At the crux of MLB hit king Pete Rose’s ban from baseball for 39 years was one commandment that the Reds legend had defied: Don’t gamble on baseball games. Not only did Rose commit baseball’s mortal sin, but he also admitted to betting on Reds games while he was the club’s manager, something that made the transgression even graver.
Rose’s ban was posthumously lifted in May 2025, nearly a year after his death. But the stain Rose’s actions placed on his integrity within the sport is at the very heart of another gambling scandal in sports, this time in college football.
Texas Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby admitted to placing 40 bets on Indiana football games while he was a member of the team (no games in which he played in), a line-crossing that resulted in the NCAA ruling him ineligible. But Sorsby, making a mockery of the NCAA’s clear bylaws on gambling, filed a lawsuit against the organization and eventually won an injunction that will allow him to take the field for the Red Raiders in 2026.
The decision has sparked outrage across college sports, with some schools, such as Georgia, forbidding its teams from scheduling Texas Tech in future games, and even a lawsuit from the Big 12, as the conference seeks injunctive relief that will allow it to potentially punish Sorsby in accordance with its bylaws.
Is Sorsby a victim of college football being in bed with the gambling companies, a problem in today’s sports landscape for both athletes and consumers? To a certain extent, yes, but the sport’s rules are still rules. Sorsby is an addict seeking treatment for his addiction and thus deserves a degree of sympathy. Yet, just like any addict, Sorsby’s actions can—and in this case did—have real consequences.
What everyone who has enabled Sorsby to get to this point should be asking, is what Colorado football coach Deion Sanders asked during a recent interview with The Associated Press.
“Somebody’s gambling on a sport they’re playing? You don’t think something’s wrong with that?” Sanders, whose Buffaloes will host Texas Tech on Oct. 3, said. “Just say that to yourself: This guy on my team is gambling on the sport, in the competition, that we’re about to go out there and have. Something’s wrong with that.”
What Texas Tech and other enablers have instead done is focus on Sorsby’s ongoing recovery while crying foul about how unfair the mere possibility of Sorsby potentially facing the consequences of his own actions would have been.
Look no further than this quote from Texas Tech president Lawrence Schovanec if you want to see the kind of tone-deaf stance the school has taken in support of Sorsby.
“Brendan made a mistake, we acknowledge that, and mistakes have consequences,” Schovanec said. “At the same time, here’s a young man with a dream and a vision to pursue a career. And we felt not to have the opportunity to pursue that career, given the circumstances and the evolving changes in this world that these athletes face, was unfair and unjust.”
What Texas Tech has deemed unfair and unjust are the fair and just principles behind rules that have guided society for centuries. You do something immoral, you face the consequences, unless you can pay lawyers good money and find a judge who will see things your way, that is.
Sanders hit the nail on the head. There is something wrong with the fact that Sorsby will get to play college football after breaking the sport’s cardinal rule.
Texas Tech, in its lust for winning, is the only party that can’t see that.
