Ugh

Some folks watching kids football in Florida are betting on the games. OK, that is what it is, I guess. Folks will bet on anything, and apparently the people noticed by the ESPN report may be drug dealers and criminals rather than coaches and parents, even though there seems to be a sprinkling of the latter among the bettors.

But some of the dealers also apparently recruit kids to play on teams, offering a few thousand dollars to a mother or her son when the family is just scraping by and dad's not on the scene or in prison. They'll also pay kids money when they make big plays, but when they get too old for the youth league football, the money dries up and unless they've kept up their schoolwork, they don't play in high school. No high school play means no college play, and no college play means no NFL play, and that means jobs washing cars or spending time in jail because of the criminal activity introduced by the bettors.

The real kicker is the clueless dude who runs the league, who said he wasn't aware of how bad the problem was until shown footage from the ESPN investigation. Maybe he's right, which means he should resign because as the guy who runs the show he darn well should have known. Especially since the betting, drug and alcohol use goes on right on the sidelines of the games his league puts on, which means he must not have been to a game in awhile. And that would be another reason for him to step down.

(H/T National Review Online: Right Field)