Many have talked about the possible death of college sports through the transfer portal, NIL deals, and conference realignment. But right now, it’s gambling that poses the most direct and time-sensitive threat to the future of college athletics.
Former Indiana and Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby is now on his third stop, preparing to suit up for Texas Tech in the fall. A wrench was briefly thrown into that plan when Sorsby checked himself into a treatment program for a gambling addiction. In addition to being so degenerate a gambler that he was constantly placing bets on individual pitches in Cincinnati Reds games, Sorsby was placing bets on the very Indiana Hoosiers team of which he was a member.
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Sorsby was committing the cardinal sin of sports. He was not just betting on games involving his own team: He was betting against his own team.
The NCAA, of course, attempted to ban Sorsby for life. The NCAA’s eligibility rules have been picked apart by the courts over the years, thanks to the NCAA’s own incompetence in crafting and enforcing them, but this seemed to be a slam dunk. If the NCAA can’t ban someone for gambling against their own team and jeopardizing the integrity of the entire sport, who could it ever ban?
But a Texas judge granted an injunction in Sorsby’s favor, because poor Brendan would lose out on financial opportunities if he wasn’t allowed to play after gambling against his own team. This would be the NCAA stigmatizing “mental health,” and so the courts have essentially legalized self-gambling in college sports. The judge then decided that he himself could hand down a punishment: a staggering two-game suspension that will see Sorsby miss games against mediocre opponents.
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This obviously cuts to the very core of the integrity of the game. Who is to say that any Texas Tech game this coming season will be played legitimately if their planned starting quarterback is known for betting against his teammates? Other universities are even taking note, with Texas Tech’s conference rivals demanding action while teams from other conferences plan to blacklist the team from their schedules.
The discord, the utter destruction of any semblance of eligibility rules, and the undermining of the concept that the games people are watching are legitimate all stem from this idea that Sorsby must be allowed to play. This is what will kill college sports — you can bet on that.
