Sabre Rattling: ZOMG! People in Hockey Place Bets!

Thursday, 09 February 2006

ZOMG! People in Hockey Place Bets!

I don't expect this to be one of my more popular posts, and, possibly might lose me some respect within this circle of commentators. I've refrained here on many occasions to get into subjects that would draw attention to my political/philosophical views, trying instead to keep the discussion focused primarily on the Sabres in specific and the sport in general. If anyone wants to know my politics there's a slew of articles here that will elucidate them in painstaking detail.

So, that said, I find it really sad that Rick Tocchet, et. al. are facing all sorts of charges and, most probably, jail time because of placing bets on sporting events. Personally, I don't have a lot of respect for the law as a mechanism for dispensing justice. Hell, that statement alone would take weeks of writing extensively just to parse the words used to convey the depth of meaning that I'm implying. Defining the word justice alone, outside of the context of human-enforced law is worthy of multiple blog posts in and of itself.

Morality (defined as that which separates right from wrong) cannot be legislated. Gambling is no more wrong than obeying the speed limit is right. Both conditions are arbitrarily defined by those who have the privilege to enforce that definition. So, the fact that this has become an issue is nothing more than noise in the service of the state trying to justify it's own existence and a way for busy-body do-gooders to force their desires and worldview onto someone else. This is a process I despise, and yet, unfortunately it is de rigeur and becoming even more so everywhere I turn. The cops involved in this investigation will say that they are only enforcing 'the will of the people,' all of whom they were empowered to 'protect and serve.' It's disturbing that we no longer have 'peace officers' but 'law enforcement officers.' There are two fundamentally different functions at play there. The former are charged with keeping the peace via crime investigation and dispute resolution, while the latter are charged with enforcing the rules. The former truly serve the people while the latter only serve the rule makers.

In the same week where Britney Spears is hounded for the non-crime of not having her child in a car seat, we have another non-crime blazing across the headlines in the hockey world, namely a bunch of people getting together and betting with their own money on the outcome of sporting events they are not personally involved in.

Looking at this from an economic perspective, is placing a bet on the outcome of a football game really fundamentally different than choosing to start a business selling shoes? Both are educated guesses about the future events.. one the relative number of points scored by a football team, the other the amount of money people will spend buying particular shoes. All of human endeavor is a guess about future events. Again, why is there a distinction between these types of human behavior, where there is no theft of property (communists please stay quiet, property and profit are not theft no matter how many times you say it!!!!!).

Politically, I belong to a small group of people who consider themselves anarcho-capitalists, and who believe the absolute sovereignty of the individual forms the basis for all constructive and peaceful human endeavors. Spend some time at the Mises Institute for a primer.

The State of New Jersey is acting like the aggressive bunch of thugs and highwaymen it truly is here. One of the axioms I live my life by is "Don't Steal (or kill). The government hates competition." I find a tremendous amount of irony in the fact that state run lotteries have the worst odds of winning of any game I know of and yet those are legal, while playing roulette or blackjack at a casino is venal and wrong (even though the house odds in those games are 5.26% and ~0.5% respectively, depending on the rules). One of the bright spots about the rise of Poker as an acceptable activity is that some of the PR damage to the league might be mitigated.

So, these people will either go to jail or be made to prostrate themselves on the mercy of the public opinion court (doing community service or some other way of 'repaying society,' even though they probably didn't cheat anybody) all for engaging what is a perfectly normal and reasonable human behavior.

So, again, could someone please explain to me why we should give a rat's ass about this?

Ta,

p.s. I understand James Mirtle's issue with this. There will be a certain amount of righteous indignation thrown around and false virtuousness pandered to that will be wholly disgusting and nigh inappropriate... along with being highly effective propaganda for the Nanny State. It will suck for the game, the league, and the fans. ESPN will have a field day... that piece of leftist shite.

p.p.s. I'm sure that the police in question have some ulterior motives for leaking this to the public... look for some New Jersey DA to make a run towards a higher office based on this incident. It's commonplace for DA's to rise politically on the backs of people involved in this kind of 'criminal activity.' That fascist blowhard Guiliani did it, Eliot Spitzer is following in the sewer Rudy carved and I'm sure there's someone in Jersey wanting to emulate his heroes. After all, if Spitzer can get Martha Stewart, why can't some other tax-funded leech get The Great One?

p.p.p.s. If you can't tell, part of the reason I didn't want to comment on this is that it's really no good for my blood pressure. I stopped blogging about current events and politics because it was too painful and I found my days were ruined after I'd finished a post about some horrible thing done by some F$%ktwit government stooge. So, I really hope that this doesn't end too badly for those involved but my gut feeling is similar to Mr. Mirtle's, that this is going to be a horrible thing for everyone, including hockey fans.

Posted by Tom L at 12:12 PM | Permalink

Comments

Let's not forget the cherry on top: one of those 'empowered to protect and serve,' state trooper James J. Harney, has also been charged. That's something the general public should be vastly more concerned about.

Posted by: jeffj | Thursday, 09 February 2006 at 05:45 PM

jeffj,

Thanks for reminding me of that lil factoid... and, of course, you are absolutely right. While everyone will be focusing on Gretz's involvement in this this will be lost in the noise.

