Month: June 2020

13) “There’s no such thing as a sure thing, thats why they call it gambling.”
Oscar Madison, The Odd Couple

12) “I’ve got a trig midterm tomorrow and I’m being chased by Guido, the killer pimp.”
Miles, Risky Business

11) “You’re a goddamn quarterback! You know what that means? It’s the top spot, kid. It’s the guy who takes the fall. It’s the guy everybody’s looking at first – the leader of a team – who will support you when they understand you. Who will break their ribs and their noses and their necks for you, because they believe. ‘Cause you make them believe. That’s a quarterback.”
Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday

10) “He’s a great player, but I don’t think we can get him in academically.”
Jerry Tarkanian, Blue Chips 

9) “You just got lesson number one: don’t think; it can only hurt the ballclub.”
Kevin Costner, Bull Durham

8) “…..you find out life’s this game of inches, so is football. Because in either game – life or football – the margin for error is so small. I mean, one half a step too late or too early and you don’t quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast and you don’t quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They’re in every break of the game, every minute, every second……”
Al Pacino, Any Given Sunday

7) “Listen, Lupus, you didn’t come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya? Now get your ass out there and do the best you can.”
Walter Matthau in The Bad News Bears

6) “God likes me!!! He really, really likes me!!! What a day!!! What a fabulous day!!!”
Richard Dreyfuss in Let It Ride

5) “Being perfect is not about that scoreboard out there. It’s not about winning. It’s about you and your relationship with yourself, your family and your friends. Being perfect is about being able to look your friends in the eye and know that you didn’t let them down because you told them the truth…….”
Billy Bob Thornton, Friday Night Lights

4) “……here’s the thing. If you can’t spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, then you ARE the sucker.”
Mike McDermott, Rounders

3) “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard… is what makes it great.”
Tom Hanks in A League of Their Own

2) “Who’s the U-boat commander?”
Auto repair guy, in Risky Business, when the Tom Cruise’s father’s Porsche winds up in Lake Michigan, and then in a repair shop to be cleaned up

1) “Do whats in your heart, son. You’ll be fine.”
Robin Williams, from Good Will Hunting

19 years ago, I started this blog, not knowing where it would lead. Lot of stuff has changed in the world since then, mostly good, but also some not so good. Thanks for reading every day (you DO read every day, right?), hope it makes you think some, and smile some.

Also, if it is Armadillo Day, that means it is my friend Gary’s birthday; he is a very good NFL handicapper (winning record on this site over the last nine years) and he is a funny guy. So we wish a happy 29th birthday (kind of) to the Big Dawg. 

13) Christmas Eve 2016, I’m sitting in the sports book in the Aria casino in Las Vegas, a great place to spend an NFL Sunday. I had been there for a few days already, had struck up some conversations with a pro bettor who was sitting to my left that day. The seat to the right of me was empty.

Early games are winding up; the 4:30ET games are about ten minutes away; this Asian lady, 40-ish, sits in the seat to my right. She has an overcoat on; it was cold out (30’s) that day.

This lady takes out a very thick wad of $100 bills and begins counting, right out in the open, so I count along— she has $7,700. I say, “You must be having a very good day”; she shows me two tickets on the two early games that were still going on, one for $1,500, one for $2,000. Both of those were going to be winners.

So this lady is sitting on $11,200 and has a looseleaf page ripped out of a notebook with her bets for the late games. Lot of bets, teasers and straight bets. I have my Rams wind shirt on that I wear every Sunday; she points at the Rams’ logo and says “They better not play like crap today” with a thick Asian accent.

I laugh and say, “You haven’t been paying attention; they play like crap every week”; this was the year Jeff Fisher had been fired, and John Fassel was the interim coach. Despite being a really bad team, the Rams were favored over an even worse 49ers team.

I ask who her favorite team is and she leaves with these parting words: “I no have favorite team. You have favorite team, you bet with heart. I bet to win.” And with that, she got up and left, and I never saw her again.

Rams led 21-7 in 4th quarter, blew the game 22-21, the last NFL game Colin Kaepernick won.

