You Don't Know Me Like I Know Me
If you didn't get that reference, revelation is only a click away. You can thank me later.
With the news of John Daly's reported gambling losses of $50-60 million still commanding headlines for at least the next week, I had a dilemma ahead of me the size of Mount Everest. Which voice of idiocy would I turn to in these morally presumptuous times? Who would dare become indignant at the first syllable of the word "gambling?" After much deliberation, one constant voice of imbecility rose above the rest. That voice belonged to Mike Celizic.
Gamble in baseball, and you’re finished for life. Gamble in golf, and nobody cares.
Gamble on baseball, and you're finished for life. Very few people care about golf anyway.
“What’s the deal?” a friend wanted to know. “Is this a double standard?”
No, it's not, but your friend is probably too ignorant to know the difference. Otherwise, why would he be your friend?
Daly claims to have dropped somewhere between $50-$60 million in casinos over the years, and, he observes, if he keeps it up, it’s going to ruin him. Makes you wonder how long it took to come to that conclusion. Most of us probably would have figured it out by $5 million in the red, maybe less.
Whoa, Mike. Don't be so quick to assume people learn from what others deem to be their mistakes. For example, if I were to write fifty atrocious and erroneous articles on sports, I would conclude I was a bad sports writer and should probably quit my job so as to not subject unsuspecting readers to my idiocy. But obviously, you are as slow to reach a conclusion as John Daly is.
If he were in baseball, he’d have been thrown out of the game.
A blatant misrepresentation of the truth. And do you want to know why, Mike? Because there is no rule in Major League Baseball that says a player cannot gamble away from the sport. John Daly did his gambling damage at casinos, not at golf tournaments.
If you need a concrete example of a baseball player being allowed to gamble away from baseball, look no further than Alex Rodriguez. Last summer Rodriguez was warned about playing in illegal poker games, but MLB did nothing to him because they could do nothing to him. Mind you, the link I am providing for this story comes from the very online site you work for.
Beyond that, I’d like to know how somebody can “fix” a golf tournament. It’s relatively easy to throw a baseball game, but I don’t how you’d throw a golf tournament.
First, it is not easy to throw a baseball game because one player usually does not have that great an impact on the game to win it or lose it for his team. It would take a collective effort from players who have no fear of being banned from baseball for life. Good luck on that one, Celizic.
Second, there would be no reason, none at all, for a golf player to throw a golf tournament. Perhaps you don't know this already Mike, but there is a distinct difference in how baseball players and golfers are paid. Since MLB players' contracts are guaranteed, whether the team they play for loses or wins, it really has no bearing on their bank accounts. Therefore, if they were to throw a game, whatever money they received would be a bonus.
Conversely, golf players' salaries are based on how well they do from tournament to tournament. What this indicates is there is no reason for a golfer to throw one tournament because he/she is not assured of doing well in another tournament and reaping the benefits of a top finish. To convince a golfer to throw a tournament, probably on the last day of a tournament when the player had a small lead, would require a person to not only pay them for the difference for the money they would lose in said tournament, but it would also have to be financially lucrative enough for the golfer to give up any exemptions which may come with the tournament win. All in all, even attempting to fix a golf tournament is not a feasible proposition.
So there’s no double standard, only the golf standard, which is that if you want to throw your money away, the Tour doesn’t care which vehicle you choose to do it. You can spend it on women and boats, or you can feed the slot machines. It’s your choice.
You can also do that in every other professional sports league in the world. Maybe we should call it the wealth standard.
With the news of John Daly's reported gambling losses of $50-60 million still commanding headlines for at least the next week, I had a dilemma ahead of me the size of Mount Everest. Which voice of idiocy would I turn to in these morally presumptuous times? Who would dare become indignant at the first syllable of the word "gambling?" After much deliberation, one constant voice of imbecility rose above the rest. That voice belonged to Mike Celizic.
Gamble in baseball, and you’re finished for life. Gamble in golf, and nobody cares.
Gamble on baseball, and you're finished for life. Very few people care about golf anyway.
“What’s the deal?” a friend wanted to know. “Is this a double standard?”
No, it's not, but your friend is probably too ignorant to know the difference. Otherwise, why would he be your friend?
Daly claims to have dropped somewhere between $50-$60 million in casinos over the years, and, he observes, if he keeps it up, it’s going to ruin him. Makes you wonder how long it took to come to that conclusion. Most of us probably would have figured it out by $5 million in the red, maybe less.
Whoa, Mike. Don't be so quick to assume people learn from what others deem to be their mistakes. For example, if I were to write fifty atrocious and erroneous articles on sports, I would conclude I was a bad sports writer and should probably quit my job so as to not subject unsuspecting readers to my idiocy. But obviously, you are as slow to reach a conclusion as John Daly is.
If he were in baseball, he’d have been thrown out of the game.
A blatant misrepresentation of the truth. And do you want to know why, Mike? Because there is no rule in Major League Baseball that says a player cannot gamble away from the sport. John Daly did his gambling damage at casinos, not at golf tournaments.
If you need a concrete example of a baseball player being allowed to gamble away from baseball, look no further than Alex Rodriguez. Last summer Rodriguez was warned about playing in illegal poker games, but MLB did nothing to him because they could do nothing to him. Mind you, the link I am providing for this story comes from the very online site you work for.
Beyond that, I’d like to know how somebody can “fix” a golf tournament. It’s relatively easy to throw a baseball game, but I don’t how you’d throw a golf tournament.
First, it is not easy to throw a baseball game because one player usually does not have that great an impact on the game to win it or lose it for his team. It would take a collective effort from players who have no fear of being banned from baseball for life. Good luck on that one, Celizic.
Second, there would be no reason, none at all, for a golf player to throw a golf tournament. Perhaps you don't know this already Mike, but there is a distinct difference in how baseball players and golfers are paid. Since MLB players' contracts are guaranteed, whether the team they play for loses or wins, it really has no bearing on their bank accounts. Therefore, if they were to throw a game, whatever money they received would be a bonus.
Conversely, golf players' salaries are based on how well they do from tournament to tournament. What this indicates is there is no reason for a golfer to throw one tournament because he/she is not assured of doing well in another tournament and reaping the benefits of a top finish. To convince a golfer to throw a tournament, probably on the last day of a tournament when the player had a small lead, would require a person to not only pay them for the difference for the money they would lose in said tournament, but it would also have to be financially lucrative enough for the golfer to give up any exemptions which may come with the tournament win. All in all, even attempting to fix a golf tournament is not a feasible proposition.
So there’s no double standard, only the golf standard, which is that if you want to throw your money away, the Tour doesn’t care which vehicle you choose to do it. You can spend it on women and boats, or you can feed the slot machines. It’s your choice.
You can also do that in every other professional sports league in the world. Maybe we should call it the wealth standard.
posted by David at
2:20 PM
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