Back in the early days of Saturday Night Live, Chevy Chase was part of the mock news segment of the show. After the real news media had been reporting for months that Generalissimo Francisco Franco of Spain was on his deathbed, Franco actually died. Chevy Case for weeks after that event “reported” that “Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.”
We may have had the obverse of that situation over the weekend. The Pro Football Hall of Fame announced the one of the Hall members – – Lem Barney – – had died. Then there were reports from Barney’s family that Lem Barney was still alive and the Hall of Fame retracted its announcement. Perhaps on the mock news segment next week for Saturday Night Live they can report that “Lem Barney is still alive.”
And if they want to take it up a notch [Hat Tip to Emeril Lagasse], they can have the band playing the Bee Gees old hit, Stayin’ Alive in the background.
Moving on … Recall those arrests and charges against two NBA players and NBA coach Chauncy Billups regarding gambling and rigged poker games to fleece wealthy gamblers, those actions have been moving along quietly:
- Damon Jones has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. Jones stands accused of giving insider information to a “co-conspirator” who then used that information to place winning bets on NBA games. Jones is also accused of luring victims to the alleged fixed poker games.
- Terry Rozier has not yet had a court date to enter his plea, but I suspect he too will enter a plea of not guilty. Rozier is charged with participating in a scheme to cash proposition bets on his performance in game against the New Orleans Pelicans in 2023 where he took himself out of the game early on with a supposed foot injury.
- Chauncey Billups entered his not guilty plea last week; he is accused of luring people to the rigged poker games run by organized crime, and he might also be involved in the business of sharing inside information with bettors as a coach in the league and not as a player.
It is to be expected that Billups’ lawyer would assert that the charges against his client are ridiculous and unfounded; I suspect that criminal defense attorneys have an encyclopedia full of such statements that they draw on when needed. Here is the one used by Billups’ representative:
“To believe that Chauncey Billups did what the federal government is accusing him of is to believe that he would risk his hall-of-fame legacy, his reputation, and his freedom. He would not jeopardize those things for anything, let alone a card game.
“Furthermore, Chauncey Billups has never and would never gamble on basketball games, provide insider information, or sacrifice the trust of his team and the League, as it would tarnish the game he has devoted his entire life to.”
In terms of “reputation” and “legacy”, these three men have already placed those things in jeopardy in the court of public opinion. The Feds are not nearly perfect in terms of charging people with crimes and then proving that they committed those crimes – – but where there is smoke there is fire and this case has already involved more than 30 arrests and charges. It is difficult to believe that so many allegations against so many people are nothing more than happenstance or some sort of humongous misunderstanding of a set of events.
Switching gears but staying with the NBA … Did you realize that the regular season is almost 25% over? Teams have played about 20 games for the 25/26 regular season. There are some positive and negative findings in the standings this morning. Here are some of the positive ones:
- The Pistons have the best record in the East at 16-4.
- The rebuilding Celtics are 11-9.
- The Thunder lead in the West at 20-1 – – having won 12 games in a row.
- The Lakers are 15-4 – despite only having Lebron James play in 4 games.
And here are some of the negative ones:
- The Clippers are 5-15 – – despite having Kawai Leonard for half of their games
- The injured Pacers are only 4-16.
- The Wizards are 2-16 – – how did they win twice already?
Finally, this from H. L. Mencken:
“One smart reader is worth a thousand boneheads.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………