Category Archives: Gambling/Cheating

Coach/Teacher Accused of Falsifying Player Transcripts

No, it’s not on the same scale as the scandal at Penn State, but it’s a related disease.

Someone thinks they’re doing the right thing to protect or help a sports program. Who will ever know, and if it helps a kid improve his life, what’s the big deal?

In this case, the big deal is that an assistant football coach/math teacher at Forest Hill High School (FL) was charged with two felony counts of falsifying documents and receiving unlawful compensation. Translated: Michael Stephen Dudeck, 55, who also runs a tutoring company, created fake classes and grades for a couple of jocks so they could play football last fall.  And did he do it simply out of the goodness of his heart? Apparently no, as one of the players said they paid Dudeck $300 for the chance to NOT go to class and still pass.

Source: Palm Beach Post

Wanna Bet? You Can Place a Bet on Almost Anything Related to London Olympics

According to a report at Newser.com, you can bet on almost anything at the 2012 London Olympic Games. Sure, you can place a bet on Usain Bolt winning (or losing) the 100 meters and traditional stuff like that, but how about the really strange stuff? And by strange, I mean stuff that the guys in Vegas wouldn’t even think of, much less take a wager on.

Wanna bet whether it rains during the opening ceremony? There’s a London bookie who will take that.

Wanna bet there will be a picture taken sometime during the games of a British athlete eating a McDonald’s Big Mac? Yep, they’ll take that one too.

How about the Olympic Village running out of the 150,000 condoms it has in stock for horny athletes? Are you kidding? I’ll take that bet.

But the strangest bet of all? That a UFO will hover over the Opening Ceremony! You can get 1,000-to-1 odds on that happening, which is much less likely (apparently) than flamboyant London Mayor Boris Johnson accidentally lighting his hair on fire with the Olympic torch. Odds on that are 33-to-1.

Much more fun than betting a plain old roulette wheel I’d think.

World Cup Referee: Faking Injuries Could Lead to Delay in Treating Players Who Are Actually Hurt

Last month, the owner of a major soccer team suggested that the best way to stop soccer flopping was to penalize the fakers.

Now comes word from a World Cup referee who believes that injury fakes could be putting players who are actually hurt on the field at risk. Why? Apparently, game officials like Howard Webb are seeing so much “diving” by pro players that they just expect that they’re faking and may not call for medical help as quickly as they should.

And Webb should know: he’s credited with getting Bolton midfielder Fabrice Muamba quick treatment after he collapsed on the field back in March . . . and that quick action could have saved his life. (Muamba’s heart stopped beating toward the end of a match but was revived.) That’s a scary thought knowing your life is on the line because someone else grabbed a knee that wasn’t really hurt.

Of course, to stop the diving, you’ll have to convince players it’s in their own best interest to stop doing something they’ve been doing their entire careers and actually play the game with some class. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great for FIFA to have someone like Webb pitch this idea to players, but the reality is that soccer diving will stop when players no longer see it as an advantage.

But it’s hard for game officials to tell a faker from a real injury in the moment, so maybe it’s time for video review that could be done post game and players would be penalized in later games.  Just a thought.

Source: USA Today