Who is really looking out for Brendan Sorsby in the Texas Tech gambling, eligibility saga?

This Brendan Sorsby gambling story bugs me.

It bugs a lot of people.

It’s turned almost everyone against Texas Tech, Sorsby and the Texas district judge that ruled the NCAA could not ban him from playing football this year because it would harm him.

That last part is what bugs me.

Texas district judge Ken Curry’s ruling said Sorsby “has demonstrated he will suffer a probable, imminent and irreparable injury” if he is not allowed to play this season at Texas Tech.

Uh, duh. The opposite could also happen.

Gambling hurts people.

Gamblers, especially those playing the game they gamble upon, should be kept away from the playing field because it’s like putting a drunk on the porch of a liquor store.

It’s an addiction. It’s a mental issue.

If reports are true, Sorsby bet $90,000 while a student-athlete, making thousands of bets over his three years at Indiana and Cincinnati while wearing team uniforms.

That is an addiction.

That is a problem that needs more than a few weeks in rehab. It is a challenge for him that will likely take years of intense counseling and discipline to defeat.

How some Big 12 officials, including Utah AD Mark Harlan, reacted to the Brendan Sorsby ruling

There is a reason sports leagues, including the NCAA, the NFL, NBA, MLB and NHL all have rules against gambling.

It’s a red line that cannot be crossed.

It involves a compulsive behavior and a trigger that injects dopamine into the brain. The addiction is a cousin to heroin, pain pills, opiates, pornography and alcohol addictions. These are powerful forces that have ruined lives and caused divorce, bankruptcy, suicide, theft and even murder.

The late BYU basketball coach Tony Ingle once told me that he would put a coin in a slot machine only when Las Vegas couldn’t pay its light bill. The house always wins in the end.

I’ve known gamblers. I’ve known gamblers who’ve won millions and lost millions.

Art Schlichter (former Ohio State QB and 1982 NFL first-round pick by the Colts) is one of the most extreme cases. His gambling addiction destroyed a promising career almost immediately. He played just a handful of NFL games before being banned for life from the league due to gambling.

He faced decades of legal troubles, including stealing money (over $500,000 in one case) to fund bets, served multiple prison stints (adding up to nearly 10 years in the 1990s–2000s, plus a 10-year sentence starting in 2011 for fraud and other charges), swindling dozens of people out of millions, and repeated fraud/theft convictions tied to his addiction. He spent time in dozens of jails/prisons and continued struggling with gambling, drugs and crime long after football.

Golfer Phil Mickelson has openly discussed his gambling issues. According to gambler Billy Walters’ book and records, Mickelson wagered over $1 billion on sports (football, basketball, baseball) across three decades and lost roughly $100 million net. This included huge individual bets (many at $110K–$220K) and allegedly attempted to bet $400K on the 2012 Ryder Cup while playing in it.

Sorsby news has little impact on BYU’s title quest

It caused significant personal distraction and harm to relationships. He described it as a “hurricane” of damage, though it didn’t end his golf career thanks to his massive earnings. He has said he’s in recovery and that the money itself wasn’t the core threat, but the distraction and emotional toll were.

Pete Rose (MLB’s all-time hits leader) bet on baseball games, including those involving his own team (the Reds) while managing. This led to a permanent ban from baseball in 1989, making him ineligible for the Hall of Fame for decades (the ban was lifted in 2025 after his death). He denied it for years before admitting it, and the scandal defined the latter part of his legacy despite his on-field greatness.

John Daly (golfer) has been very public about losing $55–60 million+ gambling (mainly slots and blackjack) over roughly 15–16 years in the 1990s–2000s, despite solid PGA Tour earnings. He once lost $1.65 million in five hours after a tournament. He has called it a problem that could “ruin” him and detailed massive counseling sessions and debts.

Other notable examples are:

Charles Barkley has admitted to losing millions, estimating around $10 million or more at times, with big single-day losses on sports and casino gambling, but has treated it more as a costly habit than a career-ender. He has discussed changing his mindset to avoid trying to “beat the house.”

Michael Jordan faced intense scrutiny for high-stakes golf/casino/card gambling, including six-figure losses and debts to questionable figures, leading to an NBA investigation in the early 1990s. He called it a “competition problem” rather than addiction and said he could stop. It contributed to speculation around his first retirement but didn’t result in formal punishment.

Gambling has also led to bans or suspensions for many others in recent years such as NFL players like Calvin Ridley and Jontay Porter. Porter received a lifetime NBA ban for betting on his own games and sharing info. Older cases like the 1919 Black Sox scandal involved outright game-fixing for bets.

These stories often involve not just financial ruin but lost careers, legal issues, damaged relationships and reputational harm. Addiction can escalate quickly due to high earnings, competitive personalities and access. Many athletes have spoken about recovery, but cases like Schlichter show how destructive it can become without control.

This is why sports organizations attack gambling.

It is destructive and dangerous.

It is ruinous. It can infiltrate and destroy the integrity of the game and bring into question the competitive nature of games.

When that Texas judge bowed to what has to be tremendous social pressure to put Sorsby back on the field, he says he was looking out for the kid. Actually, he is not.

He put Sorsby, Texas Tech and college football on a plank and said walk to the end and try not to fall off.

I predict as this unfolds in the weeks to come, those who really, really care about Sorsby will step in and he will be convinced to sit out this season.

This will save the NCAA and its rules, save Texas Tech from national scorn, but ultimately save the kid.

Giving him a reported $5 million to play in Lubbock is not what a gambler needs right now in his young life.