Sports and Gambling

Elite athletes who turn professional eventually earn ridiculous sums of money.  Even in this republic where our devalued currency has somewhat resurrected, local athletes are still and will be the envy of the majority as far as earnings are concerned.  Some of these people make wise investments while others simply throw them away and leave themselves nothing but memories of their previous abundance.

How do they part with their money?  They gamble to the point of being excessively obscene.  Maybe it’s the mystique and the ready availability of wads of cash that leads them to this obsession with games of chance.

Contributing writer Nathaniel Uy (really sounds familiar) of Bleacher Report lists 15 athletes in his article titled “The Most Degenerate Gamblers in Sports History.” 

I will be mentioning 9 names who are easily recognizable in this part of the world compared to the other six who are as alien as Joavan Fernandez doing apostolic work.  Yep, this list is dominated by American sporting icons with ‘squanderous’ nature.

Topping the list is Major League Baseball’s Pete Rose.  His association with gambling earned him a cover story on Time magazine several years back.  As a player and manager, he admitted on gambling on their games thereby influencing results. 

Despite having a very successful career and the all-time leader in hits, he is banned-for-life from baseball and is ineligible to be voted into baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Golfer John Daly admitted losing as much as $60 million to gambling.  Once he won $750,000 in a PGA tournament, proceeded to Las Vegas and promptly lost $1.65 million in 5 hours playing on $5,000 slots.

With his ever-quotable statements, Charles Barkley declared in 2006 that gambling cost him $10 million.  The ‘Round Mound of Rebound’ denies and won’t admit that he has a problem, reasoning that he can afford to lose money.

He could have been NFL’s saving grace but Michael Vick, aside from playing football, also financed a dog-fighting gambling ring.  As a side bet, he also was involved in the brutal execution of such dogs.  This kind of play won him a 2-year, all-expense paid jail term.

The NBA launched an investigation to a habit of gambling a night before game time. 

His frequent flying notwithstanding, Michael Jordan was also famous for his casino lay-overs.  There were speculations that his first retirement was actually a gambling ban.  His Airness has actually sown his royal oats well considering that his kids had recently blown away $56,000 in one Las Vegas weekend.

Who says English football is without gamblers?  Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney is losing his money faster than his thinning hair.  He reportedly accumulated 700,000 pounds in debts resulting in bets on football games, horses and dogs.  He was reported to have lost 60,000 pounds in a span of 2 hours at a Manchester casino.

Allen Iverson, the NBA’s former sought-after now unwanted talent, also has a gambling addiction.  Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Stephen A. Smith reported in one of his columns that AI “...will either drink himself into oblivion or gamble his life away.”  He will now be gambling his career in China.

Another NBA point guard shares the same addiction.  Believed to be a high-stakes craps player, Isaiah Thomas was reported to be the target of an FBI investigation for running big-money craps game out of his Florida home in 1990.  I suppose he treated his pathetic executive duties with the New York Knicks as gambling.  He did make a lot of crap there.

Golf has 18 holes and a tiger prowling on the course has at least an equal number of mistresses with, of course, the corresponding holes.  News of his adulterous preferences simultaneously broke out with his alleged gambling fixations.  Tiger

Woods reportedly would meet up with one of his numerous tigresses in Vegas and be at the high-stakes blackjack table, betting $250,000 per hand.  His biggest loss so far is the $100 million divorce settlement to his wife Ellen Nordegren.

Exceptional athletes, yes. Role models, think again.

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If the winds carry you and glide you somewhere in Liloan, settle for a landing at Politics Cafe and Bar.  Beer is really cold it could just crack your wisdom tooth, if you still have it.  Espresso makes your head spin you’ll mistake the food attendant for your wife and wonder “am I home yet?”

With politically-correct menus like First-Term Oysters, Squid Tactic Calamares, First Lady’s Tuna Sandwich and Churchill’s Chunky Tomato Soup, you can’t go wrong with politicking at the cafe. 

The ambiance is classy-chic.  Power couple Duke and Christina Frasco personally handles the cafe’s operations.  I prefer the wildly prancing Red Horse in the brown frosted bottle matched with, was that Schwarzenegger’s Baked Mussels?  Try dropping by and have a hearty debate at Politics.  Hey guys, this is a free plug. 

Nagparamdam lang ko.  Hahaha.

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