I’d like to congratulate the Penn State men’s volleyball team on winning the NCAA title…just as the Penn State women’s volleyball team won the NCAA title back in December. It’s nice to see that the center of the volleyball universe is once again Pennsylvania, as it should be, and not some absurd place like California. Or "Brazil", wherever that is.

Of course, I didn’t actually watch much of Penn State’s history victory over Pepperdine…really, the school is actually called "Pepperdine"? Wow. Anyway, whenever I watch Penn State play volleyball, they lose. Every time. And when you figure that they only lose 2 or 3 times a season, that’s a strong indicator that I’m a jinx. I watched the first game last night and PSU was killin’ ‘em, and I called my buddy Mark to remind him the game was on. That’s when Pepperdine reeled off like 11 points in a row and won. That was enough–I swtiched over to hockey and checked in from time to time. Same thing happened when the women beat Stanford, they lost the games I watched, won the games I didn’t. And I love my Nittany Lions so much that I’ll never, ever watch them again.

The MVP of the Final Four was Matt Anderson, who is eight or nine feet tall and has the vertical leap of a goddam kangaroo. He was hitting balls out of the back row and practically landing under the net. Some of the kills he had could not be blocked. COULD NOT BE BLOCKED. He was a yard or two above the block, hitting straight down. Look, getting hit with a volleyball doesn’t scare me and I play with some guys who can really turn on the ball, but before I’d take the court against Anderson I’d demand a goalie mask. And a cup.

Speaking of goalie masks, and speaking of jinxes, the Pens will hopefully put the Rangers away this afternoon. I knew they were going to lose on Thursday–I KNEW IT. Why? Because we deviated from our lucky routine. The last few times we went out to see the game we went to Marzoni’s, the brewpub by my house, and the Pens won. This time we joined some friends at a new Buffalo Wild Wings that opened recently just up the road. I hadn’t visited a BWW since the WSOP, when Craig and I would occasionally stop there when we needed a break from the Montana Meat Company joint near our condo. I didn’t think much of it. The food just wasn’t very good, and they serve everything in paper boats or plastic tubs lines with wax paper. I appreciate how that saves on dishwashing expense and helps the enviroment, but it’s a little off-putting.

Especially when, as I said, the food isn’t very good. The place is huge and that night the joint was jumping, packed to the rafters. Good atmosphere, lots of plasma TVs, I started to think this could work. We ordered a selection of boneless wings, and we were served these heavily-breaded knobs of meat in sauce. The sauces, not too bad. But the "chicken" was really dry and chewy and there was something in the seasoning that was borderline caustic. I wasn’t in the mood for a full meal so later I ordered nachos to share with the table. The chips were so heavily salted that my lips started to burn, and the chicken haphazardly strewn about the tub was so overcooked that it was inedible. I mean, even I can cook chicken so it tastes OK. Bah.

Ticking me off even more was that I couldn’t log on to their WiFi. Craig turned the Vegas BWW into a second office because the WiFi in the condo didn’t work so good, and I figured I’d play some poker, maybe even do a little bit of work. No luck. While I could log in to their, uh, login page, it kept saying that I didn’t have a valid account. Nowhere on the page did it ASK for account information and when I asked how the (expletive) I signed up for an account no one in the place knew. Double bah.

On top of all this, I got a bad shock as I walked from my car to the bar. This is a huge new development near my flat, there’s a Lowe’s, a Target, a bank, a couple of restaurants, and a little mini-strip mall where the BWW is located. Two doors down from the bar I saw a neon sign that read "Rainbow Garden". Uh-oh. "There’s another Chinese place opening?" I asked my buddy Matt.

"Yeah. It’s a buffet."

Just what I need–ANOTHER all-you-can eat Chinese buffet within 3 minutes of my house. I’m starting to sense a conspiracy here. They keep opening brewpubs and Chinese buffets near my place–heck, there’s even another sports bar that just opened 50 yards away from Marzoni’s. Don’t these people want me to lose weight?

Speaking of which, since the start of the year I’ve lost about 10 pounds. Good boy, you might say…except that I think the main reason I’ve shed some pounds is that I’ve been pretty sick a couple of times. And, oddly enough, not playing volleyball has been good for my waistline. Because I haven’t been going out for beers afterwards. I’d like to lose a bit more before the World Series–I actually lost about 5 pounds last year during the WSOP. You wouldn’t think it, but typing is good aerobic exercise.

