The four major league sports leagues, led by National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell, have asked a federal judge for a preliminary injunction to prevent the state of Delaware from introducing sports betting.
The request claims Delaware sports betting would result in harm “that cannot be remedied by subsequent monetary damages.”
The action brought immediate cries of hypocrisy from sportswriters across the United States, none more entertaining than a column written by Bill Conlin in the Philadelphia Daily News. Calling the NFL “the No Fun League” and borrowing writer Larry Merchants’s phrase for the NFL as “National Football Lottery,” Conlin wrote, “NFL commissioner Roger Goodell says sports betting in Delaware will happen over his dead, cold hands....And MLB, NBA and NHL commishes Bud Selig, David Stern and Garry Bettman have Greek Chorused, ‘Amen.’”
Conlin goes on to say, “oh, yeah, the NCAA, home of the great March Madness bracket throwdown -- every MLB spring training clubhouse has a big pool working -- is also in with the professionals. My advice to the NCAA is to worry first about sports dorm betting.”
Conlin says the sports commissioners “come off sounding a little bit like Captain
Renault, the corrupt gendarme in ‘Casablanca,’ who has just shut down Rick’s casino with the explanation, ‘I’m shocked, shocked, to find that gambling is going on in here,’ as a croupier hands him his winnings.”
(Harness Tracks of America)