Michael Wilbon is learning to live with sports betting.
First thing Monday morning, another round of charges against active athletes was announced by the federal government. This time around, two Cleveland Guardians pitchers are accused of intentionally throwing pitches outside the strike zone in exchange for a kickback on bets on their pitch location.
Rather than sermonize about the immorality of gambling or the ethics of leagues partnering with sportsbooks, on Monday’s edition of Pardon the Interruption, Wilbon merely tried to make peace with our current culture.
“If guilty and there’s punishment, so be it,” Wilbon said. “I don’t care. At the highest levels of the pyramid in this country, in this culture, everybody’s betting now.”
ESPN’s Michael Wilbon nonchalant about the federal indictments against two MLB players this morning:
“I don’t care … because at the highest levels of the pyramid in this country, of this culture, everybody’s betting now.”
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) November 10, 2025
Between the legalization of sports betting in most states, meme stocks, and prediction markets for everything under the sun, betting is a big part of how many people experience the world. These gamified experiences are available on the go and baked into sports, politics, entertainment, and many of the hobbies people love.
So Wilbon chose to look at the situation in a manner he believes to be more practical: that intentionally throwing a ball rather than a strike (or, in the case of Terry Rozier, allegedly taking himself out of games) does not ultimately affect the outcome of a game.
“It’s on every phone except yours and mine,” Wilbon said. “Does that affect the game? Does it tilt it in any way that matters to me?”
When pressed by cohost Tony Kornheiser about the possibility that what Emmanuel Clase and Luis Ortiz allegedly did in Cleveland could progress to more impactful forms of fraud, Wilbon concurred.
These scandals are a “slippery slope,” he agreed, before the PTI clock ran out, signaling a commercial break.
While Wilbon didn’t get to finish his thought, he appeared to be giving in to the chaos of our legal betting age. Anyone who argues against sports betting these days can sound like a Cassandra. No matter how many Roziers or Clases there have been so far, Americans have not stopped placing bets.
It doesn’t sound like Wilbon agrees morally with gambling on sports, nor does he seem to like its effect on his life as a sports fan. But the laws aren’t changing back, so Wilbon simply isn’t going to blow his lid on the small stuff.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.