So is lifting and riding the exercise bike, so I think I’ll go do that right now. Come June I’ll be wishing I had access to a gym…unless the place I end up staying out there has one. Ooh, that’d be nice.

Speaking of nice, I finished second in Dr. Pauly’s event yesterday. Nice to finally cash in that blasted tournament after getting skunked so many times in a row. Ah, but you gotta love Pot-Limit Omaha. Twice I was all-in and stared at the board and my cards with my head swiveling back and forth saying, "Duh…which way did he go, which way did he go???" I have no idea how people play this game live. Must be crazy.

Let’s go Pens.

Yesterday afternoon I was in the mall parking lot when I passed a woman walking with her six- or seven-year old daughter. Mom looked pissed, so mad she couldn’t even look at her child. The little girl was crying. Here’s the conversation:

Mom: Nothing’s ever good enough for you. Ever.

Little girl: Yes it is!

Mom: Nothing makes you happy.

Little girl (sobbing): I AM happy!!

That’s either brilliant reverse-psychology or really messed up.

I’ve tried twice today to write up a post about Harrah’s moving the WSOP final table to November, but I’m too disgusted with the pathetic quality of the discussion I’ve been reading to bother. I love how all these savvy poker players who worship at the temple of EV are whining, "Harrah’s is only doing this to put more money in their pocket". No shit, Sherlock. It’s possible that the poker community as a whole could benefit if Harrah’s and ESPN promote the final table and tens of millions tune in, but people can’t seem to get past the blasphemous idea that Harrah’s might be acting in their own interest. There were actually people posting in the 2+2 thread demanding that the PPA or WPA do something about this. What planet do these people live on? How do they manage to cross the street?

I especially loved the posters who accused BJ Nemeth of supporting the change because he’s a tournament reporter and thus has a vested interest in making the WSOP last as long as possible, and that he’s "talking through his wallet". Yes, those of us who know BJ that he’s all about the Benjamins, money money money, gotta get that dolla yo. Jesus freaking wept.

Conversely, Harrah’s hasn’t exactly proven that they’ve thought this all the way through. Questions about how they’re going to combat collusion and what happens if someone dies (or gets locked up, or can’t get back into the U.S.) were hardly reassuring. WSOP Commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said that the bright light of publicity and the threat of disqualification would keep people from cheating. Uh, yeah, that’s worked in the past. Like back in 2006 when those $2 million extra chips were introducted to the game, both Harrah’s and ESPN were right on top of that. And in a post at the Hendon Mob forum Roland de Wolfe asked a question that’s been posed about million times now–What happens if someone dies before November–and Howard Lederer said that eventuality was "Highly unlikely (probably <1%), but I’m sure Harrah’s will do the right thin(g) if that happened." I don’t think many people will be reassured upon hearing that Harrah’s "will do the right thing". And what WOULD be the right thing to do? Give the family some cash? Spring for the funeral? Ask for a moment of silence before "Shuffle up and deal!!"? We do know one thing–if someone can’t play at the final table their stack will be blinded away, and that would dramatically change the dynamic at the table. Is that a reasonable course of action if the likelihood that someone can’t make it is "probably <1%)? Is everyone comfortable with using the word "probably" here?

Well, I guess we’ll have to wait and see how it all plays out. The other changes coming to the WSOP all sound very encouraging (using 5 separate rooms, separate satellite area, separate cage, better food, NO TENT) so maybe the powers that be have their eye on the ball. Starting to look forward to re-joining the circus. I must be touched in the head.

It’s all over the Internet, or at least the poker part of it. Harrah’s (or is it Caesars now?) today confirmed that the final table of the World Series Main Event will be held on November 9th–almost four months after the final table is set. ESPN will broadcast a 2-hour show featuring the final table and then show the heads-up battle for the title live on November 10th.

Reading various blogs and forums opinions seem to be a bit mixed. You have the hysterical folks who think this is the Worst Idea in the History of Mankind, and then there are those who think this might be kinda OK. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground, though if there is, that’s where I stand on the subject. On the one hand, watching the Main Event coverage, especially the final table, is almost a waste because you know who wins. There’s no drama, other than wondering how the person is going to react when his dream comes true/is crushed. Showing the final table live on ESPN is a great idea, except that I don’t know how many people would really want to watch 15 hours of preflop folding. This is why we need ESPN 8 (the Ocho!), to let the serious poker fans wallow in the wire-to-wire coverage while a 2-hour special airs on ESPN. To be sure, this is going to help ESPN’s ratings–people who know zilch about poker will tune in to see who wins the title and all those millions of dollars. Especially after the ESPN/Disney media machine spends 4 months hyping the event and the players. If it’s done right, this could really give poker a shot in the arm.

