2026.02.10 Daily Thread: The World According to Trade(Bait)

More strict and loose constructionism and many of you will start seeing these two principles of Constitution and law rear their heads often through the years. For these Trade stories I am just occasionally substituting federal documents and authority out while using strict and loose with rules and laws on different subject matters that have different ruling authorities. The principles can be applied in many unrelated subjects. Reminders;

Strict Constructionist – Literal and narrow reading (interpretation) of the document that limits the powers of the federal government to what it provides.

Loose Constructionist – Views it as a “living document” that is interpreted broadly that adapts to society as it evolves and its needs change..

The scripture for today is from I Timothy 6:10,

“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.” (NASB)

Self explanatory scripture.

What else is determined by those who go by the book and those who add to and subtract from the book as it works best for them? How about…

Professional Sports

Let’s have some fun. How about 8 minutes of Academy Award losing NBA floppers.

Of course what else do you expect from a bunch of pampered woke social justice imposters? Next we move to the NFL where we focus on the striped shirts who actually get paid well to do the following with straight faces. About 13 minutes.

in truth those are just a handful of literally thousands of calls and no-calls of infractions each season that have accumulated through the years that those two sports have existed that are just flat azz wrong or intentionally not called.

Yet, each sport has a thoroughly prepared rulebook that coaching staffs, players, and officials are well informed about. Team owners actually participate in determining rules modifications between seasons. They vote on them and then inform the league’s head of officials, whose staff instructs the game officials. But what you can plainly see is that none of that matters if corruption, personal fandom, or vendettas are involved.

How much did Tom Brady’s reputation suffer for Deflategate as an example?

https://www.sportingnews.com/us/nfl/news/deflategate-tom-brady-suspension-patriots-scandal/ef7cffc2e1323d87ef8f348a

Not much. He won a bunch of SB rings in a future HOF career that led to an ownership interest in the Las Vegas Raiders team as well a weekly game analyst gig on network TV since playing career retirement.

Both sports are so eaten up with terrible officiating they added replay review. However, that is also controlled and limited in its scope. Bad and corrupted officiating still rules. Agendas and narratives must be maintained, you know.

While on the subject, let’s take a look a Major League Baseball. Watch what happens even with using the replay booth in the more current examples. Add that to the horrible pitch calls.

MLB is probably better than the NBA and NFL with calls now with more extensive replay ability and as a result, more scrutiny. But the sport also has the benefit of less overall player actions during the course of games, making it easier to call. To MLB’s credit they are going to take it a step further to insure more fair treatment. They have been experimenting with automated computer driven pitch calls in the minor leagues for several years. It will start this next season in MLB. However, it will only be on a challenge basis with each team receiving two challenges. Hopefully, technology continues to advance and automated calls are perfected over time so that they are used for all pitches like they are in professional tennis for line calls. That is the only way it will ever be fair to all batters and pitchers.

https://apnews.com/article/abs-robot-umpires-how-it-works-9b817bb2c4666c984aa86ed29b401461

Rules For Thee, But Not For Me

We can tell from the evidence above that none of the professional sports are all that serious about strict rulebook implementation. Yes, the rulebooks themselves are written in strict constructionist format. However, they are then administered with sport ownership concurrence in loose constructionist methodology to achieve desired results where narratives can be sold to an unwitting, some would say dumb, public that goes along with it all.

Why?

Money. As usual.

In the NFL alone the cumulative take for all team owners was over $23 B in 2024. Add in over $12 B for MLB and over $11 B for NBA teams. For all three sports that is approximately $46 B for 2024 alone. Then add in revenues of associated industries such as television and media, gear, food and household product licenses, security services, and so on.

That action you see on the field or court may be real much of the time, however, the outcomes are subject to being controlled. There is too much money in it to be cleanly administered and called. Besides having eyes, playing as a young man, and knowing the games for over 60 years; how else do I know they have controlled outcomes?

The existence of sports book gambling and television rights.

The latter is simple to understand. How many more eyes will watch a playoff or championship game if the participants are in large markets versus small? More eyes on screens, higher ratings for games, more money charged for advertising. A NY versus LA matchup in any sport would be their dream choice 100 out of 100. As a result, the teams in the large markets receive more exposure and attract more elite free agent players.

