Oklahoma gambling allegations? You have to go a long way to shake SEC rivalry tree, bub
One, Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer gambled on sports, despite his public denial.
Or two: somewhere in these amber waves of grain and purple mountains of majesty, is a Texas fan who spent time investigating the rival team's quarterback, found his Venmo account, saw the alleged 'inside jokes' and dumped them in the social media world of shoot first, aim second.
And away we go.
'My previous Venmo descriptions did not accurately portray the transactions in question,' Mateer wrote on X. 'But were instead inside jokes between me and my friends.'
Which, of course, means absolutely nothing in the social media sewer of guilty until we say you aren't.
We don't know if Mateer gambled on college games, and was twice dumb enough to pay off bets via Venmo with memo lines that read – I swear I'm not making this up – 'sports gambling.'
We don't know, and frankly the NCAA will never know unless the benefactor of those two Venmo payments ('Richard Roaten') drops dime.
Or maybe – and I'm just spitballing here – Mateer and his friends played a stupid joke as freshmen, and word eventually got out. Because if there is no there there, the exposure of it all is the story here.
The Iron Bowl. The Egg Bowl. The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party.
Welcome aboard, Red River Rivalry. You've finally earned your SEC stripes.
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a wonderful day in the neighborhood, won't you be my … rival.
To be fair to the SEC, this fun OU/Texas sideshow less than two weeks from the start of the season doesn't hold a candle to Harvey Updyke and 'I got too much Bama in me.'
Or Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer refusing to attend SEC media days for fear of being served legal papers from a hoity-toity attorney who just happened to be a huge Alabama fan.
The visual of media hovering around a speaker phone to hear Fulmer say he can't discuss legal proceedings gave new meaning to media days carnival.
Or a fired Tennessee assistant coach faxing ball plays to Florida coach Ron Zook days before the annual rivalry game.
Or Hugh Freeze's – ahem – exposed log of calls to "massage therapists."
All of those wild and true stories originated and were exposed, in one form or another, from the rival school. Or in Updyke's case, from sheer stupidity.
Which brings us all the way back to Mateer. You'd have to be pretty dumb to not only gamble on games, but pay off bets using one of the world's largest payment apps. With, you know, a memo explaining exactly what you did.
Because when you're balancing your checkbook (Google it, kids), you need to know where that cash went.
'I have never bet on sports,' Mateer wrote on X. 'I understand the seriousness of the matter but recognize that, taken out of context, those Venmo descriptions suggest otherwise. I can assure my teammates, coaches and officials at the NCAA that I have not engaged in any sports gambling.'
There, that should do it. Especially considering the NCAA's ever-evolving stance on gambling, once the ultimate sin of amateur sports.
That's sarcasm, everyone.
Because now you can gamble on your phone inside stadiums during games. Heck, LSU and Caesar's Sportsbook signed a multiyear sponsorship agreement in 2021 for – again, I swear I'm not making this up – naming rights to the Caesar's Sportsbook Skyline Club at Tiger Stadium, and signage displayed throughout the stadium.
The SEC just last year began distributing weekly injury reports for games because, you know, fans need the info.
So yeah, if Mateer did gamble on games (allegedly), you better believe they're going to throw the book at him, baby. But have no fear, Netflix will turn it into a three-part series glorifying the unfairness of it all, so Mateer will at least recoup some of the lost wages.
And somewhere above the fruited plain, from sea to shining sea, a Texas fan will get a 10-gallon belly laugh.
Then take the Longhorns and lay the points in the Red River Rivalry.
Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Uber driver accused of sexually assaulting young woman now faces ICE arrest detainer after overstaying visa
FIRST ON FOX: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday lodged an arrest detainer against an illegal immigrant from Lebanon accused of kidnapping his Uber passenger in Texas. Sameh Mohamad Chami, 49, was arrested by Friendswood Police Department on Aug. 6 after allegedly sexually assaulting a young woman while working as an Uber driver, according to a report from affiliate FOX 26 Houston. The 21-year-old victim fell asleep in the backseat of Chami's car after a late night at a Galveston saloon and reportedly woke up in the front seat of his car parked near a school with her shorts unbuttoned. Ice Lodges Detainer Against Illegal Migrant Charged With Kidnapping, Sexually Assaulting Neighbor In Texas The woman's family was following her location and tracked her to an empty parking lot at about 3 a.m., according to the report. She told police she remembered Chami putting his hands down her pants. Friendswood police said Chami intentionally ended the ride before dropping the woman off at home, FOX 26 reported. Read On The Fox News App Ice In Houston Releases New Details About Arrested Illegal Child Sex Offenders Chami entered the U.S. on Dec. 2, 2021, under the Biden administration, on a B-2 tourist visa with permission to remain for six months, according to a statement from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He applied for and was granted an extension until Dec. 1, 2022, but failed to depart as required and has remained in the U.S. illegally for more than three years, DHS said. Previously Self-deported Iranian Illegal Immigrant Picked Up After Refusing Ice Arrest In Texas "ICE lodged an arrest detainer against Sameh Mohamad Chami—a criminal illegal alien let into our country by Joe Biden," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin wrote in a statement to Fox News. "This depraved criminal was charged with aggravated kidnapping after he allegedly sexually assaulted a 21-year-old girl who was a passenger in his Uber car. President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem unleashed our brave law enforcement to take down these sickos and to protect women from sexual predators." The detainer was issued on the day of Chami's arrest to ensure he is transferred to ICE custody and not released into American neighborhoods, according to DHS. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S.," DHS wrote in a article source: Uber driver accused of sexually assaulting young woman now faces ICE arrest detainer after overstaying visa
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
Orioles right-hander Young loses perfect-game bid on infield single in the 8th inning vs Astros
HOUSTON — Baltimore Orioles right-hander Brandon Young lost his bid for a perfect game against the Houston Astros on Friday night on an infield hit by Ramon Urias with two out in the eighth inning. Urias hit a slow dribbler toward third base side that Young fielded. Young grabbed the ball and threw wildly to first, and the play was ruled a single and an error.