There are, however, some serious issues to worry about. Of course taking a four-month break completely changes the dynamics of the game. All the information you’ve gathered playing with these people during the Main Event will either be forgotten come November or your foe’s will play in a completely different way. Of course everyone who makes the final table will be working on their game–reading books, watching video, picking other players’ brains for advice. The rank amateur who luckboxed his way to the final table might return in November a much more sophisticated player.

The break is long enough for all sorts of unfortunate things to happen. Obviously, someone could die in the interim, or be arrested, or in some way not be able to play in November. From the Harrah’s press release, if that happens to you, boo hoo–your chips will be blinded off. I wonder if this might chill foreigners participating in the Main Event–I don’t know how hard it is for people to get U.S. visas, especially when you’re coming to this country to play for millions in a poker tournament. Our government had a chilly attitude toward gambling, let’s not forget. I wonder if this has already been considered.

But these issues are minor compared to what could be a potential nightmare–possible collusion or cheating. Moving the final table four months into the future already guarantees that the play will be dramatically different than it was back in July.What if a big-name pro offers his/her assistance…in exchange for a piece of a final-table players’ action? What if that pro has pieces of multiple final-tablers. And so already we see the potential for mischief.

In those four months the players may form cabals or alliances within the group to softplay or collude in order to maximize their winnings. Maybe the vast majority of players wouldnt consider outright cheating, but it isn’t hard to imagine that players who are friends (or who become friends during that four-month period) might go out of their way not to hurt each other. Collusion isn’t inevitable but it’s a serious issue that requires close attention. There is A LOT of money at stake. I’m curious to see how seriously Harrah’s deals with these issues.

It’s an interesting idea and I applaud Harrah’s willingness to take a chance. We’ll have to wait and see how well it’s executed. Because no matter how many people complain, it’s gonna happen. There’s one thing I’m disappointed about–I won’t be there to see the World Champion crowned. I didn’t cover the final table last year but it was cool to be there, at 4:30AM, in the middle of the mob, watching Jerry Yang get his bracelet. The actual WSOP will end with a bit of anticlimax, but hopefully the hullaballoo surrounding the final table in November will more than make up for it.

It’s snowing.

Today’s April 30th (pay the rent!) and I looked out the window and there are a few fluttering flakes falling fast and free…OK, that’s too much forced alliteration this early in the morning. Haven’t had breakfast yet. And the snow just stopped anyway.

Yesterday I booked my flight to Vegas for the WSOP. I feel like I just got BACK from the World Series. Now I gotta do this all over again? Must be crazy.

Bluff Magazine posted their 2008 "Poker’s Power 20", who they think are the big movers and shakers in the poker world. PokerNews was listed as #15, in part because "it has grown to be a force in the industry, breaking some of the top stories of the year, as well as providing brilliant tournament reporting". Well, it’s nice to be appreciated.

Speaking of Vegas, a few weeks ago I posted a link to Army of Dude, a blog written by a soldier who spent 15 months in Iraq. He’s out of the Army now and he and his girlfriend are moving from Seattle to Austin. They’re taking a meandering route, one that included a stop in Vegas. Nothing like a Vegas trip report to whet the appetitie for an extended tour.

I’m hoping that by the time I head to Vegas I’ll be free of the illness that’s kicked my ass since Vietnam. I got some meds for it and they helped, but once I finshed ‘em it came back. Felt a bit better yesterday and today’s looking up, but I’m still clogged and I’m lacking both vim and vigor. People keep asking if I picked up bird flu or SARS over in Vietnam. I think it’s far more likely I caught something at LAX. Got a grudge against that airport.

But here’s news to make my chest clear and my heart sing–there’s a Wikipedia page for Steely McBeam, and my rant against that bastard was cited as supporting evidence that that…bastard has been "poorly received by the sports blogosphere". That’s TWO Wikipedia cites, and this one I actually deserve! And it’s such a good cause!

