More Michael Vick Thoughts, And The World Series of Poker Main Event Champ

Quick-hitters:

- Apparently you need a bottle opener to open up MexiCoke bottles. I had one on my Swiss Army knife, and it didn't work too well.

Just ask my finger, which got cut on the bottle cap while trying to open the stupid thing.

(5,000 Stupid Points for that ingenious move.)

- Ooooh! Poker in HD! I can't wait for the Westminster Dog Show to be shown in HD! Or how about a chess tournament? Anyone know if ESPN showed the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Competition in HD this past July 4th?

- As expected, the main topic on The Jim Rome Show was the Michael Vick/dogfighting indictment. When I started listening, I heard Rome ranting about race; apparently, people were arguing that sports reporters are unfairly treating Vick because of the color of his skin.

(channeling my inner Dan Hawkins)

This is a cruelty to animals issue! This is a horrible judgment issue! It ain't a racial issue!

I guess that I just don't "get it," but how can anyone partake in the world of dogfighting? It's disgusting, it's cruel, and it's totally messed up.

Go play tiddlywinks, brother! Go play tiddlywinks!

Also, I love the argument that Kobe Bryant and the Duke lacrosse kids weren't taking this much flak for their (alleged) actions. Clearly, people don't realize that neither case involved the Feds! Not that I'm suggesting that the CO and NC district attorneys are "easier" to trifle with, but neither hold a match to the Feds!

More on this another time, for sure.

- So your 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event champion is 39 year old Jerry Yang, from Temecula, CA, winner of $8.25 million. During the latter stages of the Main Event, I kept hearing people suggest that Yang would have been the worst champion of all time, if he pulled it off--ESPN Poker columnist Andrew Feldman wrote about a hand where Yang called a raise and a re-raise with A3. Yang also made a huge call of an $8 million all-in by professional Lee Watkinson (blinds $120,000/240,000) with A9, which was a horrible decision IMO.

(If you're at the final table of a poker tournament, and you see pros at the table with decent chip stacks, the last thing you'd want to do is give them more chips, right? Yes, Yang only risked ~20% of his chips for a chance to knock out a strong opponent, but why would you risk that many chips against a pro, knowing that doubling him up is the last thing you want to do?!? Sure, it worked out, but what if Watkinson was holding a premium hand?

And pardon me if I don't buy the argument that Yang had a read on Watkinson.)

Naturally, Yang won the tournament by going runner-runner for a straight (granted, he had the best hand pre-flop, which happened quite often at the final table). Do I consider him a luck-box? Of course? Then again, which recent WSOP Main Event champ didn't have a huge string of luck en route to the title?

All things considered, there's one reason why I really was rooting against Yang to win, and it had nothing to do with his cards or his play: did anyone see his act after winning pivotal hand after pivotal hand?

(I'll update this post if I can find a video of what I'm talking about, but for now, let me describe it below.

Also, let me preface the rest of my rant by saying that I'm not a religious person, so if anything below is offensive to you, I do apologize in advance).

Listen, I know moving up in the cash structure, especially in the Main Event, is awesome, but you do not have to scream like a school girl seeing her pop star idol after EVERY hand! Also, what was with the prayers?!? I'm OK if someone says "Dear God, please give me an ace on the river!" Most of that stuff is done tongue in cheek. This guy was going on with minute-long prayers, asking his Lord and savior for help!

(You really need to see the video to understand what I'm talking about.)

I wonder what would have happened if an atheist at the table complained to the Tournament director that Yang's prayers were offensive to him. Just wondering...

Happy blogging!