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Ramón Urías ran the Astros' hitters meeting. Then his former team almost perfect game'd them
HOUSTON — Before he stopped history, Ramón Urías tried to tell his new teammates how to prevent it. No one inside the Houston Astros clubhouse had more meticulous knowledge of Friday's opponent than Urías, the 31-year-old middle infielder acquired 16 days ago from the Baltimore Orioles. Using any of Urías' insights is logical. Astros manager Joe Espada deployed a similar tactic last week at loanDepot Park, where deadline acquisition Jesús Sánchez stood up during Houston's series advance meeting and spilled all he knew about the Miami Marlins team he just departed. Advertisement Urías had the same responsibility on Friday afternoon. Espada said he expected to hear 'some of their style and strategy and go over some of the stuff we have noticed in the scouting report' of an Orioles roster ravaged by a trade deadline fire sale. Urías said he spoke of the Orioles' baserunning tendencies and how they play. 'I didn't have anything to say about the pitching staff because there's a lot of new guys over there,' said Urías after saving the Astros from ignominy in a 7-0 loss. One of them stood on the precipice of perfection when Urías stepped into the batter's box for his third at-bat. Urías fell behind in the count 0-2, common for so many of his teammates against a tall Baltimore rookie named Brandon Young. Young is a 26-year-old right-hander who made his 11th major-league start on Friday. None of the previous 10 lasted longer than six innings. Eight of them ended before Young could finish the fifth. After the last one, a three-inning, six-run nightmare against the transient A's, Young told reporters, 'It's just disappointing letting the team down, almost every time I go out.' It inflated his ERA to 6.70 after a 10-start span in which he surrendered 11.6 hits per nine innings. On Friday, an Astros lineup with the American League's second-highest batting average could not muster one through seven innings. Young flirted harder with a perfect game than any pitcher has this season, stunning a crowd of 33,654 that included many family and friends from his hometown of Lumberton, Texas. 'Came here since I was 5,' Young said. 'Sat in the right-field line all the time. Think tickets were like 7 bucks back then. Yeah, I mean, it means a lot coming here. It's still Minute Maid Park to me.' All-Star shortstop Jeremy Peña did not play due to illness. The remaining healthy members of Houston's injury-ravaged team managed to hit one ball harder than 99 mph across the first 7 2/3 innings. Jose Altuve made two first-pitch outs. Yainer Diaz made another during the fifth. Young required just 62 pitches to procure his first 18 outs. Advertisement 'I would say it 100 percent affected me,' said Houston starter Framber Valdez, who surrendered three earned runs without any offensive support. 'I felt like I couldn't even sit down and I was already walking out to go out there. 'Sometimes that's just the game of baseball. Sometimes the pitcher is going to have a better game, is going to throw a perfect game. It definitely affected me. I felt like I couldn't even get a drink of water in and I was already out there.' Taylor Trammell tried to drag bunt on the first pitch of the sixth, only for Young to secure the slow roller and record the first out with no incident. He threw just four pitches to retire the next two Astros, perhaps the first sign that something special could manifest on this otherwise mundane August night. 'We wanted to be aggressive because we know he's a strike thrower. We just couldn't really get anything going offensively,' Espada said. 'We knew he throws strikes. He really commanded both sides of the plate. We were off balance. We really couldn't hit (anything) hard.' Urías didn't, either. He evened the count in the eighth inning, so Young tried to spike a putaway splitter. Urías reached for the pitch, struck it 56 mph and sent it two feet toward the pitcher's mound. Young left the rubber and barehanded the baseball. 'You smell it,' said Urías, who covers 26.9 feet per second when he sprints, in the 38th percentile of all major-league players. 'I just wanted to run as hard as I could.' Young uncorked an off-balance throw while he did. Replays indicated the 26-year-old right-hander could've stopped and set his feet, but adrenaline amid a historic performance makes such clear thinking impossible. 'I just think in that scenario, if BY does set his feet, I think he's got a little better shot to make the play,' Orioles interim manager Tony Mansolino told reporters. 'It's going to be a tough play regardless, but it's a really tough ask in that spot with the emotions and everything going on right there. It shouldn't detract one bit from the game that he threw. It was incredible.' Advertisement Young's throw traveled past first baseman Coby Mayo's outstretched arms and up the right-field line. An accurate throw may nab Urías, but the play's sheer difficulty made it easy for official scorer Dave Matheson to rule it a single. Urías advancing to second base also allowed him to give the play an error it deserved. '(Urías) is a really good hitter, but we've seen him hit that same dribbler 100 times and get thrown out by a couple steps a lot,' Mansolino said. His new team relished the reversal of fortune. 'You're trying to break it,' Urías said, 'you don't want to go home and know (they) just threw a perfect game.' (Top photo of Ramón Urías: Alex Slitz / Getty Images) Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms Play today's puzzle