Today's Lewrockwell.com had a great article by Jeff Tucker on Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde and the desire for 'good' government... Check it out here because that's the dirty little secret why things like gambling regulations always fail and create even more corruption than what existed before the regulation was enacted.

Thanks for contributing.

Ta,

Posted by: Tom L | Thursday, 09 February 2006 at 06:53 PM

Wake me up when there's evidence that players bet against their own teams and tried to fix games. Until then.....

Do you guys EVER lose???
(in regulation)

(are you thinking the same about my team? :-)

Posted by: Alan | Thursday, 09 February 2006 at 07:21 PM

Alan,

Agreed, Casonblog, in the comments over on jesgolbez's blog, made mention that leaks to the press like this are nothing more than fishing expeditions, exaggerations or outright lies to try and get someone to jump the wrong way.

What bothers me is that the tactics they use to try and get someone to 'confess' are not reciprocal. They can lie, cheat, cajole, extortr, threaten... what have you, and they're just doing their job. While if the defendant puts a word or two out of place (see Martha Stewart) they're screwed.

And, no, we don't lose in regulation. :)

The boys played a pretty crappy game tonight and got a point. Montreal played their best game and barely eeked out a win.

Ta,

Posted by: Tom L | Friday, 10 February 2006 at 03:54 AM

Tom -

Also, I thought you made an excellent point in this most fascinating post about the rise of poker as an acceptable form of entertainment/behavior mitigating at least some of the damaging PR the league may receive. And it's not just poker; all over this country states are turning to legalized gambling as a means of raising revenue and hiding defecits, and the good folks in Buffalo know all about that given the current battle over the proposed casino there. Yonkers Raceway, a harness track just north of NYC is about to open what will be the 4th largest gaming venue in the country in terms of number of machines. Pataki has proposed several stand-alone casinos in addition to the existing and pending ones at racetracks. Pennsylvania is set to explode with gambling all over the state.

Delaware, West Virginia, Florida (despite the hypocritical opposition of Jeb Bush, under whose administration state lottery games have proliferated)....I could go on and on. Not to mention New Jersey itself, home of Atlantic City...and the only reason the racetracks don't have slots yet is because the AC casinos are paying them off and subsidizing the purses.(Shameless plug: check out my blog for more on this stuff :-). Whatsmore, while this NHL "scandal" involves people like Ms. Gretzky who can well afford to throw away 50 grand on the Super Bowl if that's how she chooses to spend her money, these casinos entice many people who can ill afford to have their states' budgets balanced on their backs. Really, who cares if players are betting on football games, jeez! This is almost a non-story as far as I'm concerned. Now I'm getting my blood pressure elevated as well. Let's drop the damn puck and play some hockey.

Posted by: Alan | Friday, 10 February 2006 at 06:58 AM

Tom, how much of this do you think is elevated by the MSSM (mainstream sports media) that is shocked (shocked!) that people actually gamble on sporting events? I mean, newspapers publish lines daily and commentators always discuss the way "the public" or "Vegas" might feel on a particular tilt. But for me, it's the rise of the "Media-ization" of sports - it starts at the local level to some extent with sportstalk - but has proliferated with WWLIS's attempt to penetrate all of sportsmedia with it's tentacles (ESPN, ESPNRadio, ESPNMoblie).
All these folks need content and filler to keep ratings up - so we get stuff like this - events that in most cases should be met with shrugs instead blown up all over in the name of "informing the public." I am sick of being "informed", I think.

Too some extent, this is happening in the real world as more and more people tailor their habits towards blogs and Fox News and daily Kos. Your wish will come true, my friend - where the individual wants, when he wants and how he wants it carry the day. That's a good thing.

Posted by: Chris | Friday, 10 February 2006 at 08:09 AM

Alan,

I have checked out your blog, very impressive. :) And, I agree completely, let's just drop the puck. Bettman's done the right thing in suspending Tocchet. Move along....

Ta,

Posted by: Tom L | Friday, 10 February 2006 at 08:32 PM

Chris,

So much of this society is based on this ridiculous 'push' model... while the internet has tried to replicate this model, it's different and it looks to me that people are choosing to not be 'pushed' as much anymore. The older generations are still comfortable with it than we are but I really think that control of information flow is being lost, which, as you point out, is a very good thing.

Don't ever forget that both the 'left' and the 'right' side of the MSM love the state. ESPN being one of the worst offenders [1]. Their argumentation is usually some fallacious straw man that pre-supposes only potential state interventions as a mechanism to frame the discussion wholly along those lines so that no matter what is chosen, their power/access increases. The media and government are natural strategic and tactical allies.... That's why I get most of my hockey news from blogs and HFBoards.

Ta,

[1]If I ever sit through another sickening treatise on why the creation of Title IX is the greatest sports event of the 20th century, I'll probably projectile vomit... or at least need a new TV... and BTW, f#$k Christine Brennan, and has anyone noticed that Michael Wilbon and William Rhoden are flaming racists? It drivs me completely nuts. WHy does Buccigross still work there?

Posted by: Tom L | Friday, 10 February 2006 at 08:49 PM