Mike Florio ,
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The NFL is far more reactive than it is proactive. Which makes Friday’s reminder memo about the gambling policy, one day after the NBA landed in perhaps the biggest gambling scandal in sports since Tim Donaghy, extremely predictable.
The question is whether it will be effective, especially as to the risks regarding the misuse of inside information.
The memo recommends teams to remind players that they must not “[s]hare confidential, non-public information regarding any NFL game, player, or event with any third-party.”
Here’s the question. Will the teams even bother to breathe a word of it to players during an active, busy football season?
Consider this excerpt from Friday’s press conference by 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, as transcribed and distributed by the team.
Q: The NFL sent out something today with the NFLPA regarding the NBA gambling thing to remind NFL players about what they can and can’t do. Is that something that you address with them or does somebody else take care of that?
A: No, I don’t address that with them. We’ve got too much other stuff to worry about. Hopefully they don’t have time to do that stuff right now. But you asked if they sent something out?
Q: They’ve sent something out to all players.
A: I know we all go through that in the offseason. With these mandatory meetings that we have, the NFL sends people out to speak with us. Obviously, it’s a huge deal. It’s got to be taken seriously. But, nothing we’re associated right now with our team.
Most other coaches would surely say the same thing: “We’re too busy to worry about that now. We’ll deal with it in the offseason.”
And, with all due respect to Shanahan, that’s the kind of attitude that results in players failing to realize what a big deal the issue is.
Of course, players could buy and read Big Shield . (If, of course, anyone still read books.) The goal, in part, was to scare straight anyone who may think there’s easy money to be made by selling inside information.
It’s not just current players. Kids who are growing up in an environment of ubiquitous gambling ads and a general sense that gambling is as normal as drinking a beer or popping a Zyn need to understand what is and isn’t allowed. What can and can’t be done. Where the line is, and how to stay away from it.
Big Shield sends the message, not by rattling off rules but by demonstrating the complex web in which a player who sells inside info can and will become caught, with no way out and the very real threat of going up the river. Or down the river, depending on the exact location of the local prison.
Big Shield combines gambling, pro football, and the mob into a cautionary tale regarding inside information, and the dangers that come from selling it.
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