Cut your losses instead of becoming professional gambler

THIS rush to create a sports gambling epidemic is not without its dark comedies. The AP last week ran a story that included an interview with 44-year-old An

thony Tonzelli, a “professional gambler” who five days a week crosses from Pennsylvania to New Jersey to make now-legal sports bets.

The AP further reported “he has made $380,000 worth of bets since August, and is down about $3,000 since then.”

He was further quoted: “This is just like going to a job for me. Driving over the bridge and paying a toll really doesn’t matter when you’re putting $300 on a game.”

A $3,000 loss on $380,000 invested since August? That’s an interesting business he’s in. It’s like a job? He has lost $3,000 in exchange for three months’ work. That’s like owning PSLs based on Roger Goodell’s “good investments” pitch.

Good thing Mr. Tonzelli is a professional or he could go broke.

Yet he is — in a way — way ahead. On $380,000 bet, sportspartnered gambling operations expect to beat sports fans for a lot more than three grand.

➤ Is it possible ESPN doesn’t realize how bad its “Monday Night Football” telecasts have become, that there’s now a palpable sense of dread attached — a dare — to tuning in?

For starters, it’s TV, not radio, yet ESPN can’t prevail upon the trio of Joe Tessitore, Jason Witten and Booger McFarland to, how can we politely put this, shut up once in a while!?

Witten’s specialty has become needless long-form reactions to every play. And with McFarland from somewhere over there, or over here, in his Rubber Booger Buggy, we don’t know whether to listen or duck.

Might ESPN actually be pleased with its latest re-creation and feels we should be, too? Is it that delusional?