Gambling with Fate: Pistons organization in an Embarassing Situation

By Calvin Little

Well, the Pistons loss wasn't the only thing to cast gray clouds above our heads this week. Yesterday, word broke out that the FBI, and the NBA were working alongside each other in a sting operation related to illegal gambling. They arrested Chauncey Billups, head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers and former Hall of Fame Pistons player. They believe he has been a part of a rigged Poker table run by the Mafia that he participates in. It supposedly uses X-ray tables to scan cards, glasses with similar technology, and pre-shuffled decks, which gave Billups and the Mafia an upper hand to con victims out of thousands of dollars, that were supposedly lured in due to Billups fame.

While it feels like a scene straight from The Godfather, I personally believe stories like these aren't fabricated. We've seen the Mafia play a hand in sports before, and even though they aren't as prevalent in America as they were, they still are around, and we see it through events like this. It's a shame their operations have to ruin what we call entertainment, but the rules are clear in the sports leagues "We can't stop the mafia, but we can stop you. Follow our gambling rules and everything will be ok". For Billups, the temptation was just too high I suppose. It's even alleged he rested players so the Mafia could win their bets by placing them on the opposing team the Trailblazes were playing. While the NBA was reaching a peak in recent years, it may come down a bit after headlines like this.

Despite that, the Pistons are still 0-1. There's a lot to clean up as they take on a Rockets team looking to get their first win of the year. Overall, it's certainly not time to hit the panic button yet, but it's obviously not a happy start for our Detroit Pistons. Let's hope they can ignore the outside distractions, and pick up a win tonight.