Many of the hundreds of channels
available from space or the cable put on shows that explain in detail
what we might never have seen before.
Watching a wire unclog an
artery that looks like the 405 freeway in LA at rush time is not exactly
relaxing. But it's revealing.
With Court TV putting
important trials on live, we have learned, unfortunately, that the most
meaningful element of the judicial system is not solid evidence
presented in an honest manner. What is of crucial, no critical,
importance, is the jury consultant. It is too depressing to go into at
great length here in what is primarily a sports piece. Suffice it to say
that there are pinheads by the thousand on our juries, people prone
toward voting their heritage, not the evidence.
Smart bombs, curveballs, the
mind of the holdem poker player - few secrets remain.
Texas holdem poker has gone
from cult classic to instant classic on ESPN and features a bunch of
people trying to look like riverboat gamblers when in fact what they're
playing is much like War, a world-wide favorite of kids everywhere where
the big card beats the little card amid shouting.
Here's the thing about Texas
holdem poker. Percentages are percentages. Everybody knows them. So it
comes down to making a chump play and catching a lucky card to be known
as a genius.
Matter of fact, one of the
few things a person is apt to know absolutely nothing about in this day
and age of open policies has to do with horse racing.
Stewards.
I'm at the quarter horse
races the other day. I played a 6-1 horse that won easily.
But before the winner could
get back to his most adoring fan, the "inquiry" sign came on the board.
Inquiry? Are you kidding me?
There was no hole in the rail. No horse running loose in the infield.
According to accepted convention, a quarter horse is disqualified when
criminal charges are filed. Banging is the nature of the game. In this
particular race, the winner got clear and came in front of a straggler,
so what, who cares, it happens in most races.
The point is that had the
horse not been cut off, it still couldn't have won aided by rocket
propulsion.
Guess what. My horse was
taken down. This brought up the following questions concerning the
stewards.
Who are they?
Where are they?
Would they know a quarter
horse from Francis the Talking Mule?
What do they look like?
Do they have day jobs? If so,
where?
Do they know personally those
they judge?
What are their phone numbers
and addresses?
Do they vote on
disqualifications, majority rule?
Where might they be reached
for interviews?
Do certain stewards have
disqualification tendencies, the way certain umpires call the high
strike?
Money has to talk, remember?