12) If you had your choice, which quarterback would you choose?

Quarterback A: 31 years old. Career record: 44-42-2 Playoff record: 1-2 
155 TD, 71 INT

Quarterback B: 32 years old. Career record: 28-30 Playoff record: 4-2 (0-1 Super Bowl)
72 TD’s, 30 INT

Quarterback C: 27 years old. Career record: 32-24 Playoff record:  0-1
97 TD, 35 INT

Quarterback D: 25 years old. Career record: 33-21 Playoff record: 2-2 (0-1 Super Bowl)
87 TD, 42 INT

Look thru those four resumes, and pick which guy you would want. I’ll let you know later on which guy is which

11) Lamar Jackson lost his first two playoff games with the Ravens; only two QB’s have gone on to win a Super Bowl after losing his first two playoff games- Peyton and Eli Manning.

10) Week 3 of the NFL this season is weird; no divisional games, not one.

9) Random stat of the Day: November 18, 2012; Texans beat Jacksonville 43-37 in OT; Houston QB Matt Schaub was 43-55 for 527 yards, five TD’s. Amdre Johnson caught 14 passes for 273 yards.

Saw a boxscore of this game the other day; Texans scored two TD’s in last 6:00 to tie the game. Both teams scored in OT. You wouldn’t think of Schaub as a guy to throw for 527 yards.

8) Was watching an old Seahawks game from couple years ago and their kicker got hurt, so when they kicked off, their Australian punter drop-kicked the ball, rather than kick it off a tee. Not something you see very often; he did a good job with it.

7) When Willie Mays became eligible for the Hall of Fame in 1979, he got voted in the first year, but 23 people didn’t vote for him- he got 409 of 432 votes. How the bleep do you not vote for Willie Mays to get into the Hall of Fame?

6) The MLB Draft is an odd event; Rickey Henderson, Jeff Bagwell were both 4th round picks. Mike Trout was the 25th guy taken when he was drafted. Mike Piazza only got drafted because his dad was friends with Tommy Lasorda. Strange way to run a billion dollar industry.

5) Wednesday was the first time in their last 17 games that the NC Dinos didn’t score a run in the first four innings; they’ve had a potent lineup, but now their best hitter Roberto Ramos is hurt, so we’ll see how much that hurts them.

4) Doosan Bears are doing pretty well in the KBO this year; there is some urgency for them, since nine of their players are free agents this winter, so they figure to regress next season.

3) Saw a picture of the huge demonstrations in Los Angeles last weekend; lot of people. At one big intersection, there is a huge Pepsi ad on the side of a building, takes up most of the building. Wonder how much that costs?

2) Quarterback A: Kirk Cousins
Quarterback B: Colin Kaepernick
Quarterback A: Carson Wentz
Quarterback A: Jared Goff

1) Good news in Las Vegas; Top Golf is opening next Thursday the 18th, as everything on the Strip slowly begins to re-open. Hopefully people will wear masks and stay healthy. 

TV highlight of the day: Good college football day, they show lot of old SEC and ACC games. College football has changed a lot over the last 25 years.

I’m not ranking these, just listing them alphabetically; I enjoyed all these movies, most of which only show up on TV now and then.

13) 21— A fact-based story about six MIT students who were trained to become experts in card counting and subsequently took Vegas casinos for a lot of money playing blackjack, before one casino caught on.

Kevin Spacey teaches the team how to work together to win so much money; Laurence Fishburne is one of the guys trying to discourage card counters from working together.

12) Begin Again (2013)— A disgraced music-business executive (Mark Ruffalo) and a young singer-songwriter (Kara Knightley), new to Manhattan, join into a promising collaboration, using New York City as the background. James Corden is great in this as the young singer’s friend from back home.

11) The Bodyguard (1992)— A former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) takes on the job of bodyguard to an R&B singer (Whitney Houston), whose lifestyle is most unlike a President’s.

10) Bulworth (1998)— A suicidally disillusioned liberal politician (Warren Beatty) puts a contract out on himself and takes the opportunity to be bluntly honest with his voters by talking in rhymes during his interviews/speeches. He then falls for a woman (Halle Berry) who is the hitman that was hired to kill him.

