Tony Romo’s blood-alcohol level was nearly double the legal limit during his OWI arrest earlier this summer, new court documents show.
Page A3From§Eachthe early evening edition — 1 September 2026
Top NFL broadcasters swap the booth for the docket: one admits betting, one blows past the limit.
As it ran on the front
This reporter has covered pigskin and hardwood alike for going on forty years, and in all that time this reporter cannot recall a week quite like this one — two of the biggest names in sports broadcasting sidelined not by injury but by the far more treacherous opponent, paperwork. This reporter's first order of business is Bill Simmons, mastermind of what this reporter believes was ESPN's very first podcast, launched back in 1998, whose recent on-air admission about his own sports betting has drawn a formal look from the Massachusetts Gaming Commission.
“Sugar, 'The BS Report' launched in 2007, not '98, and it ran on ESPN.com, which barely existed the year you're thinking of. The Gaming Commission's interest is real, though — Massachusetts regulates sports wagering same as it regulates the casinos, and a host with inside access to betting lines is exactly the kind of thing they're built to look at.” — Trudy
…(cont) This reporter's second order of business concerns Tony Romo, the network's marquee analyst, a gentleman this reporter watched lead the Cowboys to their championship back in, this reporter believes, 1998.
“1995, hon. Three rings under Jimmy Johnson, one under Barry Switzer, and the last one closed out the '95 season. Romo never actually played on any of them — he didn't join the team until 2003. Nobody's won since, which is its own kind of streak.” — Trudy
Separately, the analyst's blood alcohol level has now been made public, following a traffic stop this reporter is reliably informed exceeded the legal threshold by a considerable margin.
What strikes this reporter, if this reporter may editorialize for one moment, is the timing: two of the steadiest voices guiding the American viewing public through a Sunday afternoon, both facing regulatory or legal scrutiny in the very same week the leagues themselves are drowning in sportsbook advertising money. A man could set his watch by it, if a man's watch ran on television ad revenue instead of hours.
The booth, this reporter has always believed, is where the game gets called. This reporter is beginning to suspect it is also where a good deal else gets settled — quietly, long after the broadcast has gone to color bars, and long before the audience ever sees the bill.
“The same networks that ran wall-to-wall gambling ads all season are suddenly very interested in one host's betting habits, and a Hall of Fame quarterback's blood alcohol number gets attached to his name fast enough to make the evening news. Both stories are about who gets to keep the microphone after the industry they cover catches them living inside it.”
The receipts
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission is reviewing Bill Simmons’ recent confession to using his daughter’s boyfriend to proxy bet on his FanDuel account.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.