Are You Ruining Football?

In this episode of Wake Up, Look Up, Pastor Zach explores the rising impact of sports gambling and how it is reshaping athletes, competition, and culture in ways many of us overlook. He uses a recent story of a college quarterback’s gambling struggle to examine how addiction, incentives, and mass participation are affecting both individuals and the sports we love. The episode challenges listeners to consider not just personal freedom, but the broader consequences of a culture driven by profit and appetite.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Zach Weihrauch

Follower of Jesus who has graciously given me a wife to love, children to shepherd, and a church to pastor.

What is Wake Up, Look Up?

Check out new episodes of our daily podcast, Wake Up, Look Up, with Zach Weihrauch as he interprets what's happening in our world through the lens of the gospel.

Hello everyone, and thanks for listening to Wake Up, Look Up, a podcast where we connect events happening in real time to the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Zach Weihrauch, and in today's episode, we're asking the question, are you ruining football? This is prompted by an article I read recently in the Athletic, the New York Times sports website, about Brendan Sorsby, a, college quarterback who recently transferred from the University of Cincinnati to Texas Tech. Now, Brendan Sworesby is a pretty good quarterback. In fact so good that he was making a million dollars to play at, Cincinnati. And when he transferred to Texas Tech, they decided to pay him 4 million. So he's a good enough player that two universities felt like he was worth seven figures to play football there. But it looks like he won't be playing football anywhere. And that's because recently he checked himself in to a rehab facility to treat a gambling addiction. This on the heels of a report coming out that he has been placing hundreds of thousands of dollars in Betsy, including on his own football games, at least during his time at the University of Indiana. Now, NCAA rules make it that if you gamble on your own team, you face permanent ineligibility. In fact, so much so that many people believe Sorsby will forego his college eligibility and enter the NFL's supplemental draft. And of course, you know where I'm going with this if you're a regular listener of Wake Up Lookup, because this is yet another example of the devastating effects of gambling. And I'll just say this, you know, second Peter 2:19 says this for whatever overcomes a person to that he is enslaved. Gambling addiction is devastating. The way any addiction is. It takes over control of your life and will make you obey it until you have nothing left. Gambling addicts don't just lose the money initially. They lose more and more money as they try to make back what they lost. And I know it's tempting with gambling to say, okay, Zach, this is a story of, of an irresponsible person who really shouldn't have been gambling, should have realized they weren't wired for it, made destructive choices, and that's their fault. How is that any different than say, alcohol? A, person, we're all allowed to drink and alcoholics drinking destroys their life. That doesn't mean a glass of wine for everybody is a problem. That's a fair pushback. But here's the difference. Gambling inherently, sports gambling inherently creates a market for more and more destruction. In other words, there is an influence influx of money in college Football because you are gambling from your couch, which is creating the market for the Brendan Sorsby's of the world and to do what they do. In other words, if I drink a glass of wine, there is no impact at all on you. You're not going to have to drink wine because of me. The waiter at your table isn't going to say, come on, come on, come on, he's drinking wine. You should do it too. You're not going to be financially incentivized to drink wine because I've made that choice. It's true. That's an individual decision without repercussions for you. Gambling is not that way. We are creating a behemoth. Don't believe me? Try watching any sports programming, any athletic event, listening to any sports podcast, and what you're going to Find is that DraftKings, FanDuel, Bet G MGM is the sponsor of that podcast or show. Gambling is taking over sports and it's even leading to Brendan Sorsby's of the world ruining their lives. And hey, maybe you don't care about his life. I hope you do, but maybe you don't. But consider this. The one you catch is not the only one doing it. The truth is that sports is being overtaken by athletes who are, financially incentivized to cheat, to lay down on their points, or to, to, to contribute in different ways because of the incentive, even as we've seen in baseball, to throw a ball or throw a strike because somebody somewhere is getting paid. Who brought this to bear on sports? We did. And so as the years go on and your favorite teams and your favorite athletes and your favorite sports are continuing to unravel because of the devastating effects of gambling. Just know this. It's not the sports themselves that are to blame. They are simply meeting the demand that is in your heart and mine. We are ruining sports, ruining the lives of the Brendan Sorsbys of the world, ruining the lives of many young men in their 20s who sit in our churches and are part of our families because we want a little thrill and we want to make a little money. This is not about personal freedom and personal responsibility. This is about societal decline brought on by individual greed. And just know when you read these stories, if you're actively gambling, when you read these stories, you, you are contributing to them. And ask yourself whether or not you should be okay with that. Remember, the whole law boils down to this. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. Hey, thanks for watching this. Episode of Wake Up, Look Up. If you enjoyed it, please help us get the word out by sharing it with someone you think might benefit from it. And while you're here, make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel to get further content or even download the CCC app, where you'll find even more resources to help you grow in your faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have an article you’d like Zach to discuss? Email us at [e-mail]!