Now we鈥檙e learning that a whole smuck-load of聽 professional tennis matches have been fixed.聽
Somehow that doesn鈥檛 surprise me since the games involve singular participants. The bad guys will find it much easier to rig a tennis match than, let鈥檚 say, a soccer game.聽
Oh, I forgot, the jig was up for soccer, especially the second-division teams years ago, it turns out. Not only were the players participating in the fixes, so were the referees.聽
There is nothing like a pre-determined outcome to enhance the sporting elite fraternity.
Of course old Sepp Blather, or whatever his name is, surrounded the world of football (soccer) with shame and ridicule as more and more evidence revealed that FIFA, the association that includes more countries than the United Nations, was as phony as a Justin Bieber apology. Of course Sepp deflected the investigators鈥� findings, even as his henchmen were being arrested for fraud and other fine things. He stated he was going to step down from the 鈥減residency of everything,鈥� as he described his position, but then determined later on that he would step down at a time of his own choosing and that wasn鈥檛 going to be any time soon. So Sepp, the Step Down, lives on.聽
How long will it be before illegal game fixing is uncovered in North American football? How about a return to fixed games in baseball as they were in the early 1900s when that grand game, played professionally, was just nicely underway.聽
Will the NHL have to step up investigation into malfeasance as more and more desperate gamblers take to the ticket windows to cover the spread?
Boxing went down the tubes decades ago, again, it was easy prey since it was a singular participation sport. Compromise one guy, and you have a fixed event.聽
Golf was going down that path too I learned.聽
Have you ever wondered why today鈥檚 professional golfers are required to hole out the last shot on every hole? No gimmie鈥檚 allowed, even for the two-inch putt. There is a reason for that, and it was a desire to keep the game鈥檚 protocol unsullied.聽
You see, in the earlier days of the PGA tour, the final pairing or threesomes would often conspire with genial fairway whispers that they would fix the outcome and then split the first and second pot of money equally, so it would not matter who actually won. Sometimes it included a third or fourth participant, depending on the needs and the closeness of the competitors heading into the back nine or last three holes.聽
A missed four-foot putt, and surprise, surprise, no need for an extra playoff hole or, another tie-breaking round of golf.聽
The pre-planned finishes were uncovered and prize money sharing was prohibited and to ensure there were no opportunities for 鈥済immies鈥� to influence outcomes, every golfer was required to complete every hole. The game was saved, at least I would like to believe it was. I haven鈥檛 seen any real evidence of rigged golf matches yet, at least in tournaments that actually mattered. But those guys, even the poor ones, are rich. But when the big guns are being allowed to accept 鈥渁ppearance fees鈥� at some special tournaments, that鈥檚 a slippery slope me thinks.聽
Why put up a big effort to win the tourney if the host is already paying you $500,000 just to be there?聽
Now the ATP (the tennis governing body) is spinning out the usual political verbiage such as 鈥渋mperative, review, education, determination.鈥� These words sound great, but mean nothing. And we begin to wonder if there is now another sport that isn鈥檛 worth our attention.聽
