High and Tight.

Friday, October 28, 2011

Swish, O.A.R., and Crazy Poker Games

Labels: music, nick swisher, O.A.R., poker, videos

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 12:47 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Most Boring Sports Day of the Year

No MLB. No NFL. No NBA. No NHL. No drafts, no trades, no ball being played.

But hey, ESPN is starting their broadcasts of the 2007 World Series of Poker, so at least there's that. Tonight is the $5,000 World Championship mixed hold 'em event (replay from last night). Don't bother if you're only looking to see big names though, it's mainly fresh faces.

Labels: poker

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 3:49 PM 0 comments

Friday, November 04, 2005

Big Slick

Jay Lovinger has an interesting take on the A-Rod gambling non-issue on ESPN.com's Page 2 (yes, I know I was as shocked as you are that there's something worth reading on the internet's premier Red Sox masturbation fest).

Of course, this would be much ado about nothing even if the team had (told Alex to stop playing poker - ed.), since there is nothing illegal about playing in illegal card rooms in New York City. It is only illegal to run one for profit, a point made clear in the story itself and in an accompanying sidebar about the fact that many celebrity poker players frequent these establishments. The story also acknowledges that the Yankees -- and Major League Baseball, which is said to be "keeping an eye" on A-Rod -- are powerless to stop him from playing in these "underground poker dens." (For the record, A-Rod's agent, the much-loved Scott Boras, denies that anybody has warned his client about playing in the clubs.)
Of course, since this is New York, and the story involves the Yankees, conspiracy theories are bound to arise. Here are a couple of possibilities:

(1) The Yankees know A-Rod has a gambling problem, a la Michael Jordan, and they are trying to head it off by putting public pressure on him. Seems unlikely. For one thing, according to previously published reports, A-Rod has been playing in $5-$5 no-limit games, where the most money you could possibly win or lose is a few thousand dollars. And even that would be some kind of maniacal $5-$5 game. For somebody with A-Rod's income -- in the neighborhood of $30 million or more a year between salary and endorsements -- that's the equivalent of you or me losing 20 bucks or so. For another thing, if the Yankees are trying to pressure A-Rod through a newspaper, it would be the New York Times.

(2) For some reason, the Yankees are trying to slime A-Rod. Always a possibility, though they prefer to use that kind of strategy on pitching coaches. But who knows? Historically, players who range in ability from none (Hideki "Fat Pussy Toad" Irabu) to Hall of Fame (Dave "Mr. May" Winfield) have received the slime treatment during the reign of The Boss.

(3) The Yankees and MLB are scared stiff that one of their biggest stars is going to get involved in some kind of 21st Century version of the Black Sox Scandal, just when the world champion Chicago White Sox have effaced that stain. The Black Sox stars were making less than $10,000 a year; in some cases, a lot less. A-Rod makes $30 million a year. He'd have to spend the rest of his life, 24/7, in illegal poker clubs playing at the highest stakes those clubs offer and never win a single hand before he even began to approach a debt he couldn't easily afford to pay off.

So yeah. A-Rod has a gambling problem when he's not breaking the law and playing at $5 tables. Hell, *I* play at higher stakes tables than Alex does on a regular basis.

However I would like to add to Jay's list:

(4) The Daily News is a crap paper with very little credibility and as proven by their "premier columnist" Mike the Italian Leprechaun Lupica they have an agenda against Alex Rodriguez and this is simply the latest example.

Labels: a-rod, espn, lupica, poker

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 7:25 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

A-Rod told to fold.

The wig isn't fooling anyone, Alex.

Apparently, the Yankees are fed up with reports of their biggest star playing in illegal New York Poker rooms with profesional poker jerk and all-around assface Phil Hellmuth:

"Alex Rodriguez was cautioned by the New York Yankees that playing poker in illegal clubs could be dangerous and harmful to his image, according to a newspaper report.
Early last month, the Daily News reported the star slugger had attended games at an underground club with professional card player Phil Hellmuth."

This is made front page news by ESPN on a day MLB awards are being handed out, regardless

of the fact that playing in those rooms is not illegal, Rodriguez's agent denies that he was ever warned about anything, and the source is not even mentioned. Boras declines to comment, MLB declines to comment, and no comment from the Yankees. The only named source is - yes, of course - the always reliable "New York Daily Spew" - however that story is a month old and only mentions that he was playing in said club. What happened to "people close to the investigation" or "those with knowledge of the situation" or "a friend of Rodriguez" or a "Yankee executive who wished to remain anonymous" as a source?

Now I realize it's an AP story, but is this truly front page news? The Daily News doesn't even mention it in today's paper.

Even if true.... so what? The worst thing Alex did is have a friend who has an ass for a face.

Labels: a-rod, douchebag, espn, pics, poker

posted by Mr. Faded Glory @ 10:27 AM 0 comments