Sympathy for the gambler? Not here, not even close

I'd say it doesn't matter to me whether gamblers lost more than $30 million because of an officiating screw-up Sunday in the Steelers-Chargers game -- but that would be a lie.

It does matter to me.

I love it.

What's bad for gambling is good for society. That's my philosophy, and I live it across the board. When a casino or lottery is placed on my ballot, I veto it. When poker makes it onto national television, I rip it.

And when gamblers lose more than $30 million because of a refereeing mistake, I love it.

Once upon a time, gambling on games was good. I have no doubt about that. Wager a few bucks on the Bills or the Braves -- it's fun. What harm can it do?

But then gambling, like Michael Moore and the religious right, outgrew its usefulness. The all-time hit king in Major League Baseball was banished from the game after placing bets on baseball from his manager's office in Cincinnati. A referee in the NBA was sentenced to 15 months in prison after funneling tips to a bookie.

Turns out, gambling on games can do all sorts of harm.

So I'm supposed to feel bad for all those aiders and abettors who lost more than $30 million after laying money that the Steelers would cover the 4.5-point spread against the Chargers? No way. Not even if it was an officiating mistake -- Troy Polamalu's touchdown on the final play was incorrectly nullified by a bad call -- that prevented the Steelers from winning 18-10 and covering the spread. Instead they won 11-10, which means all those people who gave the points lost. And they're unhappy. And I understand. Really. They got screwed.

But gambling isn't pure or sweet. It's dangerous. Anyone who does it -- you get what you get. The whole thing is out of your hands, no matter how smart or connected or lucky you think you are. It's all a crapshoot, and it doesn't matter to me if you get screwed by a botched field goal or a silly interception or, Sunday in Pittsburgh, by an officiating mistake. Either way, you wagered money on events that were beyond your control. Deal with the consequences.

Don't act surprised or outraged. Don't be indignant. And don't, whatever you do, look for a conspiracy theory and wonder if the officials knew, as they waved off Polamalu's touchdown, that they were playing God with the Vegas line. I try not to be naïve about a lot of things, but I'll be naïve about this: I will refuse to believe that those officials would be so brazenly stupid as to affect the final score, and tens of millions of gambled dollars, with the whole world watching. It's one thing to sneak a DVD into your pants and try to walk out of a store. It's something else to try to manipulate the final score of an NFL game for nefarious reasons as millions of us watch on television. I don't buy it.

For the same reason, I don't buy the idea that Florida coach Urban Meyer was trying to cover the 21-point spread earlier this season when he kicked a field goal in the final seconds of a 26-3 victory against Miami. No way is Urban Meyer that stupid. He makes $3.3 million a year. He has a national championship ring. He's not trying to sneak a few extra bucks -- not for himself, not for alumni -- on national television.

But that's the mentality of gambling, and of gamblers. Everything is about them. The referees in the Steelers-Chargers game had San Diego and the points! Urban Meyer had money on the Gators!

That sort of shortsighted self-absorption is scary, because it can lead to all sorts of other shortsighted self-absorption. If I'm a gambler and I'm shortsighted and self-absorbed and I've got enough money riding on a game, what wouldn't I do to win? I'll tell you what I would do. I'd get insider information from a referee, if I could. I'd offer a disgruntled player a few bucks to miss a block, tackle or free throw.

That's the stuff that happens, or could happen, all over the place. This means it's possible, I suppose, that the referees in that Steelers-Chargers game knew exactly what the spread was, and knew exactly what the rule was, when they incorrectly nullified Polamalu's touchdown.

Like I said, though, I'm going to stay naïve on that game -- even as it's clear that anything's possible when it comes to gambling and sports. Just last month Las Vegas sports books were paying off on the Phillies before the World Series had even ended. Why? Because the Phillies were ahead three games to one, and were leading Game 5 after five innings, when it was postponed -- not called, just postponed -- because of rain. Gamblers wanted their money, and Vegas gave them what they wanted.

The whole thing is scary. There's too much money being bet on too many games by too many desperate people, and we're supposed to sit around and pretend it's OK. It's not OK. Gambling on sports isn't good, and if you're going to defend the whole thing by telling me that gambling is the biggest reason you follow sports, don't bother.

Because you're following sports for the wrong reason.