It’s the college sports beef you never saw coming.
Yesterday news broke that a Texas judge has issued an injunction preventing the NCAA from barring Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby from playing college football. The NCAA is seeking to do that because Sorsby has admitted to betting on college football. A lot.
Sorsby admitted to placing over 9,000 sports wagers valued at over $90,000 in total. That included bets on the University of Indiana while he was playing for the Hoosiers. For the vast majority of the history of college sports that would have been completely disqualifying, and no one would have dared to argue it shouldn’t be. It wasn’t that long ago, you may recall, that Rick Neuheisel was forced to resign from his coaching job because he’d taken part in America’s totemic sports betting enterprise: a March Madness pool.
Again, Sorsby’s conduct would have been completely unacceptable even five years ago. It’s probably still unacceptable to most college football fans, journalists, and administrators. Just not to the folks at Texas Tech.
Among the folks who still find Sorsby’s conduct unacceptable, and the rootin’, tootin’ west Texas ruling that shrugged it off just as bad was UGA athletic director Josh Brooks. Brooks hasn’t been a shrinking violet as college football goes through generational upheaval. On the contrary, he’s gone to bat to advocate for Georgia and the SEC. His response to the Sorsby ruling was no different.
Yesterday news broke that a Texas judge has issued an injunction preventing the NCAA from barring Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby from playing college football. The NCAA is seeking to do that because Sorsby has admitted to betting on college football. A lot.
Sorsby admitted to placing over 9,000 sports wagers valued at over $90,000 in total. That included bets on the University of Indiana while he was playing for the Hoosiers. For the vast majority of the history of college sports that would have been completely disqualifying, and no one would have dared to argue it shouldn’t be. It wasn’t that long ago, you may recall, that Rick Neuheisel was forced to resign from his coaching job because he’d taken part in America’s totemic sports betting enterprise: a March Madness pool.
Again, Sorsby’s conduct would have been completely unacceptable even five years ago. It’s probably still unacceptable to most college football fans, journalists, and administrators. Just not to the folks at Texas Tech.
Among the folks who still find Sorsby’s conduct unacceptable, and the rootin’, tootin’ west Texas ruling that shrugged it off just as bad was UGA athletic director Josh Brooks. Brooks hasn’t been a shrinking violet as college football goes through generational upheaval. On the contrary, he’s gone to bat to advocate for Georgia and the SEC. His response to the Sorsby ruling was no different.
5 months ago
