Jared Max: NBA, MLB Commissioners Looking To Shake Up Their Sports
By Jared Max
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Ch-ch-ch-ch changes are coming.
Determined to remain relevant with current American culture, our two newest governors of sport rocked our world this week.
One day after NBA sophomore commissioner Adam Silver announced that he is willing to implode his league's current playoff format, Major League Baseball's rookie boss, Rob Manfred, raised questions over his league's century-old strict anti-gambling position. While I applaud Adam for embracing such practical change, I wonder if Rob is like the Manfred Mann sang -- blinded by the light. Well, blinded by the dollar.
Considering that MLB staked its claim on the secondary ticket market when it formed a partnership with StubHub, I see this exploratory gambling conversation as baseball's foot in the bookmaker's door.
Be it Manfred expressing an open mind, or Chris Christie and Adam Silver pushing for legalized gambling, I am skeptical when heads of state or corporations tell me why something unhealthy is good for me. The way I see it, these guys want a piece of gambling's filthy rich pie -- so enticed by potential paydays that they are willing to dismiss morality and disguise greed with arguments about the good that gambling can do. If I bet you $50 on the Super Bowl, currently our government does not receive a cent. But, if the feds legalize widespread sports gambling, I fear that the government and sports leagues would stand to profit like bookies have since they made Goliath a 42-point favorite against David.
The office of the baseball commissioner was created for Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1920 to combat underworld gamblers from seducing players into unscrupulous behavior. August 3, 1921, one day after a jury acquitted eight members of the 1919 White Sox accused throwing the World Series, Landis used his new executive power to lower his heavy gavel on the Black Sox. He banned all eight players, including "Shoeless" Joe Jackson, uninterested that he batted .375 in the 1919 Series. Jackson was booted because, as Judge Landis stated, "No player that sits in a conference with a bunch of crooked players and gamblers where the ways and means of throwing ballgames are planned and discussed and does not promptly tell his club about it, will ever play professional baseball."
What would Landis say about clean players today who have silently watched teammates injected with PEDs? What would Landis say about the man who holds his job now?
"Regardless of the verdict of juries, baseball is competent to protect itself against crooks, both inside and outside the game," Landis rebuffed in 1921. He demanded that his sport remain clean from unsavory types like horse racing gamblers who initiated the 1919 fix. "By God, as long as I have anything to do with this game, they'll never get another hold on it," said Landis. They. Opposed to we?
Fast forward 95 years to this statement made Thursday by new commissioner Manfred: "Gambling in terms of our society has changed its presence on legalization, and I think it's important for there to be a conversation between me and the owners about what our institutional position will be."
Say it isn't so!
Manfred sounds to me like a rabbi willing to discuss if bacon should become part of a Passover seder.
Silver sounds to me like a business head, hellbent on improving his product. This past Wednesday, Silver joined Warriors TV broadcasters for an in-game interview. Among many subjects, Silver was asked about his league's playoff format. For my money, Silver delivered gold.
"Ultimately, we want to see your best teams in the playoffs. And, there is an imbalance and a certain unfairness." Silver told Comcast SportsNet bay Area. Open to discussing possible changes NBA owners, Silver proposed a plan that would send all six division winners into the playoffs as well as the ten next best teams -- be it from any corner of the country. Teams like Charlotte and Miami (who would currently qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs) would get left out, while teams with better records like New Orleans and Oklahoma City would get in.
Silver means business.
Three months into his tenure as NBA commissioner, David Stern's successor showed his strength when he banned Donald Sterling. Judge' Landis' first order of business was to abolish the Black Sox. While Manfred is trying to ban extensive time between pitches, I am willing to wager that his legacy will not be improved by softening his game's stance of gambling.He would be best to take a page out of Adam Silver's "How to Rule" book, which seems to present an approach like journalists who subscribe to the mantra, "Get it right" over "Get it first".
Manfred might serve himself best by following Silver, who announced Wednesday, "My first year I was studying a lot of these issues, and Year 2 is time to take action."
Follow Jared on Twitter at @Jared_Max
