Monday Morning Halfback: Everyone involved in the Sydney Sweeney ad outrage got what they wanted

OPINION Monday Morning Halfback: Everyone involved in the Sydney Sweeney ad outrage got what they wanted CATHAL KELLY AND JAMIE ROSS PUBLISHED 18 MINUTES AGO Open this photo in gallery: A Novig ad featuring actress Sydney Sweeney, who owns a stake in the sports prediction app, drew criticism this past week, including from a number of female athletes who said the ad sexualized women, undermining their work in their respective sports. MICHAEL M. SANTIAGO/GETTY IMAGES COMMENTS SHARE SAVE FOR LATER Listen to this article Learn more about audio Log in or create a free account to listen to this article. Jamie Ross is the The Globe’s Sports editor; Cathal Kelly is the national sports columnist. Jamie Ross: Cathal, People were upset at Sydney Sweeney last week for her appearance in a sports gambling ad. What do you make of the backlash? Cathal Kelly: Were they upset? Actually upset? I have my doubts. The reasonable reaction to Sweeney’s nude-but-for-sports-equipment ad is a shrug. Has everyone who’s angry been on the internet? This is what sends you into a moral swoon? If there’s a qualm to be had about it, it’s the fact that someone who already has a ton of money feels the need to shill for an industry that’s the financial equivalent of heroin. Sure, Jon Hamm makes ‘Rakin’ Bacon’ sound like fun, but only the stupidest people you know are doing this. However, were you to find the gambling part of it repellent, that would make Sweeney no worse than Connor McDavid or Auston Matthews. Nobody’s accusing them of being modern Jezebels. I presume the actual reason that a bunch of athletes most people have never heard of took umbrage with Sweeney was that they knew it would briefly boost their own profiles. And they were right. So everybody involved in this – Sweeney, the company she was repping, her detractors and the online mob – got what they were looking for. Kudos to their agents. (If you don’t have an agent, you’re going about this wrong.) The bigger issue here – the boom in legal sports gambling – hardly got a mention. Surprised? Open this photo in gallery: Legalized sports betting feels inescapable to viewers, who are inundated with ads while trying to watch games. KEVIN SOUSA/GETTY IMAGES J.R.: Sex sells, men gamble. Not hard to see the calculation, cynical as it is. But I think you’re right that everyone once again danced around another, broader issue. The legal sports betting industry is a behemoth and it has infiltrated the culture…