New smarm vs old smarm
Old cop shows made a big point of clean sports. Preserving the sanctity of baseball was important, and cleaning up boxing was a huge crusade.

Lengthy example from a 1952 episode of This is your FBI.

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Sanctimonious announcer:

Tonight's case prompts us to ask the question: when is gambling not gambling? The answer is, when there is no risk involved. The dictionary defines gambling as "to hazard something on a chance". And that's exactly what thousands who place bets with bookmakers do NOT do; for in far too many cases the events they place bets on have been fixed, the winner already chosen. Not only does the innocent bettor throw his money down the drain, but he debases the very sport he's interested in.

Smarmy Agent Taylor is talking with a boxer who is involved in the case.

SA Taylor: Are you George Putnam?

Putnam: Uhhuh.

SAT: I'm Smarmy Agent Taylor. Here are my credentials.

Putnam: Hi!

SAT: You know where Mr Archer is?

Putnam: He ain't been here all night.

SAT: You haven't heard from him?

Putnam: No.

SAT: Well, there was a holdup last night in the arena, and we understand Mr Archer was seen going up the stairs just before it happened.

Putnam: You think he done the stickup?

SAT: That's what we're trying to find out.

Putnam: Nah, he ain't that kind of a guy.

SAT: Well, it leaves a basis for suspicion.

Putnam: Look mister, just because he fixes a couple of fights don't mean he'd stick up a joint.

SAT: [SHOCKEDSHOCKEDSHOCKED]: Archer fixes fights???????????????????

Putnam: Sure. Last night was a bag job but it went wrong. I was supposed to get flattened in the third.

SAT: How did you happen to win last night?

Putnam: Morgan knocked himself out. He threw a Mary Ann** from way back here. Missed me by a foot!

SAT: Besides Archer, Franklin and yourself, who knew the fight was fixed?

Putnam: Everybody, I guess.

SAT: Do you make arrangements like that often?

Putnam: Sure, sure. It's better that way.

SAT: Better for whom?

Putnam: Everybody! Fans get to see a good fight, and I know how I'm gonna do.

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And the boxer is right. A boxing match is not a jury trial, it's just entertainment. The fans get to see a good fight, and the boxers can minimize injuries by knowing when the fake "knockout" is meant to happen. Bettors who don't understand the fix have only themselves to blame.

But now the sanctimonious tone has reversed, because the latest form of cheating is FORCED by the smarmy ones. When a big muscular man "is a woman" by the insane definition of the smarms, he is fully qualified to enter an event with actual women. He is guaranteed to win because he's a man. Bettors can bet on a sure thing, and anyone who dares to complain is in SERIOUS AND DEEP TROUBLE.

This is even crazier than the old smarm.

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** Footnote: I'm pretty sure he says 'threw a Mary Ann', but can't find anything that sounds similar in online sources old or new.

Labels: Entertainment

  ¶ 2:29 PM