Brian Kelly Will Give Out Two Injury Reports Per Week To Stop Sports Gamblers From Hounding His Staff For Inside Information
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU has a new, more “transparent” injury reporting policy that football coach Brian Kelly described Thursday as a “proactive” response to the proliferation of legalized sports betting.
First of all, tip of the fucking cap to Brian Kelly. I don't care what his reasoning is, but the fact that LSU is hopefully going to start a trend that injury reports get released throughout the week in college football would be monumental in the sports gambling world. I'm not saying I'll go from a modest 40% win rate to a Nicky Smokes 67% with it, but it will make me feel like I can in the week leading up to the games. More information = more time researching = more confidence in your plays = more excitement when you win, although obviously the oddsmakers would be using the same knowledge to set the lines.
But seriously, this is very much needed in college football, because right now it's the Wild Wild West out there. I remember last year I got a little Scoop City at a campus bar in Columbus the night before the Ohio State vs. Wisconsin game that cornerback Denzel Burke broke his hand and the Buckeyes only had three corners on the roster for the next nights game. Sure enough, it wasn't until after kickoff that the broadcast found out and the internet went crazy. Now, Ohio State won 52-21 and covered the 19 point spread with ease, but the point remains: college football's injury list is the most secretive and easiest to get inside information on if you want. Which apparently is exactly why Brian Kelly and LSU are going to just start releasing their injury reports....
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For Kelly, one concern is the specter of gamblers hounding football staffs for insider information.
I fucking love this. Sports gamblers are the best. All you need is a buddy with a sister on the team, or a friend of a friend who's a GA, or a cousin whose buddy works in the cafeteria in the team facility and you think you've got a connection. And when you got a connection, you ask for inside information. There's a barber somewhere down in Baton Rouge that is pissed off this morning because he can no longer sell his Tiger injury information for an extra $5 tip on Friday cuts.
Kelly said LSU’s injury reports will be released twice during the game weeks and look similar to NFL injury reports.
“When we get to Saturday, if somebody is doubtful, we’ll give you ‘available,’ or ‘unavailable,’” Kelly said.
Listen I'm not one to say everyone should be more like Brian Kelly after he killed a guy, but I will say I wouldn't mind if everyone took a little page out of LSU's playbook this year and released injury reports. Grow the game.