Random Damn Thems

This is Bitter Brian right now. Damn clouds.

As I sit here on the couch with my bad back for the weekend like a bitter old man shaking his cane from his chair on the porch, I figured I'd touch base on a few things that got me shaking my fist.

Ohio high schools plan on honoring Jim Tressel for their opening games

For those that don't know sports, Tressel came under the scrutiny of the NCAA in 2010 for his handling of an investigation on players of improperly selling materials they received from their 2009 Big Ten and Rose Bowl championships. After it was shown that Tressel knew what was going on and decided to hide what he knew, the NCAA initially suspended for less than the players were suspended until Tressel agreed to be suspended the same length of time. The investigation proved to be too much of a black eye to Ohio State for them to keep Tressel as coach, so they fired him. Surprisingly, Tressel was absolved of a lot of the blame for the events - the honor of blame went to quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Even former OSU players (some who probably broke rules themselves) were quick to throw Pryor into the public relations lake to watch him drown.

Now, Ohio football coaches want to honor him by wearing a white shirt and tie to honor Tressel for all that he has done for football in Ohio. To be fair, not all of the schools in the state will be honoring him from what I read, and for that, I commend them. For anyone to honor a man who is supposed to be the representation of leadership of a football team (only to disregard that in efforts to win at all costs) is disgusting. It goes to show you how demented some people are. Makes you wonder if Tressel could have murdered someone and they'd find a way to blame the victim.

People w/ bumper stickers

I was gonna write a big blog about this on its own, but didn't think I could write enough for a whole blog. I've realzed that the more bumper stickers someone owns, the more likely it is that they are a huge a-hole. College stickers are common and usually are donned on the back of the cars of parents and alumnae of schools. From there, bumper stickers outside of rooting for your favorite sports teams - ones that focus more on the hating of the opposing political party that you favor or the hating of specific groups of people - tell me all I need to know about a person. Bumper stickers tell a lot about a person. If only people wore bumper stickers around all the time, we'd be able to tell the a-holes apart from the rest of society.

The NFL & The Government

Where's Rodney King when you need him? Can't these folks just get along with each other? The NFL's battle between owners and players looks like it could drag on longer than we'd want it to. According to the players, the owners ratified an agreement 31-0 on Thursday that included material that was never discussed with the players and inserted in the last minute. If this is true, this doesn't bode well for an agreement anytime soon. I've never been on either side of this argument (owners and players are hard to back considering they're arguing about millions and billions). But if they were thisclose to an agreement and messed it up by adding stuff that was never spoken of during the player/owner meetings, then I'll find it hard to support the owner's side of things. Not to say I'll support the players as a result. I just think that any good agreement, especially one involving this much money and millions of fans looking for a solution that gives them what they want, requires good communication. And if you're throwing in last minute things, it's very shady to say the least.

Likewise, the government can't get its act together with this debt ceiling crap. I won't pretend to know much about what's going on here, but everything I've heard about it tells me that if our country defaults, then our economy is even more facked than it was before. Democrats & Republicans working together make the NFL problem seem like it's already been solved. The problem with politicians is that they are always campaigning, so it doesn't do them any good to compromise on anything, no matter how far it would go to actually help their constistuents. I don't know what will happen with this, but it doesn't seem like it's going to end well.

I'm done ranting. People are dumb. This shouldn't be surprising to anyone. I just needed to be the old man shaking his fist at the youngins who were walking on his lawn.

Damn all these people. Damn them all!

End of an Era: Bookmaker (2007-2011)

If you are reading this, you are likely friends with me on Facebook. Posted earlier today, I lamented on the loss of my sportsbook, Bookmaker. The US Department of Justice and Homeland Security seized its domain today, as seen in the image below:

Bookmaker's death sentence, as handed down by The United States of Big Brother

Tim Wolf first brought this to my attention yesterday, saying that Bookmaker already had an alternate site ready to use in the event of site seizure. The takeover was official today, leaving millions of gamblers such as myself looking for new ways to get the gambling itch fixed. Trust me - people will get their gambling done one way or another.

The seizure of their site (and other poker sites a month ago and I'm sure numerous other sites in the near future) begs the question: in a free country that proclaims democracy and freedom to make choices as individuals, why is it illegal for Americans to gamble on sports outside of Vegas? Some states (Delaware and Oregon for example) allow very limited sports gambling, but Nevada is the only state where sports gambling is legal.

The amount of money that other states could make from sports gambling is sick to think about.  I have at least 10 friends who would love having the ability to sit at a local casino and bet the sports that we have been betting online and through other venues for years - and we'd hardly be the only ones. Not only that, but we'd be modestly gambling when compared to the high rollers - if it's anything like Vegas sports books. In my trips to Vegas, it wasn't uncommon to see guys wagering 10 to 100 times more in a given bet than me. Considering my average bet in Vegas ranges from $50-200, we're talking about a very profitable operation, especially since the book makes money on any gambler that doesn't hit more than 53% of their bets.

Other sites are still in operation for gamblers to use, but it's a matter of time before they get shut down. From what I read, it appears as though Bookmaker's problem (as it was for the banned poker sites) was for money laundering, not for the act of allowing American gamblers to deposit money onto their site.

Nevertheless, this wouldn't be a problem if gambling on sports was legal!

I suspect that Vegas lobbyists and America's desire to limit freedoms (not expand them) as part of their Mommy/Daddy role they play with their citizens are the main reasons that sports gambling is not legal.

They'll say they're protecting the poor from losing their money, but they don't give a rat's ass about that. If people will not lose their money with sports gambling (the way the government has it now), people will lose their money through other venues, many of them just as self-destructive as sports gambling (such as drinking, smoking and many other unhealthy ways).

The government tried Prohibition (didn't work); they've tried "Say No to Drugs" (many people "Said No to Nancy Reagan" and did and continue to use drugs anyways); they continue to try stopping people from being gay by attempting to ban gay marriage in particular states (won't work).

Now, the sports gambling spectrum, at least the online forum, is controlled by the government. If they think this won't drive people to underground methods (as it did to all of the above "bans" or "warnings"), they're dumber than I thought - which is saying a lot.

I'm willing to bet that this is not the end of my "Gambling Outside of Vegas" era. And instead of collecting money from me in a sports book, where some of my money would be going to the government via taxes, my money will be going elsewhere.

Suck it, government.