The sports driving the bulk of that revenue are the three listed above. Sports book betting will go upwards of $150 billion just this year and is growing rapidly. The sports love it because the activity generates more interest. There is some info on the participants in the link below. You will find the names you see advertising on TV during game telecasts.

https://altenar.com/blog/top-10-us-sportsbook-operators-and-their-owners

But wait there’s MOAR! Read the link below to discover how the sports book revenue streams are divvied up.

https://www.covers.com/industry/how-do-pro-sports-teams-leagues-make-money-sports-betting-august-2025

So you are saying the leagues and team owners benefit from the book action? The same owners who agree to pay the outrageous compensation many players and coaches make? They are all in on the scam together. Say it ain’t so.

🤫 😂

All of it is legal in America. Can you say “gravy train”? Why would any of the three sports discussed and others decide to act on concerns about the administration of rulebooks when the money tells them to keep doing what they are doing? They just have to make sure the cheating is not overly obvious.

Oops.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/nba-illegal-gambling-investigation-explained

https://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/basketball/nba-betting-scandal-everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-shocking-case-involving-players-coaches-and-the-new-york-mafia/ar-AA1SbpRK

Yup, and not only pro, how about college as well? Well, college is pro now with all of the NIL contracts, so, I guess it fits right in.

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/47619154/many-college-players-20-charged-point-shaving-scheme

Achilles Heel

As we can see there exists a major issue that has always been present. Shoeless Joe Jackson and the Chicago Black Sox scandal of 1919 was just a harbinger for the undue influence of sports book gambling that existed outside the realm of honest play on the field and court. All of it as authorities looked away and continued involvement in off site criminal bookie operations throughout the country. Pete Rose was not the only one who participated despite the polished images of the leaders of the sports. With the constant need of governments for more and more revenues, it became easier to accept the unsavory and sell it as a good thing along with the usual “we have it under control” comments to the public.

Now we all can sit in the comfort of our homes and literally bet the house on games and specific actions within games, racing, etc. that have controlled outcomes. But as long as we do it responsibly like their PSA’s say, everything will be fine. If you end up with a gambling addiction and losing everything that matters, they provide a hotline you can call to get help. I am sure doing so will cure your addiction and all will end well in the poor house or a jail cell without your spouse and kids.

😉

Since human nature includes the pursuit of riches and to be greedy, there have been and will be more crashes than NASCAR restrictor plate races at Talladega Speedway. Big ones, all the time. Right, Ricky Bobby?

Which people also bet big bucks on as well.

The economics are simple. $150 B was bet in 2024. Approximately 9-10% was retained by the betting houses. That tells the bettor that the odds are slanted against them in the points spreads and odds to one side or the other. The house take is consistent, they rarely go out of business. Which means they know more than the average bettor. How do they know more? Yup, insiders in the sports as well as points shaving players and such. So, no matter what and how you are playing the odds, their business has been arranged for you to lose over time. To beat those odds and be successful you have to be resourceful, smart and very lucky.

There are real world human lives at serious risk. Families are forever altered and destroyed by addictions to gambling. Sports heroes tube their careers and children lose their heroes and icons. Popular diversions from the grind of life are lost due to the corruption. The integrity of the sports become jokes. People lose focus on what matters most. The leaders of the sports become tyrants with perverted values that leads to the Bad Bunnies of the world being celebrated on the world stage. All because many refuse to follow the rules and seek to skirt the edges or dive into criminality for personal and corporate gains and advantages. Their focus is to seek power, fame and fortune no matter the cost.

Nearly all of the issues described in this example of these three professional sports are easily solvable. But the leaders and participants do not have the will to do so because they might make less money. If they get past that in their minds they know that if they rock the boat they will be booted, blacklisted or worse. So it will continue as long as their targets (marks), We the People, give them permission to cheat and be corrupt.

All that is needed is a heart change followed by inaction from We the People. Choose not to play along. Turn your eyes away and redirect your interests. When you shut off the interest and money, the corrupt and corrupted lose.

Which seems to be a recurring theme with all things in America, doesn’t it?

Conclusion

Returning to the light hearted, enjoy!

Remember Wolf’s site rules. Note and label all AI. Please be kind to one another, we are all in this together. May God richly bless America and all of you.

Trust Trump and the plan.

Time to make an addition to my Conclusion with openers. Carl gave a recent reminder.

Before all things and people – In God We Trust. Always. This world is His. He determines how our story goes.