Has Any Cable TV Journalist. . . Had a better day than HBO's Bernard Goldberg? On the cable network's Real Sports program last night, Goldberg did a two segment piece on former New York mobster Michael Franzese and his activities in the 70s and 80s in and around professional sports.
Before the show even aired last night, the New York tabloids were all over the revelations it contained, including: allegations that members of the New York Yankees threw baseball games in order to settle gambling debts in the 1970s and 80s; and that boxing promoter Don King, as well as political gadfly Al Sharpton were involved in the drug trade. Even better (or worse, depending on your point of view), Goldberg was able to obtain a video tape conversation of Sharption discussing a cocaine deal where he would obtain a 10 percent cut of the sale in return for finding a buyer.
Already, both the Yankees and Sharpton are denying the seperate stories -- with Sharpton threatening to sue HBO if another tape exonerating him isn't aired (HBO says it doesn't have that tape, and doesn't know where to find it, neither does Sharpton, who says a Senate committee has it in custody). And because their responses hit the news before the program even aired, Goldberg was able to respond to their counter-charges himself last night on the program.
As for the Yankees denial, Goldberg dismissed it pretty quickly, saying he wasn't surprised at the reaction. However, he did add that the Yankees statement was hard to believe, as they would really have no way of knowing whether or not any of their players were in debt to gamblers. Goldberg also mentioned that he had gone back to his sources at the FBI, and they had vouched for Franzese's credibility.
When it came to Sharpton, however, Goldberg had a lot more to say. First of all, he pointed out that while drug deals were discussed with Sharpton, the good reverend never participated in one. The big surprise came when Goldberg revealed that the FBI had confronted Sharpton with the tape. Knowing he was caught, Sharpton made a deal to avoid prosecution, and became an FBI informant for a number of years.
The third story, one that has seemingly slipped through the cracks with all the attention the Yankees and Sharpton have been getting, was the revelation that Franzese and the Colombo crime family had attempted to corner the market on representing college players at the 1985 NFL Draft.
Apparently, using an agent who normally represented singers, the mob coaxed a number of players -- including former Iowa Hawkeye and San Diego Charger Ronnie Harmon -- to sign with them before the end of the college season. The contracts would be post-dated, and then forwarded to the NFL once the college bowl games were completed on January 1st. As many as a dozen first round picks were locked up in this manner. And when other agents got in the way, Franzese sent one of his thugs to convince them to back off.
In exchange, these potential draft picks were given tens of thousands of dollars -- $50,000 in Harmon's case. It gets worse. At the 1985 Rose Bowl, Iowa was heavily favored going into the game against UCLA. Harmon, who had only fumbled once during the regular season, fumbled four times and dropped a sure touchdown pass as UCLA rolled to a victory.
While Franzese wouldn't say it on camera, he strongly suggested that Harmon had thrown the game for his friends in the mob.
All in all, it was a fantastic report, and one that could earn Goldberg an Emmy -- that is, if he hadn't gone public with his disatisfaction with CBS News in his bestseller, Bias. Even the balance of the program -- Mary Carillo on high school football hazing, and Frank De Ford on Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell -- would have been great on their own. Together with Goldberg's piece, however, makes it the best single episode of the program since it began airing.
You can still catch a rebroadcast on HBO. Click here for the schedule.
