Sept. 2025
One of the biggest threats to the integrity of sports is posed by performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Back in 1904 Thomas Hibbs won the Olympic Marathon in St. Louis after being administered brandy, raw eggs and strychnine, all of which were legal at the time. During the Cold War women from East Germany and The Soviet Union dominated the Olympic Games with the help of anabolic steroids and male hormones.
Years later Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa allegedly shattered long-standing records for home runs with help from human growth hormone (HGH) and other PEDs. Some alert readers (ARs) may recall that not long thereafter cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven consecutive titles in the Tour de France after his teammate Floyd Landis accused him of using PEDs, HGH, erythropoietin (EPO), testosterone, and blood transfusions.
Another threat to the integrity of sports comes from gambling. 15 years after Thomas Hibbs’s strychnine-assisted win in the Olympic Marathon, baseball was rocked by the so-called Black Sox Scandal, when a gambling syndicate tried to fix The World Series. 70 years later Pete Rose, MLB’s all-time hits leader, was banned for life from baseball for betting on games while managing the Cincinnati Reds.
The NFL has also taken a strict stand against gambling. Alex Karras, a defensive lineman for the Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packer star Paul Hornung were suspended for the entire 1963 season for betting on NFL games and associating with known gamblers.
ARs of a certain age may recall that Hornung had won The Heisman Trophy in 1956 while playing for Notre Dame and had later been named the Most Valuable Player in the NFL while playing The Green Bay Packers. No matter. As great as Hornung and Rose were in there respective sports, rules were rules. For the integrity of their games the NFL and MLB had policies of zero tolerance when it came to gambling.
Times have changed.
Now, according to the American Gaming Association the four major sports leagues can expect to earn over $4 billion annually in direct and indirect revenue from gambling. So much for punishing players for associating with known gamblers. It’s practically impossible for athletes not to associate with known gamblers, who have become major stakeholders in professional sports.
In the English Premier League 11 of the 20 teams have the names of gambling brands emblazoned on the fronts of their shirts. Some ARs might appreciate the irony of athletes’ promoting sponsors they’re not allowed to patronize themselves. It’s like teams in the Tour de France being prominently sponsored by laboratories that produce HGH and PEDs the cyclists are barred from using.
Bet on Schlafly Beer outside Notre Dame Stadium!
Some ARs may have noticed that some athletes were disciplined this summer for infractions having nothing to do with PEDs or gambling. For example, after missing the cut at the U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club golfer Wyndham Clark trashed the locker room at the club and was suspended by Oakmont as a result. So much for the stereotype of golf as sport for gentlemen (and ladies).
Later in the summer Marco Rocco, a 12 year-old player on the Haddonfield, New Jersey Little League team, hit a two-run homer against Ridgewood in the state final and celebrated by flipping his bat. He was immediately ejected from the game and suspended for the championship game for engaging in ”horse play” on the field. His parents responded to the umpire’s decision with a lawsuit.
While a Little League umpire was punishing Marco for “horse play,” Jen Pawol was making history as the first woman umpire in Major League Baseball. As far as I know, no player on either team (Miami Marlins or Atlanta Braves) engaged in “horse play” sufficiently egregious to warrant ejection in her debut.
Shortly after this column is published (on Saturday, September 13th to be precise) I’ll be present for another significant milestone in the world of sports. For the first time ever beer will be sold at concession stands at the Notre Dame Football Stadium, aka The House that Rockne Built. Ever since it opened in 1930 (five years before Paul Hornung was born) the stadium has been one of the few athletic venues where beer was not served to the general public. (Alcohol has been available in some VIP suites.)
Thanks to an AR named Mike Convy, who was in my high school class and who graduated from Notre Dame in 1970, I’ll be among a half dozen high school classmates attending the Notre Dame-Texas A&M game when history will be made. While Schlafly Beer won’t be available at the concession stands in the stadium on this historic occasion, it will be offered at several fine establishments in South Bend and will be part of our pregame tailgate.
It’s a safe bet (one that doesn’t threaten the integrity of any game) that a good time will be had by all who partake.
Tom Schlafly
Chairman
Schlafly | The Saint Louis Brewery
