The Daily Dose/September 17, 2020
By Gaylon Kent
America’s Funniest Guy
Leading Off
Notes from around our human experience.
EXTRA, EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT: The banner ad at the bottom of some website caught our eye. It showed Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long pushing a betting app owned by their employers at evil FOX Sports. It is currently available to residents in three states: Colorado, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Dry, Technical Matter: We found this disturbing. Now, we have no qualms with gambling. We don’t do it ourselves, but people are going to gamble and whether it’s through their local bookie or an app on their phone, we don’t really care. Sure, some with addictive personalities lose paychecks, homes, families, but this world isn’t perfect.
Fly In The Ointment: Here’s what bothers us. It should bother you, too:
Leagues, teams and networks have a direct interest in the betting handles of the games they are involved with.
There’s a hell of a lot of money to be made in gambling and if those that sanction, play and broadcast these games are making a lot of it they’re going to want to make more. It’s the way the captains of industry do things and this really is not an indictment; we support the free market.
Pre-The Bottom Line: As fans, though, we must be careful. OK, it’s likely that this involvement in gambling will be harmless enough, merely another way to get a hard-earned dollar out of us. Fair enough. No one takes advantage of us without our permission.
The Bottom Line: But what’s to keep them from turning their games into exhibitions and spectacles like pro wrestling? Their own personal values and sense of morality? Puh-lease. They’ll do whatever we tolerate and whatever is a license to print them money. This will be especially true if COVID continues to keep fans from paying their way in and stadiums and arenas continue to be nothing more than sound stages and studios. Us fans must be vigilant.
Today At The Site
Writing worth reading. Usually.
The Diary of a Nobody: Sparrow has the latest MPG figures for the new ride.
Good gravy, gas mileage gods, couldn’t you have rounded it up for us???…This is a bit more than last week’s 38.2 – which we think we forgot to report – and for all practical purposes is 40 MPG, but still, we would like another legit 40 MPG tankful, which would bring the total up to three.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: It’s a busy night in the hotel.
Finally, at 0345 I was able to get some serious sitting done. I reported to the 13th-floor plumber’s office, sat for 15 minutes, went and hit the scan point in the stairwell, returned and sat for 20 more minutes before hitting the button in the Henry 2 wallet indicating I was on the can and sat for another 15 minutes. Then I went to 18, worked my way to the maid’s room and sat until my final 10-10.
The Bottom Ten Presented By COVID/NCAA Week 3: From 2016, a simpler time when the MAC was a thing.
10. MAC
Mitigating Factors: Paced by Kent State, MAC teams have three (3) of the five (5) longest losing streaks in the country, easily earning B-10 Conference of the Week award…Three-quarters of MAC is either at .500 or below, and four (4) are winless…With usual powers MAC and Sun Belt Conference expected to be strong, and with the Pac-12 making noises they aren’t any good, it could be a pitched battle for coveted B-10 Conference of the Year award.
This Line Never Gets Old…We Don’t Think: Despite slow start, MAC fully expected to mimic Sun Belt Conference and rebound for strong .500 mark in conference play.
Free Stuff
The same trick the drug dealers use.
Backstairs at the Monte Carlo: Clock in with the graveyard crew of the Monte Carlo Security Department on the glamorous Las Vegas Strip. – Click here for the first two months of the funniest Vegas memoir ever.
Criminals, Courtesans and Constables: Gaylon’s latest novel takes place everywhere from throne rooms to death row. – Click here to read the first four chapters with our compliments.
Click on the button to get started to read The Diary of a Nobody, Backstairs at the Monte Carlo and Criminals, Courtesans and Constables for only $4.99, a steal.
On This Date
The long march to today.
In 1776 – The Presidio of San Francisco, then in New Spain, is founded as a Spanish Army garrison to defend its claim to the area. It later passed to Mexico and became part of the US in 1848 and was a US Army installation before being turned over to the National Park Service in 1994. On the northern point of the San Francisco Peninsula, it is home to the southern end of the Golden Gate Bridge.
In 1983 – The Chicago White Sox secure their first postseason appearance since 1959, winning the American League Western Division title with a 4-3 win over the Seattle Mariners. The White Sox ended the day 16 games up on the Kansas City Royals and while they won the division by 20 games, the White Sox lost to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series. The White Sox last postseason appearance had been in the 1959 World Series, which they lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4 games to 2.
In 1955 – Webb Pierce is at #1 on Billboard’s Best Sellers In Stores country chart – a predecessor to today’s Hot Country Songs chart – for the tenth of twelve consecutive weeks with I Don’t Care. It was the 12th of 21 #1 songs on the country chart for Pierce and followed In the Jailhouse Now at #1, giving Pierce 32 consecutive weeks at #1. In 1982, a version by Ricky Skaggs also went to #1 on the country chart.
Some Philosophy Crap
The wisdom of the ages. Whatever.
Where was all this infinitesimal matter before it was set in motion by mind?/Everywhere./No real answer./Perhaps no real question. – Gore Vidal, Creation
Answer To The Last Trivia Question
It’s not who you know, but what you know.
No American League team has ever scored in every inning of a game they batted nine times in.
Today’s Stumper
Cheaper than Trivia Night at the bar.
What are the most consecutive weeks an act has spent at #1 on Billboard’s country chart? – Answer next time!
