This is how the real world works: Rick Tocchet, a former NHL forward and current NHL assistant coach is scheduled to be arraigned on charges of running a million dollar gambling ring with two New Jersey State Troopers. According to New Jersey authorities, in a 40 day period the ring collected over 1.7 million dollars in bets. The investigation has uncovered evidence that the gambling ring is tied to a South Jersey / Philadelphia crime ring. In a even more bizarre twist, documents allegedly show that actress Janet Jones, who is Wayne Gretzky’s wife, placed bets with Tocchet.
And I think they’ve only scratched the surface.
Rick Tocchet is not some second rate hockey player. In a career that spanned 18 years Tocchet amassed 440 goals and 512 assists. He retired in 2002 and became an assistant coach during the 02 – 03 season. What’s even more astonishing is the ties to Gretzky. Granted, the evidence is tied to Gretzky’s wife, but during the sports news broadcast this afternoon I heard Wayne already sounding like he was less than supportive of Janet. It’s day 2 of the scandal and already it’s getting ugly.
Last evening Phil Jackson, coach of the Los Angeles Lakers accused the referees in the Lakers – Mavericks game of being “influenced” by Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.
Yesterday Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren had this to say to the crowd in Seattle: “We knew it was going to be tough going up against the Pittsburgh Steelers, I didn't know we were going to have to play the guys in the striped shirts as well"
There have been several allusions to corruption in sports over the past several weeks. The last 6 minutes of the Steelers – Colts game was beyond suspect, it was downright bizarre. But once the Steelers won they sure became the darlings of the league, didn’t they?
I think there is corruption in sports and I think it’s been there for a long time. St. Ides’s all time favorite Dr. Z told a story today about Craig Morton in Super Bowl XII: “A story broke that he owed the IRS serious money, and there are old Broncos who believe to this day that their quarterback had tanked the contest.” Fans of “Good Fellas” mobster Henry Hill know all about the point shaving scheme that Hill ran with several Boston College players in the late 70’s. Boxing fans have always known that fights were fixed. So have horse racing fans.
Baseball fans have always suspected it.
I wish that a real journalist would do some real investigative reporting. I’ll bet there’s a hell of a lot to find, and I’ll bet that it ain’t just hockey…
I always liked Tocchet as a player, even when he was on the Flyers. He was a tough, gritty player who could also score goals.
ReplyDeleteAnyways, yeah, I think maybe we need some serious investigation going on.
Or we just need to move technology forward quickly enough that we can replace all the referees and umpires with robots.