I take no pleasure in the Pirates releasing Matt Morris today. When the Bucs traded for Morris last year I said the trade was a world-class blunder. Nor was I alone in that judgement–just about everyone on the planet not named Dave Littlefield and Bob Nutting would’ve laughed at the proposed deal. Why a team going nowhere fast would trade a promising young outfielder for a 33-year-old pitcher with over $10 million on his contract was beyond human comprehension. The Pirates needed to acquire prospects, develop their young players, and keep an eye on the payroll. So they trade for a pitcher San Fran was so desperate to dump that the Giants would’ve eaten most of his salary. Not only did the Pirates give up a player, they agreed to take on Morris’s ENTIRE salary. Un-believable.

Morris made 16 starts as a Pirate–he won 3 of them. This year he was 0-4 with an ERA close to 10.00. Opposing players were hitting .390 against him, meaning that when Morris was on the mound the average NL hitter was George Brett. From all accounts Morris is a consummate pro, a good guy who simply couldn’t get the job done at the major-league level anymore. I feel bad for the guy that his career is apparently over…though the fact that the Pirates are going to give him ELEVEN MILLION DOLLARS to go away should take away a bit of the sting. Morris gets the remainder of his $10 million salary, plus he gets a $1 million buyout of his 2009 option.

It’s a hard number to get your mind around, $11 million. And while the fans will no doubt be clamoring for the Pirates to re-hire Littlefield just so he could be re-fired, let’s not forget that Bob Nutting, who took over as managing partner from Kevin McClatchy, signed off on the deal. Anyone who thought that the Pirates’ staggering incompetence would be fixed by removing Littlefield and McClatchy from the equation had better think twice.

Then again, maybe the Pirates’ powers-that-be ARE smartening up. They announced Morris’s release on a day featuring both the NFL Draft and a Penguin playoff game. It’ll be weeks, months, before anyone notices Morris is gone. Of course, it might be weeks, months, before the Pirates draw more than 15,000 fans to a game.

If you told me yesterday that the Steelers would end Day 1 of the NFL Draft with Rashard Mendenhall AND Limas Sweed, I would’ve said, "You’re crazy. Stop being crazy". And while the Steelers came into the draft needed linemen on both sides of the ball, you just can’t pass up that sort of talent. The Steelers need a runner who can get the tough yards and move the chains, and Mendenhall fits that bill to a T. Plus he can spell Willie Parker, hopefully prolonging his career and giving the Steelers a formidable 1-2 punch.

Ben Roethisberger said he wanted a tall receiver–when you pay a guy $100 million, you listen to him. Sweed is a different kind of receiver than Hines Ward and Santonio Holmes, and when you throw Heath Miller into the mix Big Ben has an embarassment of offensive riches. If Max Starks can play as well as he did at the end of last year, and if Willie Colon can move inside to guard, and if Justin Hartwig can provide an upgrade from Sean Mahan (not hard to imagine) the OL should be better than it was last year.

Still time for the Steelers to go after some big lads in the later rounds. Which is what I think they’ll do. But so far, I’m over the moon about our draft.

No idea why Penn State LB Dan Connor is still available. He’s not fast enough? He’s not athletic? Uh, I watched his whole career and the guy is plenty fast, plenty strong, plenty mean. He’s gonna be an outstanding pro.

I went to Game 1 of the Pens-Rangers game last night. From all the screaming, jumping about and frantic worrying I’m hoarse, I feel like I fell down a flight of stairs, and my ankle is killing me. That’s what it’s like being a mere spectator of a Stanley Cup playoff game.

If you think of yourself as a sports fan, and you don’t watch the Stanley Cup playoffs, get out my face. It’s a tragedy the NHL is so badly run that only about 3% of U.S. households can see all the games. Because the games are unreal.

When Avery scored to make it 3-0, despair. When Ruutu scored to make it 3-1, hope. When Dupuis buried one 14 seconds later, pandemonium. When Crosby (well, Malkin) scored to make it 5-4, euphoria. And when Jagr rang one off the post with five seconds left, one of the biggest mass episodes of the OOOOHHHHGGGGs in U.S. history. Seriously, I think 95% of the people in the Arena though the shot went in, because the place fell silent for a second, and even after it was apparent the puck was still live it wasn’t until the final horn that everyone recovered.

The whiteout was pretty cool, just as it was at Penn State. Odd that in both cases, the home team was wearing dark jerseys. Is this so the opposing team can’t see their teammates amidst the white-shirted crowd. Could be.

The sick thing is, after riding that emotional roller-coaster, these teams gotta play again TOMORROW. No rest for the weary. Players and fans.

