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Pete Rose, baseball's all-time leader in hits, was banned from the sport in 1989 for gambling.

I just wonder what the genesis was of this whole thing. Did Tocchet and Harney decide over beers one day that, even though the consequences of being discovered would be disastrous given their current occupations, it was worth the risk? Did they not consider the fallout for all their valued friends with similar standings, notably other professional athletes who gambled with them as well as any other state troopers who may have known about the operation but kept silent?

It’s troubling but understandable if someone is a compulsive gambler, as former Ohio State and Indianapolis Colts quarterback Art Schlichter was. By his own count, Schlichter committed over 20 felonies and has spent time in over 30 prisons, all because of a sickness. He’s still in the slammer and is not scheduled for release until May, 2008.

And maybe Rose also had an addiction, which led to his banishment from baseball and his exclusion from the Hall of Fame. He used extremely poor judgment, creating the perception that he might have bet on games he managed. Major League Baseball welcomes chronic gamblers into its ranks with the same enthusiasm that elementary school principals welcome child molesters as teachers, which is to say, none at all.

There are any number of examples through the years of people in college and professional athletics who paid a severe price for getting involved in gambling. They’re the dangling shrunken heads of sports, used by administrators of leagues to warn others of the dire consequences of placing or taking bets.

In addition, just about every team lockerroom and clubhouse in the nation where the perils of gambling exist has a sign up explaining in vivid detail the rules against gambling, and the penalties for breaking those rules. And teams regularly are subjected to lectures by league security personnel about how gambling can creep into the lives of players, and what can be done to prevent it.

With all those red flags flapping, it makes it all that much more astounding what Tocchet is alleged to have done, and how others followed. Being a professional athlete, or even simply an assistant coach with a franchise, is like having a breakaway on an open net. In life, it doesn’t get much easier.

Instead, Tocchet and his cohorts chose the penalty box. Go figure.

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