Growing problem? You betcha!

WILL TV’s partnerships with sports gambling operations and reliance on sports gambling ad revenue alter what’s seen and heard as legitimate news? Or is the conflicted interest, and perhaps even shame, too great?

So we’ll answer our question with a question: How many of you watched a newscast last week that reported that this year, Ohio’s first of legalized sports gambling, according to the Problem Gambling Network of Ohio, produced a huge escalation of calls for help:

“We started the calendar year off in the thousands,” Michael Buzzelli, associate director of the Ohio help network said. “That’s triple the amount from last year.”

➤ The oblivious all-game formula shots that so often destroy the ends of close college basketball games — home team scores, get off the game to shoot the crowd or cheerleaders; visiting team scores, shoot the visitors’ bench or a closeup of the scorer even with a full court press on — have crept into football telecasts.

Dolphins-Ravens last Sunday was still close when Miami had a thirdand-goal. How will Miami play it? Two tight ends, empty backfield, slot back or whatever? Defense responds with what?

Tough to tell as CBS presented the formulaic thirdor fourth-and-goal series of crowd shots showing people making the same noise we can hear.

➤ Men’s college basketball, last week: Central Arkansas 120, Champion Christian 54. The young men for Central Arkansas were allowed to shoot 38 3s and make 16 steals. That special place in hell will be too crowded to remain special.

➤ For all the tomahawk chopping, reader Pat Proietti suggests it was an “insult to the brave Seminole Nation that 20 Florida State players opted out of the Orange Bowl” then lost, 63-3, to Georgia.