Look, I’m as big a fan of the NFL Draft as you’re gonna find. I used to play sick so I could stay home from school to watch it–and yes, kids, the Draft used to be held during the week. There was no Internet in those dark days either and so I’d haunt the magazine racks and pick up every sports mag on the shelves and turn right to the draft previews. Of course the Bible in those days was Pro Football Weekly, with page after page of player profiles and team needs and anaylsis from PFW’s resident savant and weirdo, the late Joel Buschbaum. Buschbaum become a draft guru without leaving his Brooklyn apartment. Many of his editors never met him in person. Mel Kiper might be the guy that everyone associates with the NFL Draft, but Buschbaum was respected and admired both by NFL execs and by lunatic draftniks like myself.

But crazy as I am, the Draft has gotten a bit out of hand. Well, maybe more than a bit–in the old days an NFL beat writer might publish a mock draft the day (or the week, or the month) before the Draft, just to give the frothing mob something to chew over before the actual event. This year, ESPN’s Todd McShay has issued eight mock drafts. EIGHT?? The first came out when there was still a month to go in the regular season. How the hell can you predict who teams are going to select when you don’t even know what order they’re gonna be drafting? On top of that, a lot of the players McShay listed were juniors who went back to school. Look, I’m all in favor of stirring up the pot a bit and generating some conversation, but that’s just silly.

In comparison, Mel Kiper has issued a mere four mock drafts so far. Of course, yesterday Mel showed that his grip on sanity is as tenuous as ever by predicting the ENTIRE DRAFT. All seven rounds of it, right down to the compensatory picks. That’s nuts. That’s loco. I hope that Kiper just had the players ranked in some way and had a spreadsheet or something compile his list–I hate the idea of Kiper, sitting in a room by himself, going through every pick, team by team, trying to decide which player that team would select in that situation. Talk about wasted effort.

As always I’m focused on who the Steelers might select with the 23rd pick. My buddy Mark and I have had sober, serious, dare I say introspective discussions about who the Steelers should pursue. Offensive line seems an obvious place to start–in the Draft parlance we love so much, the Steelers need to go after someone "girthy", with "long arms", who can bench the weight room and plays with the de rigueur mean streak.

In McShay’s first mock draft he had the Steelers picking 29th (showing how our season petered out at the end) and selecting OT Michael Oher from Ole Miss. Oher, the subject of Michael Lewis’ book The Blind Side, decided to stay in school. Spilt milk, and in his second mock McShay had us taking Jeff Otah, the hulking tackle from Pitt. Would be a nice pick, except that Steeler fans remember that back in ‘89 we picked a Pitt OT in the first round, and Tom Ricketts was El Busto. So some bad karma there.

Otah’s reputation grew as the offseason progressed and it appeared that he wouldn’t be available when the Steelers turn came around. So McShay had us taking Branden Albert, another hulking gentleman who played guard at Virginia. Good, we need a guard to replace Faneca, and it was reported Albert might be able to play tackle as well. Versatility is always a good thing. This seemed like a classic Steeler pick–pick a junior who plays an unglamorous position and might’ve been a top 10 pick the following year. Exactly what we did with Faneca. Yes, Branden Albert. That’s the man.

Except that Albert did exceptionally well in his workouts, and now he might go as high as #5. Crap! That’s what makes these mock drafts so damned irritating–it’s like these jerks are saying, "Here’s what you’re getting for Christmas!!" and you get all excited and then they come back a few weeks later and say, "Your present? Sorry, the Atlanta Falcons just took it away from you. But hey, here’s Huey Richardson instead!"

In their most recent mocks both McShay and Kiper have the Steelers avoiding the heavy beef. McShay has us taking Oregon RB Jonathan Stewart, while Kiper says we’re gonna take malcontent Oklahoma WR Malcolm Kelly. I think the chances of the Steelers taking Kelly are approximately nil, and perhaps Kiper thinks the same way, since he’ll probably issue two or three more mock drafts before Saturday, and then amend his picks on an almost minute-by-minute basis. That’s one of the great things about being a draft guru–the more information you throw out there the more insidery and oracular you appear. When in fact what you’re supplying is DISinformation. Fun and interesting disinformation, to be sure, disinfo sure to spark spirited conversation at the bar, but come on. The NFL Draft is a clumsy demonstration of Chaos Theory. You have your first round all mapped out, every pick is falling into place…and then the Detroit Lions step to the podium and Matt Millen blows it all to hell. He makes some pick that has everyone in the gallery hooting and your carefully constructed mock draft collapses like Jenga. The Lions pick means that the next team in line can grab a guy they thought would NEVER be there, and then there’s a trade up to seize some player who’s inexplicable slipped a few spots and before you can blink it’s all gone to hell.

