Sports fans so routinely wager on the games they love that they oftentimes can't completely comprehend why gambling by the games' participants is viewed as the sin of all sins.

That's why so many baseball fans want Pete Rose reinstated. And that's why when/if the University of Washington cuts its ties with football coach Rick Neuheisel some fans will inappropriately see Neuheisel as a victim.

Neither Rose nor Neuheisel is a victim. If anything, they're victims of their own stupidity.

Neuheisel has no excuse. He's on the brink of being canned at Washington because he participated in an NCAA basketball tournament pool with a $5,000 entry fee. His defenders will argue that $5,000 to a college coach earning more than $1.2 million a year is the equivalent of a $40,000-a-year truck driver betting $150 on a game.

What's the big deal?

Well, actually there are several big deals when it comes to participants gambling. Neuheisel's stature in the college athletic world conceivably gives him access to information that a normal gambler wouldn't have. He's probably pretty good friends with the Washington basketball coach, who is pretty good friends with many of the coaches who participated in the NCAA Tournament. Before wagering, it would be relatively easy for Neuheisel to find out inside information.

Neuheisel's gambling potentially exposes him to professional gamblers and members of organized crime syndicates looking for an edge, such as inside information. Yes, I know we're talking about a high-stakes, allegedly friendly and innocent neighborhood pool. But when the stakes get that high, the friendliness and innocence are often lost and only "real pros" have the courage to play.

In theory, Neuheisel's friendly wagering could expose the entire Washington athletic department to a corruptive force capable of compromising the entire department.

That's why at the beginning of each football season the NCAA sends a representative to meet with each team to discuss the dangers of gambling. It's a terribly boring meeting. But my coaches at Ball State University took the meeting very seriously each season. We, the players, were forced to sit up straight, shut our mouths and listen to the same spiel year after year. If my memory is right, we even had to read a document and sign a letter indicating that we understood the NCAA's policies on gambling.

Rick Neuheisel is 42 years old. He played football at UCLA. He's been involved with coaching ever since his playing career ended. He's probably heard the NCAA gambling speech close to 20 times.

Neuheisel has no defense.

And the NCAA is right for being brutally hard on gambling. I'm well aware that there is some hypocrisy among professional sports -- I include college football and men's and women's college basketball in my definition of pro sports -- when it comes to gambling.

Gambling is an integral part of the engine driving televised sports. Many Americans follow the games so closely because they have more than pride riding on the outcome.

That doesn't change the fact that pro sports should continue the fight to protect the outcomes of games from organized-crime influence.

It wouldn't bother me if the NCAA served Neuheisel the Pete Rose special. Ban Neuheisel for life. I know this is the land of second chances. But pro sports have already sacrificed so much integrity in pursuit of TV ratings that the already-shaky belief that the games aren't fixed is about the last shred of marketable credibility pro sports have left.