It’s generally not good to tolerate hypocrisy. It feels gross to stand by powerless while you watch someone vehemently deride the very thing they were publicly justifying a day earlier.
Hypocrisy can take many forms in sports. That means it should be judged on a spectrum. It’s not wildly offensive when Colin Cowherd delivers a take that contradicts one he had a week earlier. A coach embracing an offensive style he once called dangerous is just good business. Hypocrisy is always distasteful, but maybe getting upset isn’t always worth the effort.
This is a strange time in sports. The relationship that leagues and the people covering them have with gambling is primed to create instances of hypocrisy when talking about a scandal like the one currently facing Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby.
It’s hard not to notice the conflicts of interest at play. What makes this situation and earlier ones like it so strange is not just that we have to accept them. As long as legal sports betting exists, fans have to embrace the hypocrisy at play.
Sportsbooks spend a lot! All of the money that FanDuel, DraftKings, and their competitors put into advertising is a foundational piece of sports media outlets’ budgets right now. .
Both situations led to some very suspect coverage. In 2024, Stan Van Gundy dismissed the seriousness of charges against Porter by saying that he wasn’t good enough to fix games. His then-TNT colleague Charles Barkley lamented that Porter had to be banned from returning to the league. ESPN ignored the story entirely for a full hour after it broke.
In 2025, Stephen A. Smith was distracted from the charges against Rozier and Billups by FBI Director Kash Patel calling them a political stunt. Over on SiriusXM, Chris Russo flat-out said the charges do not matter.
Amazing 5 minutes of radio from Chris “Mad Dog” Russo on SiriusXM.
Says NBA gambling scandal is “not a big deal.”
Says this is “a lot to do about nothing.”
Mentions someone named Donk Itch
Doesn’t trust FBI.
Ends NBA discussion ton throw to interview with Torey Lovullo. pic.twitter.com/bqyynhFMUy
— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) October 23, 2025
Adam Silver was the first league commissioner to say American sports should embrace gambling, and it has come back to bite him in the ass. Anyone can understand why he may be looking to the NBA’s media partners for a little help.
Hypocrisy is infuriating, and it’s all around us. This time, though, we are just going to have to accept it.
Brendan Sorsby’s isn’t the first story of an athlete using his phone to place bets. It won’t be the last. It has shown up in college and all across the pros. All of those leagues will see it happen again. Our attitudes on gambling in general have changed, but when it comes to athletes, the result has to be the same every single time: their playing days are over.
Maybe the NFL will look the other way and make room for Brendan Sorsby in a supplemental draft. Maybe Sorsby’s new, very expensive lawyer can make things uncomfortable enough for the NCAA that they relent and give the guy a path back to eligibility. Either one would be bad for business.
So roll your eyes when Get Up goes from a segment including Bussin’ With the Boys, a show produced by FanDuel, to a discussion about Sorsby’s punishment. Shout back at the TV when self-avowed gambling enthusiasts Nick Wright and Danny Parkins mention Sorsby’s eligibility on First Things First. This is just one where there is no simple answer.
Money from gambling companies is too important to leagues and networks for those entities to refuse. That may change the way stories about gambling are covered. It may put league offices in the position of having to answer some awkward questions. It cannot change the fundamental truth that playing or coaching in a game gives a person influence over the outcome. But everyone has collectively decided it’s all part of the current cost of doing business.
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