Michael Ventre

Among the dos and don’ts of working at a gas station is smoking near the pumps. It’s a don’t, for the record, but you’d be surprised how often a dimwit is spotted puffing away within a few feet of disaster and incineration.

Along those same lines, hemophiliacs should stay away from thorn bushes. Pilots should refrain from using drugs and alcohol prior to flights. Scientists who work with deadly viruses shouldn’t show up wearing tank tops and Bermuda shorts.

In organized sports, the sternest occupational axiom of them all involves gambling. It’s a no no. It’s verboten on every level, but especially in the professional ranks, given the need for athletes and leagues to maintain a high level of integrity. Whenever the taint of gambling exists in sports, it immediately calls into question the honesty of the competition. And that’s bad for business.

The NHL has itself a full-fledged crisis on its hands now after it was revealed that Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet was allegedly the kingpin in a nationwide gambling ring that may have also involved Wayne Gretzky and his wife, Janet Jones, at least tangentially. Jones is alleged to have made up to $500,000 in bets, and recent reports suggest that Gretzky at least knew about the operation, even if he wasn’t directly involved in placing bets. Other professional athletes, including NHL players, may also be involved.

In pro sports, this is the equivalent of taking a lit cigarette butt and tossing it into a spilled pool of gasoline next to a tanker truck.

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I don’t have a problem with gambling in general. If folks want to take their hard-earned cash and flush it down the commode, all for the sake of a little “action,” it’s fine by me. I was cured of a brief bout with gambling fever as a teenager, when I blew money I earned mowing lawns at the race track, then was shocked when the man behind the betting window refused to give it back to me, explaining, “That’s not how it works.”

Once I realized the hard way how it really worked, my parsimonious nature took over, and I refrained from gambling save for an occasional pull on a slot machine. The nickel slot machine.

That’s legal gambling, which technically is acceptable for professional athletes. But even that is frowned upon, at least while athletes are still involved in some way in their sports.

Just consider the intense scrutiny Michael Jordan endured with his lavish episodes at the Vegas tables, or his high-stakes golf matches. He quickly gained the reputation as a degenerate gambler, and while there is no evidence he placed bets with bookies, suspicions certainly were raised. It isn’t much of a leap from legal to illegal gambling in the minds of the public.

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What Tocchet is alleged to have done represents a new frontier of stupidity when it comes to professional athletes and sports. Reportedly he didn’t just pull a Pete Rose and place wagers with a bookmaker, which would have been egregious enough. Prosecutors are saying he and his partner, a New Jersey state trooper named James E. Harney, were the guys others placed wagers with. In law enforcement, that’s similar to the distinction between a drug user and a drug dealer.

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