Latest / Mostly College Football / #288 - The Hidden Dangers of Sports Gambling in College Sports
Transcript
- Micaiah: Hello and welcome everyone fourth one podcast it's been a while since I've been in front of you got a lot of Things going on in personal life plus. There's not a whole lot not going on right now in terms of college football there's Baseballs in full swing about a month into things basketballs in the postseason hockey's in the postseason So there are plenty of sports out there if you are a sports fan, please go check those out very some very entertaining things are going on in the world of sports. But I kind of got on today because I wanted to share with you ⁓ a news update. If you don't get news updates or ESPN alerts or anything like that. something came across yesterday. I'm recording this on Tuesday, April 28th, 2026, the year of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. ⁓ Brandon Soresby has checked himself into rehab for having a gambling addiction. That is very sad. I'm very proud of the young man. That feels weird to say, but he's probably about 10 years younger than I am, which is also very weird to say. And I don't like it if I'm being totally honest with all of the listeners slash viewers that's watching me right now. Go follow us on Instagram, 4th one podcast, TikTok, 4th one pod. All the other socials are fourth moon podcasts. All the words are all spelled out. You gotta include podcast on there. So anyway, Brendan Soresby chucked himself into rehab for gambling addiction. According to sources, Soresby bet on Indiana football while red-shirting there for the Hoosiers and has a freshman in 2022. Spoiler alert, they were real bad that year. A season in which he played a single game as a reserve. The bets in 2022, according to sources, were on Indiana to win and none came in a game where Sworzby appeared. So he's down quite a bit of money just if he bet on Indiana to win in 2022 as they didn't do much of that in 2022. Hashtag sick burn. Hashtag I understand they're the defending national champions. This brings me to a larger point of sports gambling in America is out of control. We have streaming service, me and the wife have all the streaming services or at least some of them, right? And the big one that she likes to use is Hulu. Right now her fix is the kind of early seasons of Scrubs. I they just did a Scrub reboot. So like, you know, one through eight, those seasons of Scrubs. And so she's watching that and every other commercial is DraftKings or Bet Rivers or Bet 365 or FanDuel. FanDuel created this whole thing and this whole ad about thrillionaires. You want a thrill? Come be with us. And every time the commercial comes on, because it's got a catchy little jingle to it and, you know, it's people that look just like me and you. There's no supermodels or no... big buff guys or you know, it's everyday looking people. Not to say that everyday looking people aren't beautiful because y'all are. But what I'm saying is this commercial once still appeal to you as an everyday person and thrill. Come to our online casino and gamble with us. Come sports bet with us. And there's a catchy little jingle and everything. It's gotten out of control. And every time that commercial comes on, I say, They just know how to get people addicted to gambling. And so in a new age, or a heightened new age, as it's not exactly new online gambling, online sports betting, in an enhanced, heightened new age where you can bet on anything just about at any time you want. This is a scary moment and the NCAA needs to make sure that they try to protect these kids and give them resources in order to deal with it. I again, Brendan Swersby, I hope he the treatment he's seeking and I hope that the NCAA doesn't come down too hard on him. I'm gonna guess that they're not even gonna come down on him before the season starts. It's gonna be like an in-season thing. He's checking himself in, he's doing the right things. I understand that there are rules in the NCAA. You are not allowed to bet on college or pro sports. You're not allowed to sports gamble at all. And maybe that is the rule that you got to live by. So maybe you do need to be harsh, but this is going to be the first of many. Iowa, two years ago, Iowa had that big sports bet where Iowa State, think Morocco Beck was involved with that at some point in time. Maybe not Rocco Beck, but there was another quarterback at Iowa State that was involved in sports gambling in college. The FBI were involved in Iowa and Iowa State. It was a whole big thing. It's going to grow. As sports gambling is so easily accessible, it is going to grow and they are going to have to figure out how to help these kids through this time. No other outside law enforcement is involved with the Soarsby situation. So that tells me. that really there's nothing nefarious going on here but he did break the NCAA rules so it is going to be interesting to see if he's available this season and all this the entire duration of the season. ⁓ and in terms of how... accessible sports gambling is, I don't know what