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Renowned aggressor Rudy Gobert I pissed off yet another group of people on Friday night. Getting T’d up It’s not the Frenchman’s actions that are interesting, but what he did to earn a tech. The Timberwolves center, who was leading his team by a single point, was whistled in the final seconds of the Cleveland-Minnesota match for his sixth foul. On his way out of the court, he made the famous money sign to the referees, as Johnny Manziel did.
Darius Garland cashed in the freebie and sent it into overtime where the T-Wolves lost 113-104. Gobert’s side was already short staffed and it was the second game in a back-toback. After the game, he admitted his mistake but said that the gesture he made was genuine.
“My reaction, which I think is truth — it’s what I truly believe — even if it’s the truth, it wasn’t the time for me to react that way,” Gobert spoke afterward. “I shouldn’t of done that. I cost my squad the game and they were obviously eager to give me an assist. That was bad. “That was a very immature response.”
When asked to clarify his position, the 11-year-old center singled out legalization of sports gambling in the US.
“I’ll bite the Bullet Again” Gobert said. “I’ll play the bad guy. I’ll pay the fine, but it hurts our game. I know that the betting and other things are getting bigger and bigger but it shouldn’t be that way.
“I made some errors. I swung my arms and missed a dunk. Mistakes happen. Referees can also make mistakes. Sometimes I think it’s about more than just mistakes. I think that everyone in the league knows. “I think it has to get better.”
Expect NBA commissioner Adam Silver will happily oblige him with an fine, as this is the league that fired a referee last night for doing exactly what Gobert implied. Tim Donaghy, Tim Donaghy, Tim Donaghy. Just three times, to be safe.
It’s just a matter time before there is another scandal involving game-fixing. This week, new details about the scandal have emerged. Team employee embezzled $22 Million from the Jacksonville Jaguars. Amit Patel did not affect the integrity of the games with his actions, but his lawyer stated that “99 per cent” of the funds stolen were used to fuel Amit’s gambling addiction.
Sports franchises and college programs need to exercise more oversight, as there are now paper trails due to sports betting apps. The leagues and franchises need to know if an employee of a team has gambling debts in the hundreds of thousands or even millions. This also applies to the companies with which these leagues do business. Patel was gambling on the Jags’ COMPANY CARD. That should’ve raised some sort of red flag.
I don’t need to, nor do I want to, further virtue-signal. Since sportsbooks became legal and more accessible in America, we have seen an increase of incredibly stupid behaviors by coaches, players and gambling addicts. It hasn’t happened yet, but the former NBA ref admitted he had a gambling addiction during the subsequent court hearings that led to the 15-month prison term.
Rudy Gobert’s right. I can’t believe it, but I’m saying it. It shouldn’t feel as if betting is destroying sports, but it is happening more often.
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