| Words to live by..
Excellent article in Today's Chicago Sun-Times from Richard Roeper.....and I couldn't agree more..
I love seeing these clowns called out in for the actions in the main-stream media!
World Series of Jerkos
The 2006 World Series of Poker is running on ESPN Classic, where it will live for ages, along with other recent WSOP tourneys. Chris Moneymaker's stunning 2003 victory, Greg Raymer's wacky sunglasses in the 2004 tournament and Joe Hachem's posse chanting "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi oi oi!" in 2005 are now part of ESPN lore, right there with Doug Flutie's miracle pass for Boston College, the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and the Mets, and the classic Ali-Frazier fights.
This year's winner of the coveted bracelet and the $12 million first prize -- roughly 10 times what Phil Mickelson earned for winning the 2006 Masters -- was Jamie Gold, a Hollywood agent-turned-producer who has been hit with a lawsuit from a partner who claims Gold had agreed to split any winnings 50-50.
Throughout the tournament, Gold had an amazing run of cards, topped only by his amazing ability to run off at the mouth. At the moment of truth in nearly every hand, Gold would chatter away, talking about his hand and his opponent's hand in a manner that would have earned him a crack to the mouth if he was in a game in "Rounders."
Even when Gold was trying to be nice, he came across as obnoxious and condescending -- and judging by the TV coverage, he was only about the 3,567th most annoying player there. The tourney featured more trash-talking, macho posturing and adolescent behavior than you'd find at a Spring Break wet T-shirt contest at South Padre Island.
There was the apparently inebriated 21-year-old who would say, "What a terrible call!" to an opponent after beating him. The temporary chip leader who strutted about like Terrell Owens. The young online star who (incorrectly) accused a pro of cheating. Not to mention all the guys who had watched far too much poker on TV and were trying far too hard to become "characters," with their oversized sports jerseys and their mirrored sunglasses and their victory war cries. They acted as if they'd run over Brian Urlacher and scored a TD, instead of getting a queen on the river, which is something their grandmother could do just as easily.
It's such a guy thing. The vast majority of female players -- whether they're pros in Vegas or California, or they're playing the occasional game on the boats in northwest Indiana -- are polite and pleasant. They don't celebrate victories with too much mustard, or lament defeat with whining and moaning.
The men? Back in the old days -- circa 2001 -- you'd have about one jerk per table of 10 players. Now it's about three out of 10, with the number rapidly ascending, whether you're playing at the World Series of Poker or in a $5 game online. There are guys who trash-talk in the message box in those online games, for crying out loud. (The most commonplace insult when they lose a hand is to call their opponent a "fag," or the ever popular, "f------ fag.") How sad is that?
In his 2006 book How to Win the Championship, the classy veteran pro T.J. Cloutier welcomes the young generation of poker players -- but wishes some of the new breed would acquire a bit of class.
"[There are] a lot of bad winners, not bad losers, who jump up and down and yell, 'Yeah, baby, I won that one!' while the tournament is going on," writes Cloutier.
"In the old days you never said anything to players when you beat them. Why would you rub salt in their wounds? Now they're doing it even before the TV cameras arrive." And even then, it's always more impressive if somebody else does the bragging for you.
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