Like some of you, I yearn for relief from the stressful condition of our world today. Quite often, this comes from sports. Because of my job, I am constantly engaged with the news, but when I feel the familiar pangs of anxiety, I switch to sports.
Sports, sports broadcasting and sports talk are gleefully, unapologetically dumb. Enormous weight is placed upon gladiatorial minutia. Millions tune in to see what happens, because something will definitely happen. The result is truly, genuinely unknown, and unexpected outcomes are common. Ultimately, the stakes are low. It’s a pastime in the truest sense — it passes us through time, often enjoyably.
In contrast, news is constant, but big change takes time. Winners and losers take months, years or generations to emerge. Invariably, many of us are the losers, and that is hard to watch. It’s certainly not entertaining.
But the popularity of sports is also what risks tainting this pastime. There’s too much money to be made off the public interest. Sports and gambling have been tied together since, well, probably forever. But today, you can’t watch sports without being immersed in an overpowering enticement to gamble on the games you watch. We’ve even turned the news into a betting opportunity, and more young people are spending time in casinos than ever before.
So today’s column (gift link) is about checking an overwhelming cultural urge to give up on ideas, work and community — the very things that draw us together for things like sports — in favor of gambling as its own sort of philosophy, or even some twisted religion.
Read “When betting is everywhere, we gamble with our future,” in the Monday, Jan. 26, 2026 edition of the Minnesota Star Tribune.
Aaron J. Brown is a columnist and member of the editorial board for the Minnesota Star Tribune. His new book about Hibbing Mayor Victor Power and his momentous fight against the world’s largest corporation will be out soon.
