“Does Chauncey Billups know about this poker game?” I asked jokingly as I walked into the clubhouse.
The old men sitting around the table looked up at me, briefly, not all of them, as if they couldn’t be bothered.
Every Wednesday after I finish my round of golf, I walk into the men’s locker room to find a familiar scene: six or seven elder gentlemen huddled tightly around a poker table, at a course that shall remain nameless so as not to alert the Feds. Hey, I’m no snitch.
“Who?” one of them finally replied, hoarse voice, barely audible, probably wishing they still allowed smoking in locker rooms. Poker chips in front of him, the familiar scent of Aqua Velva was faint enough to be smelled from the doorway. I immediately got the sense this man had never watched an NBA game in its entirety.
Another one of them chuckled, finally getting the joke. I walked quickly to the restroom to go about my business, then head home after shooting a cool 86 on the day.
I’m not sure any of these fellows were familiar with the full work of Chauncey Billups. Up until a few days ago, only the FBI and “the connected” truly were. They’d been tracking Billups for some time.
An NBA Champion, Finals MVP and supposed leader of that victorious 2004 Pistons team has all but shoveled dirt on his legacy by somehow, some way getting involved with the mafia and a rigged, high-stakes, illegal poker game. Billups had been coaching the Portland Trailblazers since 2021. He’s currently taking a leave of absence. From everything we’ve heard, it’s unlikely he’ll ever return.
Billups wasn’t the only name linked to the NBA’s current gambling scandal. Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier was allegedly feigning poor performances to sway his over/under totals after tipping off wise guys, Damon Jones was providing tips as to when former teammate LeBron James would, or would not, play and Billups was corralling patsies to poker outings involving, per the USA Today “poker chip tray analyzers, special contact lenses or eyeglasses that read pre-marked cards, and an X-ray table that reads cards face down.”
I’m pretty sure the gentlemen in the golf club poker room were far more on the up and up, but you never know.
As an NBA fan, I can’t say I’m not disappointed but also can’t say I’m shocked that at least one star was titillated by the lure of an extra payday, although Billups did earn over $100 million over his playing career. I guess nine figures don’t go as far as they used to. If, or when, the trial starts, here’s hoping he doesn’t go full Henry Hill, lest we find him in the back of a garbage truck. Cue up Derek and the Dominos, Goodfellas.
I can’t imagine Commissioner Silver not taking a hardline on Billups, Rozier, Jones or any player involved in gambling, but stranger things have happened.
About four hours prior to me walking in on said poker game, I hit the driving range to warm up the old back.
A fellow swinging right next to me saw my UF hat, glancing over at my golf cart to see my fancy University of Florida golf bag and put two and two together, something our last four football coaches have been able to do in both the wins and losses columns.
He immediately engaged me in conversation.
“So, you think we’re gonna land Lane Kiffin?” He’s the talk of the town.
I looked at him matter-of-factly and replied, “I don’t know why anyone would want to coach at the school.” Then, in fifty, frustrated words or less, I recapitulated what I’d written only weeks ago on this very site about how Florida, more than any other school, has a knack for running coaches out of town disgracefully.
Surprisingly, he agreed. He must be reading SportsChump too.
As I’d written in that article, and have concluded the more I think about it, why would Kiffin leave Ole Miss for a few more million dollars and a whole lot of hassle? He doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who’s willing to take that much guff for a small raise in pay?
If Kiffin, hypothetically, takes the Florida job and doesn’t win a conference championship within say, four years, or somehow succumbs to the program’s pressure that every coach but two (well, one did have a heart attack) has, Lane will be run out of town, only to find Ron Zook, Will Muschamp, Jim McElwain, Dan Mullen and Billy Napier at the beverage cart waiting to tell him “I told ya’ so.”
On the flip side, if Lane Kiffin, also hypothetically, stays at Ole Miss and somehow brings that school a national championship, something that hasn’t happened since 1960, he’d have to go down as one of the greatest coaches in modern college football history. I mean, what’s more difficult of a task? Winning (another title) at Florida or bringing a title to a school that hasn’t had one in our lifetime?
Do you know how many ten win seasons Ole Miss has had in the sixty years between their 1960 national title and the year Lane Kiffin got there, 2020?
Four.
Including this season, where Kiffin will once again win ten games, do you know how many ten-win seasons he has had in the six years since taking the job?
Answer: Also, four.
Once again, Florida finds itself in a pickle and is not the only high-profile program (LSU, Penn State) looking for, and willing to pay a premium for, the best coach out there.
It might be time for Florida to hit the driving range and reassess its hand a little more carefully before going all in this time. The game might be rigged against them.
The toxic environment in sports, as with most endeavors in our great country, has been tainted by corruption that extends to our highest institutions.
Not surprised? You can bet on it.
I’m sorry that my post is so negative, but that is my state of mind these days.
As for the Gators, I guess we will have to bask in the glory of the past because the future does not look good.
Cool running s my friend !