The sad failure at the heart of the Iowa/Iowa State Sports Gambling Scandal It is a sports scandal that reveals much about America. The state of Iowa is an icon. It is an agricultural place at the center of the country that has a far larger influence than its relatively small population. Iowa is the purported home of honest, decent folk who work hard all day in farms, fields and barns. The men are supposed to wear baseball caps and be good...
There are some games that are far larger than just a sporting competition. There was that game in 1936 in Berlin when the England team were forced to raise their arms in Nazi salutes. There was that game in Belgrade between Red Star and Manchester United on February 6, 1958. It was to be the last footballing appearance of the Busby Babes. After the match, many of them flew off into the skies of football immortality in a crash at Munich...
Qatar 2022 is about to start with massive labour and human rights challenges. The sports integrity industry has had little effective effect. Sports integrity is, now, an industry. It needs clear rules of disclosure.
MAFIO CAPO PRESENTATION "And a lot of these basketball players would go to the same clubs...and we got our eye on one or two of the guys. And I'd say, "Listen, you are a smart guy. I'm your good friend. Let me tell you how you are going to make some money." Michael Franzese, the former Mafia Capo for the Colombo Crime Family, is the keynote speaker for the second annual Sports Integrity presentation at the University of...
During Joe Biden’s Presidential Inauguration, we saw him join three former presidents - George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, to stand in front of the grave of the unknown soldier in the Arlington National Ceremony. It was a sombre break from the near-Hollywood blitz of the rest of the celebrations that featured stars like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez. The message of much of the day was that America had just got through a four-year...
If you are a sports fan, you are probably slightly obsessed with the Tim Donaghy case. Donaghy was one of the highest ranked referees in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was also a gambling addict. For four years, he worked with illegal gamblers and bookmakers betting on his own games. The betting industry either never caught him or the few that did notice the strange odds movements, like the Gambino-connected bookmakers in New York, bet on his games for their...
It is going to be a great night for American democracy. It is a humbling time to be in this country. Not for a hundred years have such a large percentage of people voted. They have voted in a time of a mass pandemic. They have voted when their society is under immense strain. They are voting when all their media and most of their journalists are telling them nose-stretching lies about the candidates. So in the midst of all...
“Its just very sad that because you speak out about these issues [Human rights] you have to live with a panic button besides your bed…” Enes Kanter is a star player for the Boston Celtics. He is also an international fugitive. His passport has been revoked. He has not spoken to his family in over four years. He lives with constant death threats and under police protection.His crime? Speaking about the arbitrary detention of tens-of-thousands of people - many of them...
She has the same lunacy that inspired hundreds-of-thousands of our spiritual sisters to put mock vaginas on their heads. It is the same lunacy that makes many of my journalist colleagues claim that a vote for Trump will overturn American Democracy or bring about another civil war. It is the same lunacy, on the other side of the political fence, that convinces people to think about kidnapping their politicians.
It was the best of trials. It was the worst of conferences. Lets start with the best. In Paris, last week, a proverbial rocket hit the world of sport. The former head of the International Athletic Association Federations (IAAF) - Lamine Diack - was convicted of collecting millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.The actual scheme was shocking. Diack, along with many of his top aides - including his ‘thug’ son (his words) - was running a racket where athletes,...