we can do about that. Bet responsibly, obviously. I take a set amount at the beginning of every year and once I burn through that, I'm out, I'm done for the season. So I normally do very, I normally, call them dollar bets, you know, no more than a dollar on a certain bet. And it's worked out well for me. But this is something to keep an eye on. Texas Tech could be without, he was the number one prospect in the transfer portal this last winter off season. So it is going to be very interesting for both Texas Tech, Ambren and Sewersby and how things are managed going forward. Do there need to be more regulations on sports betting? I think absolutely there do. There does. Someone, everyone just needs to chill out with this. Like, I know that this is capitalism and everyone's trying to get the highest market, but it's okay to only make $500 million. You don't need to make $800 million. $500 will still get everyone paid and still make everyone rich. You know what I'm saying? So that's the underlying issue in terms of just be on the lookout for more news about this Brendan Searsby thing and I will be right here to cover it for you. ⁓ All here another thing I wanted to talk about is the NCAA tournament, both men's and women's are going to 76 teams. The basketball tournament, terrible. It's a money grab. It's terrible. 68 teams is way too many as it is or 64, whatever it is right now. It's way too many. No one watch it because they have this little first four in Dayton, Ohio where, you know, two 16s play and like two 11s play or something like that. And, you know, the winner then gets slotted into the main tournament. No one cares. I mean, people care because some people watch it, I don't need to see two 500 teams play. Give me the actual tournament that. teams that matter are playing where then it's dwindled down into you know the best of the best in the elite eight in the final four I I don't need all Expanding the 76 teams does nothing for the product at all Besides a money grab and to engage viewers more it this does nothing for the product So I'm very disappointed, but what else is doing from the NCAA? You know what? What else would you expect? And the answer is nothing. Because they are the lowest of the low. They are the grime of the grime. The most incompetent people on the face of the earth. Anyway. ⁓ Moving on to something else that the NCAA is going to do. ⁓ They're going to try and enforce regulations. Which is a, you get five years to play five years of college athletics. So either when you graduate high school your clock starts. There are no medical waivers. are no, ⁓ you can transfer but there's red shirting. There's no medical waivers. None of that. No hardship waivers. None of that. You get five years from when you graduate or from your 19th birthday, whichever comes first. And you get five years. If you used up your eligibility, you used it up. So, Charlie Baker says it's not gonna be retroactive to the kids right now who may have graduated in like four years, right? And they still have a fifth year. That doesn't work for them either. Charlie Baker is saying once you used up your current eligibility, you used up. This probably won't go into effect until August for next season. The vote is on May 22nd. Their direction. to the D1 cabinet is full speed ahead on figuring this out. This would help a lot because right now in college, it's a small bite in a much, I was gonna say much larger sandwich. And then I guess that English works out. I've never been very articulate, but I guess that it is just a small bite of a much larger sandwich that they have to slowly gnaw away at, which is college. eligibility and an IEL and all of that. So, but this five for five, I think is perfect. You graduate high school, tick, tick, tick, the clock starts. You get to, you get five years, you don't need a red shirt, because you can transfer whenever you want, so you can transfer to whatever school is going to agree to play you right away. That's fine, right? So, clock starts, you're good to go, right? ⁓ So, this is a very, small win if they vote this and if they can. uphold this and make teams follow this rule and that's the thing. They're going to have to punish the teams and universities for violating this rule, not the players. Every time they take the players to court, they lose. But every time they take teams to court or arbitration or whatever, they win. So that is what they're going to have to maintain that standard with the teams and the programs that if like... Say if someone graduated when they were 17, they played five years, that would be 22, but you know, they try to get a 23rd because they had an ACL or whatever. You're going to have to punish that team there. You know, suspend the coach fine, hit their pocketbook hard. I think that that is one thing the NCAA is not taking full advantage of, is hitting the pocketbook of these schools hard. You're going to have to talk their language and their language is money. Just like with FanDuel and DraftKings and all that. The language is money in 2026 America. So talk that language. Find