The Crane Pool Forum

Edgy MD wrote: ↑Thu Mar 21, 2024 11:59 am It sure would. But it even if true, it wouldn't take much for the interpreter to come around to the position that it's more in his interest to take the bullet for his guy with the faith that his guy will take care of him and his down the road.

A perhaps-not-very-kind part of me wants this to explode into a disaster just to get MLB and organized gambling out of the same bed.

Fman99 wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 12:29 pm I wish I could glom on to some rich idiot celebrity and do some siphoning. That sounds like da life

Edgy MD wrote: ↑Sun Mar 24, 2024 5:29 pm My guess is that the interpreter will be his attorney and he won't be taking any questions.

Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani spoke to the media on Monday for the first time since his translator, Ippei Mizuhara, was fired following accusations that he stole more than $4 million from Ohtani to cover his illegal gambling debts.

In a roughly 12-minute statement, Ohtani denied having ever bet on sports and said repeatedly that Mizuhara had lied to him throughout the process.

"I never bet on baseball or any other sports or never have asked somebody to do that on my behalf," Ohtani said through an intepreter. "And I have never been through a bookmaker to bet on sports."

"Up until a couple days ago, I didn't know that this was happening. ... In conclusion, Ippei has been stealing money from my account and has told lies."

Centerfield wrote: ↑Tue Mar 26, 2024 11:51 am Obviously, I have no idea what actually happened, but I'm thinking that if Ohtani's lawyers let him issue a statement like this, then it must be that (a) Ohtani is telling the truth, or (b) the lawyers reasonably believe he's telling the truth, or (c) at the very least no one will be able to prove that it's not the truth.

Now that gambling is legal almost everywhere, those moral guardrails are coming down. It’s just sports leagues vs. players, and the leagues are losing.

On Monday, we had two examples from either end of the talent spectrum.

In Los Angeles, Shohei Ohtani, reading off a script, told reporters that he’d never bet on baseball. According to Ohtani, his gambling-addict interpreter wired US$4.5-million to a bookie from his account, using his name. Ohtani didn’t notice the money was missing.

To hear him tell it, Ohtani had been the victim of the world’s easiest heist, and may also employ the world’s worst accountant. End of story.

“I’m glad we had this opportunity to talk,” Ohtani said in closing.

He hadn’t taken any questions.

Elsewhere on Monday, ESPN reported the NBA is investigating Jontay Porter, a midseason replacement pickup on the Toronto Raptors.

In January, Porter was getting regular minutes. One evening, a line was set for a set of prop bets particular to him. Over/unders like how many points he might get that night (+/- 5.5) or three pointers he would sink (+/- 0.5).
As it turned out, Porter had an injury. He played only a couple of minutes that night. His stat line was minimal.
According to ESPN, DraftKings told the NBA that more money had been won on Porter’s three-point over-under that evening than on any other NBA prop bet. A couple of days later, it happened again. Other betting outfits reported people trying to lay unusually large bets – many thousands of dollars – on Porter props.

What is the truth of either case? It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that they both look terrible. It matters that stories like this have begun landing with regularity.

If people start to suspect that what they are seeing is fixed, even fixed just a little, the sports-wagering industry starts coming apart at the seams. Leagues are so intertwined with gambling that any collapse on one side triggers one on the other.

The answer to this problem is so obvious that no one can bring themselves to discuss it – zero tolerance of gambling or any gambling-adjacent behaviour by professional athletes.

You want to play professional whatever? Great. No gambling. Ever. On anything sports related. If they catch you with a betting slip, you’re done.

No advertising for bookmakers, ever. No showing up at parties. No getting photographed in front of an ad banner. Athletes should fear to be seen in the proximity of anything gambling related.

The penalties should be simple – first time caught, a two- or three-year ban from the sport. Second time, banned for life.

If your first time is betting on your own sport, straight to Option 2.

No excuses. No mitigating factors. No ‘my cousin didn’t tell me what he was doing’ or ‘the interpreter pays my hydro bill so how would I know?’ No presumption of innocence. It should be on athletes to prove they are cleaner than clean.
That’s one way to go. The other way is the certain knowledge that another Black Sox scandal is coming, and that this one will be much worse.
Right now, sports is in the ‘getting what you wish for’ phase. It wanted gambling money, so now it’s got gambling problems. New ones that it is unequipped to handle.

Even Pete Rose knows sports is playing a losing hand.

After Ohtani’s presser, Rose jumped on X to sum up what he’s learned after 35 years in the wilderness: “Back in the seventies and eighties, I wish I’d had an interpreter.”