Personally, I can't say I was surprised to here of the recent NBA scandals. I followed the whole Tim Donaghy scandal and have heard a lot of his interviews. It's a bad look for the league and certainly something you don't want to see going on in any league and especially college sports. 

There's multiple scandals with the NBA including of course Portland Trailblazers coach Chauncy Billups. While what he's accused of doing is very much of concern, the separate scandal of Terry Rozier a very talented player who is alleged to have even taken himself out of games with a fake injury to alter the game for the mob. This directly affects the integrity of the game.     

So is this happening in college football? Hopefully not, but it's a good question to ask. 

I've watched a lot of sports commentators talk about this. By and far the most insightful, relevant, and articulate response on the matter has been from Michael Franzese the American former mobster who was a caporegime in the Colombo crime family in New York City. He used to run mob betting 30 years ago and has been employed to help prevent it in a number of sports since. Specifically he said he's gone and talked to several D1 football programs within the past year, which is why I'm bringing this up. I'm not endorsing this guys past or present lifestyle and simply posting about it since he gave the most insightful take and has reason to know. He even specifically mentioned dropping passes in football. 

Michael made a good point that this has been going on in sports since Roman chariot racing  and will continue to go on even after the current NBA scandal. I've seen a number of posters suggest the online gambling led to betting, which just simply isn't true. It may have changed how betting works, but this didn't start it at all.

Another relevant point he made is that sports leagues like betting to bring viewership, however they really don't want players nor officials or anybody else for that matter. For the oblivious reason is that fans don't want pro wrestling style or fixed outcomes if you will. 

He also shed light how the mob manipulates and gets players involved in something like this. I keep seeing fan post saying how could a player risk it all to make a few bucks. Check out the middle of the video where he explains how the mob will give players credit to bets, which they loose and then turn it into debt they owe. 

Now I personally don't think a whole bunch of college football teams nor players are involed. It seems like some probably are though and it's a relant question and concern as to how much this is going on. What are your thoughts on the matter?

What are your thoughts on the matter?