The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Sportsbetting

[thedevil]

J

My favorite book happens to be Bookie by Gary Mayer. He worked for me as a clerk many years ago. Read the book before I met him and read it again after I knew him. Gary was one of the funniest people you would ever want to meet. Cancer claimed his life at too early an age. The story was a true story. Alfred Talcum did exist. If you happened to know him I'm sure you know me.

THE DEVIL

[JC]

Wait until I come out with my book:

"The Feds Who Shagged Me"

:-)

[reno]

JC, why not a TV series? Maybe call it WSEX's (or Hayden's) Island. Bright, enterprising young Americans move to Antigua to start an online sportsbook. The sportsbook is very successful, but the Gestapo-like U.S. government decides that the owners are criminals. One owner heroically decides to return to the U.S. to stand trial on the charges. The others remain fugitives.

Hollywood could do wonders with this material. You've already got gambling, legal intrigue, and the U.S. Government (as the big, bad heavy). Add some wild, sexy women, and the series could make Baywatch obsolete.

The series could be both entertaining and enlightening. Think of the possibilities: 1) The U.S. Government is exposed as a hypocritical, heavy-handed leviathan. 2) Your case receives positive publicity. 3) Online gambling is glamorized, and public sentiment forces the Government to leave Internet wagering alone.

Just think, the weekly publicity would make WSEX the biggest sportsbook in the world. And Don Best and Feist would offer you guys mega-bucks to put your lines on their screens.

[Fred]

JC? THE JC?

Okay not the one my conservative religious friends ‘hang out’ with.

But seriously there are similarities. Both voluntarily returning to face ‘justice’ at the hands of unjust rulers. Both on the side of freedom over tyranny.

Good luck to you Jay Cohen! If ever there was such a thing as a lock in sports betting, would that it be your (eventual) exoneration!



[This message has been edited by Fred (edited 05-22-2000).]

[pay2play]

Are "Bookie" by Talcum that J cites the same as the one by Mayer the Devil cites? You guys are confusing me (easily done, I admit).
Also, J, can you recommend a used book search engine?

As to the comments, AV and Reno's, that Kundera is all style, I guess you could say I don't distinguish between style and substance. Style, in literature, is so much a part of the message. Maybe, really, in the best cases, it IS the message.
But opinions on books are very fluid. I hated Madame Bovary the first time I (semi) read it. OTOH, some books I loved when I was younger I find sophomoric now. It's all very much a matter of a reader's attitude at the time of reading. Anyone's opinion of a book tells you more about them then it does about the book itself.
I'm a novelist. I find it hard to get excited about good feedback or hurt by negative feedback, but rewarding always to find that anyone took the time to read one of my books at all.

Buena suerte, amigos. Siempre.

[thedevil]

Pay2play

The Bookie by Mayer featured a caracter by the name of Alfred Talcum. I think we are reffering to the same book, if not I never read Bookie by talcum.

If you ever read "Confessions of an Ivy League Bookmaker" I was Sergio Toccini.

THE DEVIL

[j]

Devil—

That blows me away that you knew Mayer. Is he still around? He never wrote anything else about bookmaking did he? He really got the comedy of it down. I read that book over and over when I was a kid.

pay2play—

I was a little confused in citing that book. Devil accurately gives its author as Gary Mayer. Talcum is the name given to the narrator. The book can be ordered at abebooks.com. That one probably be a good source for the ones Reno touts as well.

JC—

I sent the judge a letter on University letterhead tactfully explaining to him your civic virtue. Would be curious to know how many supporitng letters were received. Dozens? Hundreds?

[thedevil]

J!!

Gary Mayer died of cancer about 10 years ago. When he worked for me in the early eighties he had a fanasty that all our customers would come to a party dressed as their monickers. We had some strange names back then. One sheet was all animals, another cars another was food. I think you can get the picture.

Gary could have been a stand up comic he was that funny. After meeting him I reread the book and it was even funnier as I could see him saying all the things that he wrote.

Anyone who likes a funny bookmaking story, this is a good read.

THE DEVIL

[Chester]

Devil,
A quick question for you just out of curiosity, would your nickname in the business happen to be "Blue" by any chance?

[Squirming For Action]

Reno,
Sorry to hear of your disappointment with the book, however I do believe in the inevitability of 11 game losing streaks...a dark side that humanity is powerless to stop

For the record, and this has nothing to do with Eatsern philosophy, existestinalism or gambling, my favorite book is "Geek Love" by Katherine Dunn, which is a great character study of a carnival family.


As it is baseball season, and I don't go chasing lines in it, I have been catching up on my reading and just finished "House of Leaves" by Mark Danielewski which was worth the read, and probably has enough footnotes to satisfy and philosophical junkie & did remind me a bit of "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco, which I also highly recommend.

That's it for Squirming Book Reviews for the day. I'll try to keep subsequent post more sports related.

[thedevil]

Chester!

Never went by the name of Blue. Many other names though. We know each other. Used to be friends with the gent that sold you the Camaro. How is your brother doing. Until I'm ready again I'll be the DEVIL.

[reno]

Pay2play, I didn't mean to imply that Kundera is all style and no substance. I just said that the book didn't break any new ground for me. I've always been a Truth-seeker, and once my search for a non-exclusive, non-reductive method to directly and unqualifiedly access ultimate Reality was satisfied, I lost interest in any philosophical viewpoint that doesn't augment my empirical realization of the true Nature of life.

[joseph]

Not to change the subject too much,but I would like to express the unbearable lightness of not only my wallet,but my mind,having had four dimes on GAME 1 Houston today.Thank you for listening to this quiet, but much needed moan.

[Ronbets]

Joseph I share your same grief. I was on the Colt 45s also. But you know, this isnt baseball in the purest sense. This is Arena Baseball. The players are getting bigger and stronger and the ballparks smaller and smaller. Raise the pitchers mound back to pre 1968 era. As for todays game, this might bring back Larry Dierkers health problems or job stability.

[joseph]

There you go.Bob Gibson,1.12 ERA!He still managed to lose nine games,but I think seven or eight of them were 3-2,2-1,and 1-0!To me that's baseball.{For watching purposes and enjoyment.I guess it depends on what you like,offense or defense.