Take the betting parlays off Ron MacLean’s HNIC pregame show

Article content

A four-pack of mini-columns:

Article content

Article content

Number 1: Ron MacLean hosts the Hockey Night in Canada panel, a group of journalists and former players who provide insightful analysis during televised NHL games.

MacLean gets criticized and praised by viewers for myriad reasons, but in reality he’s a legendary, well-respected broadcaster whose hockey knowledge is truly impressive. He’s now apparently a gambling insider, too, contractually promoting a betting site that sponsors NHL telecasts.

Article content

Before an NHL game this past weekend, even before talking about injured players or winning streaks or starting goalies, MacLean started the broadcast by recommending a betting parlay for that night’s contests. A parlay is a series of wagers grouped together to hopefully win more money from a legal gambling site or illegal bookmakers.

What’s wrong with that?

Well, MacLean is advising people how to spend their money. But he’s not just selling soup. Gambling has nothing to do with a hockey game and MacLean, after a lifetime of involvement in the sport, surely hasn’t put as much work into studying over/under goal totals or win/loss probabilities. And here’s the big one: People get addicted to gambling.

It’s an illness, getting worse since single-game wagering was legalized three years ago in Canada and advertisements for gambling sites began appearing everywhere. Gamblers Anonymous meetings across Canada include people with crippling debts, broken homes, damaged relationships, health problems, criminal records or bankruptcies caused by over-betting on sports.

Article content

Article content

Society finally decided it doesn’t want well-known people talking about the glamour of smoking cigarettes. The nicotine in cigarettes is addictive and causes health problems, but smoking is still legal.

Alcohol is addictive. It causes more than health problems. Drinking alcohol is also legal.

Imagine if HNIC had a liquor sponsor. Would anyone want to hear MacLean’s recipe for the perfect whisky sour? Someone with MacLean’s credibility and national profile should not be influencing anyone to partake in potentially destructive behaviours. Like gambling.

———

Number 2: The hype has been mind-boggling recently for Canadian quarterback Kurtis Rourke, whose Indiana University Hoosiers were eliminated from the American college football playoffs Friday with a 27-17 loss to Notre Dame.

Rourke led Indiana to a school-best 11 wins this season, was among the nation’s top-rated passers and placed among the top 10 in Heisman Trophy balloting. He might soon become a rarity: A Canadian quarterback playing pro football.

Rourke could advance to the NFL, where Canadian quarterbacks have long been considered inferior because they lacked the experience of their U.S. counterparts who grew up playing American football through their Pop Warner, high school and college careers. That stigma followed Canadian quarterbacks into the CFL for decades, although Rourke’s brother Nathan and Tre Ford, both Canucks, are expected to be starters this season for the B.C. Lions and Edmonton Elks respectively.

Article content

The CFL has relaxed its roster restrictions to allow Canadian quarterbacks to be counted among the seven mandated “national” starters. As added incentive to develop more, the league should also count any dressed, backup Canadians quarterbacks as filling other “national” roster spots.

———

Number 3: Of all the athletes I never interviewed but wanted to, baseball’s all-time runs/stolen bases leader Rickey Henderson would have been atop the list. Never afraid of being boastful or unintentionally funny, he often spoke in third person. When an MLB teammate suggested he had tenure, Henderson replied, “Ten years? Rickey’s been playing at least 16, 17 years.” Proud of becoming a millionaire, Henderson framed and hung a million-dollar cheque on his wall until the team’s accountants called to ask why he hadn’t cashed it.

Henderson, who would have turned 66 on Christmas, died Friday from pneumonia. A two-time World Series champion (1989 Oakland A’s; 1993 Toronto Blue Jays) who played for nine teams between 1979-2003 and was considered baseball’s best leadoff hitter, swiped 1,406 bases and scored 2,295 runs.

Article content

I also batted leadoff for a local softball team consisting mostly of hockey referees, dubbed the Sherwood (Be Good to Have) Bucks. A year younger than me, Henderson is the only everyday player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame who batted right-handed and threw left-handed. Me, too.

———

Number 4: It’s wonderful seeing sports franchises, from the Saskatchewan Roughriders to the Regina Pats to the Miami Dolphins, sending their players to distribute presents, serve meals, visit hospitals or hold family fun days during the holidays. To those teams, the people they help and everyone who reads this column: Merry Christmas!

The Regina Leader-Post has created an Afternoon Headlines newsletter that can be delivered daily to your inbox so you are up to date with the most vital news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism upon which you depend, our website is your destination for up-to-the-minute news, so make sure to bookmark leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content