BenFred's Quick Hits: What's with Molina, McCann and the rumor mill? A Redbird pitcher for a Red Sox fielder? Why can't SLU and Mizzou get it together?
This Sept. 5, 2019 photo shows a gambler making a sports bet at Bally's casino in Atlantic City N.J. Participants in a national sports betting conference on Dec. 1, 2020, agreed that huge holes in state budgets due to the coronavirus outbreak, and the demonstrated eagerness of fans to bet on sports are likely to spur a further expansion of sports betting and online casino gambling in the U.S. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry)
Wayne Parry
QUESTION: Do you have concerns about Major League Baseball and sports betting joining forces, as evidenced by the Bally's Sports rebranding of Fox Sports Midwest? If so, what are they?
BENFRED: The primary fear for me is that gambling creeps into the game, and there are countless examples in all sports of that happening in the past.
The integrity of the sport gets hurt every time it happens.
I do think when you embrace gambling as a league you chip away at that wall, whether that is the intent or not. It gets that much harder to insist those involved in the game don't partake.
That's my biggest concern, not the what-do-we-tell-the-kids stuff.
Using that argument, parents and kids watching a baseball game together would have to address a whole lot of things other than sports gambling that we don't view the same way: erectile dysfunction commercials, beer commercials, players using chewing tobacco, noted cheaters being celebrated whether they used steroids or used electronic sign stealing, and plenty of other things that present complicated conversations.
Parents either explain it, or ignore it.
And that's if they can get Little Johnny to get off his iPad and watch the game.
The post BenFred's Quick Hits: What's with Molina, McCann and the rumor mill? A Redbird pitcher for a Red Sox fielder? Why can't SLU and Mizzou get it together? appeared first on Globe-Democrat.com.