them a ridiculous amount of money and I guarantee you no one will ever break that rule. Ever. And make sure that that money that you get from the fine is then redispersed to other ⁓ scholarships and things like that for low income and then you look like a good guy. I don't think it's that hard but maybe it is. Maybe it is, and maybe not. All right, and finally, I watched the Michigan spring game two weeks ago now. Bryce Underwood played first quarter. Tommy Carr played quarters two through four, and then Herb Street, Kirk Herb Street's son, the third string quarterback came in and he played for the blue team, I believe, in the fourth quarter. Some things to note, they're gonna have to, Michigan is gonna have to figure out their offensive line and make sure and sturdy up that both in run and pass blocking. It's a mixture of starters and not starters. And I understand it's spring ball. It means nothing in the green scheme of things, but there are things that you see in spring ball that you're like in fall, if this isn't worked on, that's gonna be trouble. run blocking and most importantly their tackles pass blocking are going to have to improve as such. I think the weapons on the outside will come along. I think their running back room is very strong with Savion Hitter. He is a grown man as an 18 year old. If you take one look at him, if you Google Savion Hitter, you are going to think that he's 22 years old. and go and in the NFL. He looks like a grown man. And Jordan Marshall, he is a grown man at this point in time. I think he's going to have a tremendous season. Jason Beck calls a heck of a game at Utah last year. Utah was number two in the nation in rushing. That includes service academies who run it all the time. So that's a big accomplishment. So. As long as Michigan hit the offensive line right, I think the running game will come. The outside in the tight end game, I think is very promising, very young, but very promising. And I think if they come along, everything will be fine in the passing game. But the orchestrator of the passing game obviously is the quarterback. Bryce Underwood did not have a great spring game. That is very obvious. Again, I'm going to caveat this next... 10 to 15 minutes with what I'm about to say with, it's a spring game, it means very little. There was a running back from Michigan and I forget his name because he ended up transferring and he didn't even, ⁓ Benny Hall, that was his name. Benny Hall was from Georgia and in a spring game two, three years ago, he got in space and made a linebacker in the spring game look silly. And me and my brother were watching the spring game together, a rarity that we watch any sports at all together. And we looked at each other and we said, he's gonna be a problem. Never ended up starting, transferred. I'm not even sure if he had a good year last year. I didn't hear anything about him. So, spring games mean very little. That's the caveat to what I'm about to say. Tommy Carr by far looked like the best quarterback that Michigan has. The freshman. Bryce Underwood is going to start. I'm not trying to take that from him and I'm not and there's no rule against improving. And I think that he has the opportunity to improve and to wow people and be a tremendous college football player at the highest caliber possible. But what I saw in spring was exactly what I saw last fall, which was messy footwork, messy decisions, messy eyes. and inability once you're outside the pocket to be an improviser and do things down the field. There were good moments last year with Bryce Underwood. You put him to the Nebraska game, he had a long rushing touchdown. ⁓ The running game really translated very nice. The Northwestern game, they threw the ball very well, albeit he had some interceptions in there. Maryland, they threw the ball very well. So there are highlights last year for Bryce Underwood. And then there are low lights from Bryce Underwood. And if you watch the spring game or go and watch Bryce Underwood's low lights from last year, it is all going to look exactly the same, which is messy footwork, messy decision-making, and messy eyes. And then once you're outside the pocket, more messy decision-making. He's throwing off his back foot a lot, his feet are not aligned, his feet are not throwing to the receiver and driving the football forward to the receiver. he wants to throw to. So he's got a lot to work on. Now, he does have a dedicated quarterback coach going into the summer and into the fall, and he's a very hard worker. He is a captain. He was a captain this spring. We'll see if he's a captain this fall. So I'm not saying he cannot improve, and I hope he does, because if he reaches even a semblance of the talent he has, Michigan will be in the college football playoff hands down, because he is extremely talented. in throwing the football and running the football. The other thing he really struggled with was everything's a fastball. And again, I saw it in spring. Fastball, fastball, fastball. There's no touch. Whether the guy's two feet away from him, five feet away