Sports
April 12, 2013• Editor, Powell Cobb
Bobcats win Carty’s 200th
LEE MCDADE
Gambling Madness
JESSICA WINSKI / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER (Top) Junior Patrick Olvaney pitches during last Saturday’s game against Lander. (Above, left) Daniel Bick, infielder, takes his turn at bat. Pitcher Patrick Olvaney and infielder Daniel Bick strategize on the mound. The Bobcats lost the first game 16-3, but came back to win the next two.
SHAYNE WILLIAMS STAFF WRITER Coach Tom Carty got his 200th career victory last weekend as the Bobcat baseball team won the final two games of a three-game set against the Lander Bearcats. Georgia College lost the series opener 16-3. “You can still win the series no matter how bad you lose the first game,” Daniel Bick, shortstop for the Bobcats, said. And that’s just what they did. In game two of the doubleheader on Saturday, GC took an early lead, then Lander tied it 3-3 in the fifth inning until Maas, Bick and Sandlin took the plate to put some distance between the Bobcats and the Bearcats. The Bobcats won game two 5-4. Getting hits and making plays is what baseball players do, but Bick notes that when a teammate makes a good play or gets a hit, it instills confidence in the next guy. He’s sure to point out
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“We had a couple of pitchers who really stepped up this weekend. Jordan Brooks really picked it up and gave us a big lift.” Tom Carty, baseball head coach that, “Whether you hit first or ninth, everyone’s capable.” GC fans seemed hesitant to show up to the field on Sunday after Saturday’s embarrassing defeat in game one, but with nearly every ball hurling from the mound into Cody Maas’ mitt, there were more people in the stands. “We haven’t asked [Maas] to catch three straight games in his career here and he did that,”
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Carty, head coach of the Bobcats, said. “He rose to the occasion. He was asked to do more and he did it.” Maas recently recovered from a hand injury but that didn’t affect his performance against Lander. He caught seven different pitchers this weekend as the Bobcats looked for the one to help them through the series. “We had a couple pitchers who really stepped it up this weekend,” Maas said. “Jordan Brooks really picked it up and gave us a big lift.” That kind of camaraderie runs through the whole team, and “it’s contagious,” Carty said. Going into the series, No. 3 Lander was the highest-ranked team in the Peach Belt Conference. While Carty said that the guys all probably did a little extra work in the week leading up to the series, Bick didn’t notice a difference in the preparation, but he did pick up on the enthusiasm of the team as a whole. “Everyone was
Baseball page 18
Quote of the Week “Everything is really coming together now. They are just a really good group of girls who are really passionate about volleyball.” -Volleyball coach Gretchen Krumdieck on GC’s upcoming inaugral volleyball season.
The feverish hype generated from March Madness 2013 is slowly beginning to reach room temperature again. Much like its predecessors, March Madness 2013 provided a superlative platform for boundless sports gambling. The addictively digestible concept of a March Madness bracket yields an immeasurable pool of followers, with the FBI and sports analysts claiming that it’s the largest illegal sports gambling event in America, with projected winnings being around “$2.6 billion,” according to The New York Times. This is just the projected amount of illegal tournament gambling revenue, but consider the amount of people who participated in conjuring their own bracket without illegal intention, like local restaurants and radio stations, who hold their own bracket competitions for a non-monetary reward. The gambling potential for this tournament is colossal, and many states see this with dollar signs in their eyes. Only four states (Nevada, Delaware, Oregon and Montana) have legal forms of limited sports gambling and now New Jersey wants a taste. However, New Jersey will have to face the Supreme Court if it expects to see fruition, since a federal law passed in 1992 forbids sports gambling in all states save for the four mentioned before. If New Jersey is successful, it will pave the way for dozens of other states that will soon follow. I can see the future, and regulated sports gambling is a big part of it. The potential tax revenue for each state that decides to regulate sports gambling is favorable by virtue of the millions harnessed by Nevada. Viewership and fan following will swell with man’s biggest motivator on the line. Violence will decrease as the role of back alley bookies and bookmakers will become obsolete, replaced by formal ticketing machines and booths. On the other hand, legalization would certainly provide another outlet for the addicted gambler, who feeds every paycheck to their unforgiving monster. This is a gloomy, but legitimate, concern that I fear is statistically unavoidable. However, in this case, I believe that the pros outmuscle the cons. With that being said, the question isn’t, “Will sports gambling become legalized and in turn regulated?” but is, “Who will regulate it?” As can be expected, the NFL, MLB, NBA and even the NCAA will battle the government and other largely interested companies for the power of regulation. I mean, people are going to be betting on the integrity and success of their players, coaches and athletic programs, right? I cannot say exactly who or what will obtain regulation authority on this matter, but I can tell you to be ready, because sports gambling is coming to your town.
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Notable Stat
$200 million -Amount of money legally wagered by fans in Nevada during the 2013 NCAA basketball tournament.