TKS, thanks for doing the poll. The results are not surprising given the level of general unhappiness w/ the status quo. But you’re right; I don’t think those in control will cede power unless forced.
16 December 2009, 12:48 pm
Steve wrote:
But you’re right;
I don’t think those in control will cede power unless forced.
_________
Either forced by The Feds or forced into playing their last hand. I’d wager on the former. The horse racing industry is just too enormous to let the infighting between factions at the state level cause its demise.
Something is going to give in a few years. It just has to. Just take a look at the current members of Tracknet (Churchill and Magna together) in a dispute with the mid-atlantic cooperative. As a result, people like me have not wagered on Churchill Downs autmumn meet or Fair Grounds meets thus far. These kinds of disputes are way too many in horse racing and another one is always right around the corner. But I think Horse Racing needs to suffer from “The Great Depression” first.
If it does, I’m sure Congress would step in and right the ship, I don’t think that would be a bad thing because it can’t get any worse than its current plight which is the direct result of horse racing being ruled at the state level.