The Washington Post is shocked -- shocked! -- to find that gambling is going on among its sports writers. That's the topic of the latest column by the paper's ombudsman. During the Masters, AOL Sports columnist Sean Jensen did some blogging here at FanHouse, including one post in which he described his experience as the "new guy" at a house shared by longtime sports writers including John Feinstein, Len Shapiro and Tom Boswell, who covered the Masters for the Washington Post.
Jensen wrote about a Masters pool in which the writers each put money into the pot and held a "draft" where they picked golfers, with cash prizes for things like picking the leader after the first round and the overall winner. Even though the entry fee was only $50, those writers were breaking the Post's rules:
Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, assistant managing editor for sports, said, "I'm confident that the small-scale pool in no way affected the coverage of the event and was a 25-year tradition that was started only to bolster camaraderie for those living together while covering the event. That said, we've stressed to our folks that prizes for these sorts of pools, including the NCAA tournament, should not involve cash, no matter how small the amount."
I just got off the phone with Jensen, and although he told me, "I can see the point that it raises," he generally feels that it's not a major issue.
I feel the same way. A friendly pool among the writers isn't going to compromise the integrity of the Post's sports coverage, and if that's the biggest issue the Post's ombudsman has to write about this week, the Post must be in awfully good shape.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
4-16-2007 @ 12:33PM
robbopper said...
This attitude shows some contempt for rules and regulations. Remember a good definition for gambling is "robbery by mutual consent". It's in there. How do you control it short of arresting (in some way)the participants? LtBob8962
Reply
4-16-2007 @ 3:41PM
Unsilent Majority said...
Remember a good definition for gambling is "robbery by mutual consent"
That's an expression not a definition.
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4-17-2007 @ 12:51AM
Carl said...
The Post is compromising the integrity..They did that years ago..Just another nail in the coffin
Reply
4-17-2007 @ 7:22AM
nuts said...
PLEASE!
who cares if feinstien and kornheiser have a masters pool!
get a life, sports cops!
Reply
4-20-2007 @ 12:24PM
Jack said...
Sean Jensen = snitch,
not surprised as soon as Jamie "no-talent" Mottram heard about this he dialed up Cheese boy, they sucked each other off and had to dedicate a post to this...
get off Kornheiser's nuts...
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4-20-2007 @ 8:16PM
S said...
You have GOT to be kidding. Office pools? This is the same media that allowed/allows billy clinton and his wife to get away with rape, lying to a grand jury, corrupting the Justice Dept, lying to the American People and putting our US soldiers in harm's way for his own personal gain. And they talk about office pools?
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4-25-2007 @ 3:37PM
Courtney said...
I guess in these days of rampant political correctness, a story like this shouldn't surprise us. Personally, I am tired of these liberal know-it-alls who think they are qualified to run everybody's lives.
It's a friggin' office pool that has absolutely no influence on the writers (who are doing it for fun and friendly competition) and it has no bearing on who wins the tournament.
Go mind your own house you liberals. Let people live their lives. Unless someone's actions has an adverse affect on another person, there is nothing wrong with it.
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4-25-2007 @ 5:03PM
Pete said...
A pool of these sharks cannot hurt the integrity of the Post. The post has no integrity.
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4-25-2007 @ 5:46PM
Chuck said...
The Washington Post and CBS and many other outlets have the NCAA March Madness brackets every year for cash and prizes and also the weekly football pools. If $50 can influence these guys that much, they are not worth reading. If you keep this rule, all contests that offer prizes of any intrinsic or commercial value should be banned. It is a stupid rule.
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4-25-2007 @ 7:04PM
macy said...
I'm rather shocked - shocked - by the people here putting down what they call liberals for interfering with these Washington Post writers' lives. How did they hear about it to comment on the story since the Post has a lively, intellegent, LIBERAL point of view on many issues...Surely they didn't actually READ the paper???
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4-25-2007 @ 7:30PM
roger daleiden said...
i am so tired of prople who dont mind there own business, i cant imagine anyone tring to make something bad of an office pool, lets get this country back to the real people ,like are anncxestors who drank, gamblied a llittle and built a great country. get a life !!
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