This year actually brings about the biggest improvement in the draft since it was moved to Saturday. In the first round the teams will only have 10 minutes to pick, instead of 15, and the time for second-round picks was reduced from 10 minutes to seven. Anyone who watches the draft knows that around pick 18 a kind of death-march mentality takes hold–you start to think the the torment will never end, that nothing is ever going to HAPPEN. This misery is especially acute if your team picks late–you look up at the clock, it’s 4:30, you’ve already had a dozen beers and eaten way too much pizza and chips, and your team is still 2 hours away from its turn. Plus it seems that the Draft always occurs on a picture-perfect spring day, and knowing that you’re missing out on all that sunshine, that instead you’re sitting on the couch eating crap and drinking beer watching a group of extremely fit guys become rich, can depress you something fierce. So, the reduced time between picks should be a good thing. Plus it starts at 3pm this year, giving fans a chance to go out early, play some golf, walk around the park.

When we flew back from Vietnam our last connection was in Philly. I sat down next to a youngish guy wearing a Indianapolis Colts polo. He was fiddling with his laptop and punching numbers into his cell phone, and without trying to eavesdrop I heard him setting up meetings to time people in the 40-yard dash and the shuttle run. After a bit I asked if he worked for the Colts and indeed he did, he was a scout for them. Of course we started chatting about the upcoming Draft, which he described as hectic beyond words. He was spending all his time in airports, hustling all over the Northeast looking players over. As we boarded he finished one last call and said, "I think I found my first big sleeper".

"Reallly," I purred, my fangs protruding just slightly. "Any hints about who it might be?" But he was coy, and we walking down the ramp so I couldn’t bonk him on the head and drag him into a supply closet for interrogation. I guess if the Colts draft a reciever from New Hampshire A&M or a linebacker from Quebec Tech I’ll have my answer.

UPDATE: Whoops! I didn’t see that Todd McShay ALSO did a full seven-round mock draft the other day. Probably McShay felt that his ESPN bosses would think he was slacking if he didn’t match Kiper’s insanity level.

As you all know there’s a brewpub near my house and after going to the gym and lifting for a good bit I decided to treat myself to a salad and a few medicinal beers. God, that first Pale Ale invigorates my soul like nothing else. I did some work, tried to do some Vietblogging (my Flickr page doesn’t load well here) and finally settled down to some poker. I like to play poker when I’m here at Marzoni’s–just about every time I play and drink here I win enough to cover my tab. And that’s just awesome.

Though not so much tonight. I was dealt the A-10 of clubs, called after a couple of limpers, and saw a 6-high flop with two clubs. Dude bet, two folds, and I raised with my nut flush draw. He called. The turn was an Ace, pretty much locking me in. He made a sizable bet, I pushed, he called. He had A-6 for two pair and I didn’t catch on the river. He called my big check-raise on the flop with TPTK? I made fun of the guy, not because I’m a cashew-sized crybaby, but because he had a Hello Kitty avatar. "Kitty, hello???" I said in chat. I, for one, was amused.

I then got stacked again when I flopped top pair with AK and the other guy flopped a set. Silly me, I thought he was on the flush draw and bet to protect my hand. That didn’t work out so well. So I’m out $100…yet I’m completely nonplussed. I know I can beat this game (the stats bear me out) and while I’ll never get rich playing poker, I did withdraw enough from my poker account to open a Roth IRA before my taxes came due. I know–what’s more un-balla than THAT??

I haven’t played much poker lately, even as more and more poker books appear at my doorstep. It’s odd–or perhaps totally understandable–that as much as I write about poker, talk about poker, think about poker, DREAM about poker, I don’t play all that much. I haven’t been to Mountaineer to play in like 3 months. I go days, weeks, without playing online. It’s not intentional, it’s just that I think that I think I should be doing something else. Writing. Taking pictures. Shedding the enormous cocoon of flab I’ve gathered about me.

