The United States is about as puritanical and hypocritical a country as it gets.
Take a look at our smokers. Over the last 10 or 20 years, convicts have gotten more empathy from our judgmental-sect. But, and here comes the hypocrisy, if you do like to inhale, please suck down an extra pack so we can fund a massive $1 trillion dollar health care program with the taxes placed upon you.
Same for drinkers, it's not really good for you...wink...wink...but go ahead and down one more Grey Goose so we can sin-tax the hell out of you.
Yep, we like to feel good about ourselves and profit at the same time at the expense of others. After all, if someone else isn't following our moral code, surely they can't be a functioning member of society.
The latest victim of the torch-carrying puritans is Fort Myers, Fla. city manager Scott Janke, who was fired after officials learned his wife is an adult film actress.
I can hear Rev. Lovejoy's wife screeching now..."Think of the children!"
Of course, the mayor of the small southwest Florida town, Larry Kiker, defended the town council's decision to fire Janke, insisting that the termination had nothing to do with his spouse's job but that the town was merely trying to maintain order.
"What we were addressing was a situation where we weren't going to be able to govern the town with all the disruption and interruption," Kiker said.
Right...
Kiker's "well-intentioned plan" set off a media firestorm. "I've done over 30 interviews . I've gotten hundreds of e-mails, we're getting threatened," Kiker said. "Nobody is getting any work done around here."
Maybe if Kiker and his council minded their own business and judged Janke on his actual job performance instead of his wife's, Fort Myers wouldn't have had every major news outlet in the country swooping down on them.
The NBA and the sports world in general are hardly any different than the rest of our society, save for the vice -- gambling.
Late last week, the four major professional sports leagues (NBA, MLB, NFL and the NHL), along with the NCAA, filed a complaint against the state of Delaware in federal court in Wilmington, seeking to stop the state from offering single-game betting on pro and college games.
The leagues and the NCAA assert that the state's recently-announced decision to offer single-game betting as part of the 2009 Delaware Sports Lottery violates federal law.
To the rest of the world, Delaware is known as one of the 13 original states to participate in the American Revolution and the first to ratify the Constitution of the United States. To those of us who live within driving distance, it's the home of tax-free shopping.
In corporate America, despite its diminutive size, the state is a true heavyweight, loved for its friendly laws designed to lure big business. In fact, if you look closely you will often see the term "A Delaware Corporation" next to the names of many large companies. Over 50 percent of US publicly traded corporations, and 60 percent of the Fortune 500 companies, are incorporated in Delaware.
To be blunt, most major corporations love Delaware and its tax policy, save for David Stern's monopoly and his compatriots, who have always remained more than hypocritical on the betting issue.
The daily point spreads you see in your local newspaper are an obvious deference to games of chance, but the NBA and its cohorts have always had plausible deniability in that aspect since the spreads are compiled by various Las Vegas casinos and sportsbooks, not the leagues themselves.
Of course, daily press releases announcing injuries are clearly designed to even the playing field for the gamblers who fuel the popularity of all the various sports.
Despite that disingenuous policy, the leagues filed the suit, citing the The Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, which became law in 1992 and prohibits states from operating a lottery or betting scheme based on pro or college games.
Four states, including Delaware, were grandfathered in the legislation since they had previously operated sports betting. The exception, however, only applies to the type of wagering scheme that occurred in the states from January 1, 1976 through August 31, 1990.
According to the suit, Delaware did not conduct single-game wagering during its 1976 sports lottery, which was limited to parlay bets on NFL games. Therefore, they say that the PASPA exception does not permit Delaware to now conduct single-game wagers on the NFL or wagering on sports other than the NFL, the lawsuit states.
So, why is the NBA, along with the other pro sports leagues, so against gambling in Delaware?
The same reason they are "against" performance-enhancing drugs -- public relations.
The leagues know that gambling generates more interest. But, they also are aware that the majority of the public looks down on the activity as a seedy enterprise.
"The leagues know they need the gambling, yet they have to appear as if they're completely against it," gambling expert Steve Budin told the Wilmington News Journal earlier this year.
Whether it's legal or not, gambling on pro sports will continue in Delaware. The only question is whether its proceeds will remain the domain of the corner bookie, or will it shift toward the government.
Will the local thug kick up his proceeds to a John Gotti-like mafia boss or will the "new mafia," headed by Barack Obama and Delaware's own Joe Biden, place their sticky fingers deeper into your already-strained wallet?
The NBA doesn't care -- just keep gambling.
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