Movie Gambling Gets Bradley Cooper Booted From NFL Network

Here’s the Scoop’s idea of a perfect post: It combines the beauty of Philadelphia homeboy Bradley Cooper, the unstinting popularity of the National Football League, and the delicious whiff of hypocrisy. So here goes: Cooper—star, most recently, of the Silver Linings Playbook about comedy and tragedy in the lives of a Philadelphia Eagles-loving family—was supposed to chat up the movie on the NFL Network’s Rich Eisen Thanksgiving Special last week, but was abruptly booted before the segment aired. Why? Well, because Cooper’s dad in the movie—played by acting legend Robert De Niro—plays a bookie who (gasp!) bets on NFL games. And the NFL is shocked—shocked!—that some people like to bet on its sport. It’s shocked that so any people spend so much money on NFL gambling, in fact, that a disputed call in a single game might’ve shifted the result of as much as $1 billion in bets. And the NFL would be further shocked—shocked!—to discover that some of the intense interest in its games is the result of such betting, and not such noble feelings as community pride or the desire to see opposing quarterbacks endure terrible physical suffering. Which is why Bradley Cooper couldn’t be on the NFL Network last week: Because the NFL is morally pure. [New York Post]