Know the Criminals. How to Handle Crooked Refs

WHEN NFL TITLE GAME WAS FIXED

Back in the day, before the TV millions, gamblers were the only beneficiaries of a fixed game. It was 1946, the war was over, and sports were huge. The not so infant NFLwas drawing sellout crowds in most of their venues. Gamblers attempted to fix the 1946 NFL title game between the Bears and Giants by bribing two players, Giant QB (Flingin') Frankie Filchock and their main running back, Merle Hapes. Pro football was already the "coming" game, 58,000 jammed the old Polo Grounds for the '46 title game, and so the "fix" story had great resonance at the time. The scheme was discovered the day before the game and it was so big that the mayor of New York, the police commissioner, Giant owner (the first Mara), and NFL Commissioner Bert Bell all met secretly in the Mayor's office on Saturday. It has always been rumored that Giant owner, the grade school educated Mara, made much of his money before owning the Giants as a bookie and thus knew "everybody." The main New York citizen interest in the game surrounded the really good Filchock (he beat out Sammy Baugh for the starting QB job when both played for the Redskins), and the first great Jewish player, Bear QB Sid Luckman. It was a lock that the huge New York Jewish population would go to the game.

Tapping in to the gambling community
Bert Bell, the NFL commissioner, had vast illegal gambling connections and it is said that the nation wide bookie establishment let Bell know that huge amounts of money was being bet on the Bears, which meant the Bears were supposed to beat the fourteen point spread (the Bears won by 14 points, the exact point spread). It was quite possible that Giant owner Mara could have been aware of the action as well. Due to New York City politics it was deemed necessary for the Mayor to keep this title game clean. The meeting with the Mayor resulted in the immediate suspension of both Hapes and Filchock. Mara and the cops apparently discovered that while Hapes had accepted the money, Filchock had turned them down flat. Filchock was allowed to play and Hapes never played another down in the NFL. Later, Filchock was also banned, a dirty deal if ever there was one and the only reason you don't see his name all over the NFL record books. He was a terrific player.

The important things to know here are that the scheme was uncovered because the illegal bookmakers phoned both NFL Commissioner Bell and Giant owner Mara and told them of the huge bets being placed on the Bears. Without the "help" of the bookies the fix would have worked. That relationship between the NFL commissioner's office and the vast network of illegal bookies has been maintained through this day so that any and all unusual betting is known long before a game is played. It is a sign of the times that the bribe offered to each player was only $2,500. The winner's share of the gross ticket sales was $1,900. Because of the relationship with bookies the NFL refs are also watched closely so that it's next to impossible for any of them to run up any kind of gambling debt.

There is no way to control either the super rich NBA players or refs that isn't being done. What Stern is NOT doing is tracking the betting. It ain't enough to monitor Vegas or Atlantic City because the betting limits are so low that no scheme with big gamblers can possibly occur in either 'Vegas or Atlantic City; online or overseas bookies would never accept a big bet. What Stern has to do is what the NFL has done ever since Bert Bell was commissioner back in the 40s: talk with the bookies every day. Make connections with the illegal bookies, the guys who take $100,000 bets, and find out where there is unusual action. If the team owners or the commissioner learn through their network of bookies that a bunch of guys are betting big they should be able to jump in immediately WITHOUT PROOF. The NBA should be calling illegal bookies on a daily basis.

TV, the new lure....
But gambling has become chump change. Much more money can be made by the NBA through high TV ratings than millions bet on outcomes. Fix a game for TV and one game alone can generate several millions in fees, rights and sponsorships. Where is the "bookie" network in this scenario? Because if the current scandal story is true, it's the league itself that is encouraging corruption. It's an inside job. The corruption hurts players, it hurts the emotional health of those involved, but this corruption, if true, hurts nobody but the losing team who won't even know they've been fucked. What "noise" is out there that someone, (reporter---ho ho---Fleet Street Scandal sheet---cop) can hear before the fact? Weird betting is present in small forms for almost every game played but for someone in the league office to bet the near millions necessary to cause notice would be nutty. The referee union has no power as the Leagues have already demonstrated by dismissing baseball umpires and NBA refs who dared stand up for themselves. The refs are afraid to talk. The coaches are fined a hundred grand any time they beef so they are afraid too. It may be that laws have to be enacted making fixing games a felony and these laws have to nail the League office to the cross and not the powerless refs.

Fixing the games by fixing the refs is "safe."