The Day the Music Died

This is bad news, but it seems to be getting better. First, Rick Tocchet got in trouble for being linked to an illegal gambling operation with a New Jersay cop. No big deal. Then reports came out that Janet Jones, The Great Wife (who won eternal acceptance for being happy when Canada beat the U.S. in Salt Lake, despite being American) was found to have been making bets through Tocchet's team. In the U.S., you can gamble all you want, just don't place bets for others or pass along money. So why is this an enormous deal? Not for anything that's happened, but the implications for professional athletes placing bets through illegal betting posts (this one perhaps having ties to Jersey mob types) is death, even if they aren't betting on their own sport, because of the possiblities for fixing games. If games are fixed, the sport is in deep trouble. Witness figure skating at the Olympics, or back to the 1919 World Series. Wayne was quoted saying he knew nothing about any gambling ring, but then reports came out of a tapped conversation he had with Tocchet where he wanted to make sure his wife wouldn't be implicated in anything. Oops. The most recent reports do support Wayne though, since the timing suggests that the conversation with Tocchet occured after he was informed by New Jersey police. So it looks like he's clear, but the distraction does not bode well for our fine lads in Torino.