Brendan Sorsby gambled on his own team, yet the NCAA is somehow the bad guy in this case
After three hours of arguments inside a Lubbock District Court Monday, Brendan Sorsby's fate will likely be decided this week by retired Judge Ken Curry in his lawsuit against the NCAA.
But in reality, which I'm assuming we live in, Brendan Sorsby should be thankful for the three years he was allowed to play after placing bets on Indiana football while on the roster.
That fact alone, which Texas Tech and Sorsby confirmed, is the most damning part of this saga.
There is also no denying that Brendan Sorsby has a gambling problem, which is evident by the risks he was taking each time he sent money to a friend so that a bet could be placed, and that part should be the main concern for those around him. He's talented enough that receiving an opportunity to play football in the NFL is going to happen, though we just don't know when that will actually happen.
Once again, we are waiting for a local judge to decide whether NCAA rules will actually be enforced. Crazy right? I would tend to agree that there are a number of rules that the organization deserves to be challenged on, and I would imagine those within the offices in Indianapolis might actually agree that there are plenty of those guidelines currently out of date.
This one, though, is as plain as the sunshine on a warm Texas day.
Brendan Sorsby gambled on his own team to win a football game. But, since the NCAA has taken its beatings over the years with eligibility and NIL types of cases, once again we await a judge to decide if an athlete will step onto the field this season. Just as we did for Trinidad Chambliss and plenty others along the way.
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At some point, one would think that maybe this isn’t the hill you want to die on, right?
Lawyers for Brendan Sorsby seriously walked into a Lubbock District Court on Monday morning and argued that somehow the NCAA is the bad guy in this case. The overreaching bad guy once again preventing an athlete from rightfully suiting up this season for his team, so he can also cash a massive NIL check in the process, right?
Let me be clear, I'm for athletes making a gigantic amount of money for their services. But, this has nothing to do with players earning their paychecks on the field.
HAIL MARY IN LUBBOCK: BRENDAN SORSBY’S LAST SHOT AT BEATING NCAA GAMBLING ALLEGATIONS
Attorney Jeffrey Kessler, who is fabulous at his job, seriously had this to say following the hearing.
"This case, I think, is badly misunderstood by a lot of people," Kessler proclaimed. "It's very important that everyone understand that it is undisputed that (Sorsby) never did any betting to compromise the integrity of his team, the bets he made on his team was when he was not participating in that team and he never bet again to do that."
Are we serious here? Brendan Sorsby has admitted to gambling on Indiana and Cincinnati basketball while enrolled at the two schools. Sorsby, through the filing, admitted to placing at least 2,900 wagers for more than $30,000 during his time in Bloomington. Of those, through his own admission, 40 were on Indiana football while he was on the scout team, and before he stepped onto the field during the 2022 season against Penn State.
And, we're going to sit here and act as though Sorsby blaming the NCAA for his gambling problems is the right way to go about beating the system?
If you thought the first quote from Kessler was entertaining, here's another gem.
"And what this case is about is when you have no threat to competitive integrity, but you have a mental illness of gambling addiction, which is plaguing — plaguing — student-athletes across the country, the NCAA said in its policies it would consider that it would support the athlete and instead they want to punish him. That's wrong," Kessler profoundly mentioned.
What are we doing?
Yes, Texas Tech and the NCAA can support Sorsby off the field as he fights this terrible disease. But, why should his "mental health" issues be the one way he gets out of being punished for not only breaking the law, but breaking NCAA rules that are known to every single athlete who sets foot onto a college campus?
We have officially lost the plot in college athletics, and it's embarrassing to watch it unfold in real time.
I have all the sympathy and empathy in the world for someone who is battling addiction, which I think we can all agree on. I truly hope that Brendan Sorsby continues getting the help he needs to overcome this problem, and if it's truly this bad, that he will be fighting for the rest of his life in some form or fashion.
But four years ago, Sorsby screwed up in a massive way. He bet on his own team, and continued to break NCAA rules by gambling on other sports while knowingly continuing to do this during his time at two additional schools along the way.
He might not have been gambling on his own team any longer, according to his testimony, but he was clearly breaking rules that he knew had consequences by continuing to place bets through intermediaries.
Now, it's time to pay for those actions. None of this is personal towards Sorsby, but he didn’t exactly "turn himself in" during this process either. Once Texas Tech was informed by the NCAA that its quarterback was being investigated, then it became the NCAA's fault for him being in this situation.
No, if I break the rules and continue doing so knowing I'd probably get caught along the way at some point, the right thing to do is accept your punishment and be appreciative that you got to play the sport for an extra three years after first breaking the law.
I wish nothing but the best for Brendan Sorsby in the future. But, this soap opera needs to end.
I guess we will find out if a retired Texas judge uses common sense, or is persuaded by this ongoing narrative that the NCAA is out to ruin the quarterback's life by trying to enforce a very simple rule.