From time to time I wonder, am I a writer who plays poker, or a poker player who writes? Such is the degree of my self-loathing that I don’t think I’m either–such is the degree of my self-delusion that I think I’m both. I’m confident that I could sit down with the best NL cash game players in the world and at least follow the conversation . That said, I’ve never sat down at so much as a $2-5 table. Am I being lazy, or responsible? Am I the careful observer, or a yellow chicken? I’ve been on the fence about playing in a WSOP event this year. After paying my taxes, I’m off the fence. Still, I’m supposed to be this rock-star poker blogger (this is how my boss introduced me to some new folks on the UB team–yes, I blushed). Can I honestly consider myself a poker writer when I ride the pine?

Sigh. These are the existential concerns that wash through me when I’ve had too much (but not enough) to drink. I think I’m gonna hang here, have a few more beers, tie one on, and play the Mookie. Here’s the one thing that I know about my poker blogging career–I love the game, I mean, I LOVE to play poker. It’s fun. And I like winning money. But the reason I love writing about poker is because of the people who love playing poker. They (dare I say we?) are a fascinating bunch. Hell, anyone who’s ever attended a WPBT gala knows what I’m talking about. And that doesn’t even include the insanity that is the World Series of Poker (or even the lesser goofiness of the Aruba Poker Classic).

I just dropped another $25 when a dude called me with 2 overs when I had an open-ender. He hit his biggie on the river and called. YUCK. Ah, poker. You gotta love it. Just like you gotta love the folks who love to play it.

Ahh. After I vote I come away feeling fresh and invigorated–kinda like after I leave the dentist’s office. Which reminds me, I gotta go see the dentist.

DuggleBogey raises a point in the comments of my previous post. What if the candidates up for election in no way reflect your views? What if–and it’s just possible this has happend a few times in American political history–both candidates utterly suck? In that case, why vote?

To this I would say that, except in real nightmare scenarios, there’s usually a lesser of two evils. In the last election I didn’t so much vote for John Kerry as vote against George Bush–and I would’ve done so had the Democratic nominee been former Baltimore Ravens head coach Brian Billick. And let me say here on the record that I HATE Brian Billick. Though less so since he got canned.

The other point I would make is that voter apathy helps produce candidates who are lazy, stupid and corrupt. If you know that most people will vote Democratic or Republican regardless of the stiff the party puts up on the dais, you don’t have to worry much about listening to those folks. You trot out the talking points and buzzwords that have worked for the party in the past and your hard-core believers will sigh with contentment. George Bush’s approval ratings have been around 30% for several years now–presumably some of those people would say they approve even if the President bit the head off a kitten during a press conference. The political beliefs of many people appear to be so entrenched that nothing’s going to change them. Including those people who believe that, since nothing’s going to change, there’s no point in voting. And it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. More and more citizens stop going to the polls, candidates focus more and more on small groups whose members DO get out the vote, and more and more voters feel that they don’t have a say.

But if 90% of Americans voted instead of the 60% in the 2004 Presidential election (which was the highest percentage since the 1968 election) it could, at least in theory, help break up the ossification in our politics. The more people who come to the dance, the more chance of independent voters have of making their weight felt. If the people who aren’t voting are, on average, less beholden to either party than people who DO vote, suddenly that’s a huge group of people both parties have to focus on. An additional 50 million voters might also allow for a viable third-party candidate, which would of course really shake things up.

Of course I’m making some assumptions here, none bigger than my hope that the majority of Americans are reasonably intelligent people who truly want the country to succeed and prosper. I know–that’s a leap of faith. Nor can I be 100% sure that an increase in voter turnout wouldn’t simply bring out even more people in perfect lockstep with the Democratic or Republican party. But when I talk to people about politics, hardly anyone says "I’m a Democrat" or "I’m a Republican". We’ve seen that elections can bring about sweeping change–it happened in 1994 and then the re-sweeping took place in 2006. The more that our elected officials think that the voters will hold their feet to the fryer, that they’d better not massively screw up or they’re gonna be ignominously out on their ass, the better it will be for our democracy. And for that to happen, people have to vote. The more the merrier.

UPDATE: I want to qualify what I wrote about the "sweeping changes" of 1994 and 2006. In those years the ruling party got beat soundly in midterm elections. But you certainly couldn’t say that what followed was a sweeping change in the political climate. Newt Gingrich’s Contract for America never got off the ground, and the currently Democratic majority in Congress hasn’t taken up the task of rolling back the excesses of the Bush Administration. In fact, they’ve even helped enable some of the President’s more despicable plans. But, at least, in 1994 and 2006 the voters fired a good many of their elected officials, and that at least is a start. A beginning, not an end.