from him, or two yards, five yards, or 15 yards down the field, everything is a fastball right down the pike at 101 miles an hour. So he's going to have to figure that out, and hopefully he does. Tommy Carr, meanwhile, comes in, true freshman. And his brother CJ Carr's at starting at Notre Dame. CJ Carr, or Tommy Carr, excuse me. Good footwork, good decision making. touch on the football down the field. What is there not to like? When I watched a full spring game, and I know, and he played with some starters, he played with backup, he played with third string, I'm sure there were fourth string guys in there, the ball moved and he played very, very well for a true freshman. This is what Kyle Whittingham, this comes from the winged helmet connected with the Michigan program. Head coach Kyle Whittingham recently interviewed with USA Today. I'm in the facility at 10 at night and I walk by the quarterback room and there's Tommy Carr watching film all by himself. He's completely immersed in his development as far as trying to get better. I'm letting everyone know right now, and this is an extremely hot take. An extremely hot take from Spring Game. But I'm just going based off of mechanics only. Not performance within the spring game, but looking at how they did their performance. That is what I'm looking at. Tommy Carr at some point in this upcoming season is going to start for the Maze in Blue. And I don't know whether, if he is starting, if the season is too far gone. Tommy Carr, and I'll say it again for the people in the back that didn't, didn't make it hear me, so go ahead and turn this up if you're riding with other fans. Tommy Carr is going to start at some point for the Maze and Blue this fall. Based on what I watched mechanically from both Bryce Underwood and Tommy. I hope Bryce Underwood improves because I do think he gives us the best chance to win, but Tommy Carr is underrated athletic. His touch on the ball is great. He is a freshman, so there's that decision making. So Bryce does have that up on him because Bryce has seen more than Tommy Carr at this point in time. But Bryce Underwood is going to have to improve mechanically, drastically, and Kyle Winningham will come out and he will ride and die with Underwood because he was the one recruit he fought to keep when he came on board. But Bryce Underwood, won't, that only gives you so much leash because Kyle Winningham is under the pertinent of Michigan fans and Michigan fans demand. wins. So you're going to have to win and it cannot be nine and three with an embarrassing offensive game against Ohio State. You have to win some games that you're expected to lose. You got to win this Oklahoma game at home. You got to beat Indiana at home. You got to beat Ohio State on the road two or three. I think you get Penn State at home. Penn State's not gonna be an easy out. You have got to improve mechanically in order for this team to reach its full potential. So that's my hot take from spring ball, from Michigan spring ball. I really do think just based on spring ball that Tommy Carr is at some point gonna be starting this season. And I hope it's not when they're five and two and suffer just devastating losses. and then they drop another one because Tommy makes a freshman mistake game or something like that and now you're out of the College Football Playoff. Unfortunately, based on your schedule this year in Michigan, I'm expecting you to make the College Football Playoff. I'm just going to pull it up here for everybody. So everyone knows what I'm doing, but here is Michigan's 2026 schedule. It's Western Michigan. It's Oklahoma at home. It's Western Oklahoma at home, UTip at home and Iowa at home. Iowa, very good defense. Who's ever playing quarterback at Iowa? When they're playing Iowa, better not turn the ball over. You're losing that game. Then you go to Minnesota. You got better athletes. You're home for Penn State and home for Indiana. I hate to say it, you better be undefeated by this point in time because I think you could drop both games. Absolutely, you could drop both games. But let's just say you get one or two. Then you go at Rutgers, Michigan State, that's a sneaky game, Pat Fitzgerald. You're at Oregon, that's an L, home to UCLA and Ohio State. If you're gonna drop three games, It better not be to Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State. You better beat Oklahoma in one of the big 10, big three, Indiana, Oregon, and Ohio State. Youth play the current big three in the big 10. So Michigan's gonna have to figure it out. Kyle Wellingham's got a long season ahead of him, and Bryce Underwood definitely needs to improve mechanically for this to work out. That'll do it for me today. I don't even know if I'll end up posting this. I just felt like recording something. ⁓ Got my work done today. My day off, so got my house chores done and that's pretty much it. So I'm going to sign off here if I can find the... music and that'll do it for now. Remember to wash your hands you filthy animals and until next time this has been Captain Boring. God bless you. Peace out.