There is a lot that is funny in this movie, and a lot that, 22 years later, still reflects the issues our country is having now. Jack Warden, Don Cheadle, Paul Sorvino; excellent cast.

9) Good Will Hunting (1997)— A janitor at MIT has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.

Every time I watch this movie, I feel so bad that while Robin Williams made so many people laugh, he died way too early/tragically. He was so funny, such a good actor.

8) The Hangover (2009)— Three buddies wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas, with no memory of the previous night and with the bachelor missing. They make their way around the city in order to find their friend before his wedding.

They made two sequels; Hangover II isn’t good, it is basically the same script as the original, except it is set in Thailand, not Las Vegas. Hangover III is pretty funny.

7) Last Vegas (2013)— Four senior citizen friends take a break from their day-to-day lives to throw a bachelor party in Las Vegas for their last remaining single pal.

Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Michael Douglas, Kevin Kline, Mary Steenburgen; this is an excellent movie, but hasn’t been on in a while.

6) Let It Ride (1989)— A nosy cab driver (Richard Dreyfuss) gets a hot tip on a racehorse and wins big, but he can’t seem to stop gambling, and he has a very good day. Teri Garr plays his frustrated wife.

If you’ve ever hung around a racetrack, this movie, while a farce, will ring a lot of bells; it is very funny. Jennifer Tilly and David Johansen are very good in supporting roles.

5) Little Big League (1994)— The owner of the Minnesota Twins (Jason Robards) passes away and leaves the team to his 12-year old grandson. The grandson fires the overly critical manager (Dennis Farina) and names himself manager, which raises eyebrows.

4) Love Actually (2003)— The lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London.

Hugh Grant is the Prime Minister, Emma Thompson is his sister, Billy Bob Thornton is the US President. If you need a pick-me-up movie, this is mostly it.

3) Molly’s Game (2017)— The true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world’s most exclusive high-stakes poker game and became an FBI target. Idris Elba is great as her lawyer. 

This movie actually picks up where the book left off, which is an interesting twist. Kevin Costner has a smallish role as Molly Bloom’s father.

2) This Where I Leave You (2014)— When their father passes away, four grown siblings are forced to return to their childhood home and live under the same roof together for a week, along with their over-sharing mother and an assortment of spouses, exes and might-have-beens.

When my dad passed away five years ago, I came home from the funeral, put the TV on and this was the first thing that was on, which was eerie- I had never seen it. Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Adam Driver, Connie Britton, Corey Stoll, a very good cast.

1) Up In the Air (2009)— Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, travelling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest (Vera Farmiga), and a new hire (Anna Kendrick).

TV highlight of the day: Good night for basketball fans:
— Blue Chips, Hoosiers were both on
— ESPNU ran a bunch of old college games: NC State-UNC, Washington-UCLA were two that I watched. 

13) The Rookie— Real-life story of a Texas high school baseball coach who makes the major leagues after agreeing to try out if his high school team made the playoffs. Jim Morris (Dennis Quaid) got into 21 games over two seasons with Tampa Bay, as a lefty specialist.

The scene where the AAA manager tells Jim Morris is going up to the major leagues is one of my all-time favorite movie scenes.

12) Rocky— Very famous movie about a small-time boxer getting a rare chance to fight a heavy-weight champion in a bout in which his main goal is to go the distance, for his own self-respect.

Lot of sequels to this movie; Rocky III is my favorite of all of them, but the last fight scene in Rocky II, when Rocky wins the title, is really well done.

11) Brian’s Song— This was an ABC Tuesday Night Movie of the Week, a made-for-TV movie that became a huge hit. The movie tells the story of the real-life relationship between teammates Brian Piccolo and Gale Sayers and the bond established when Piccolo discovers that he is dying.

I was 11 when I saw this for the first time; I’m pretty sure it was the first time I cried during a movie. When Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) gives a speech at the end of the movie, dedicating his award to Piccolo (James Caan), it is just a very, very touching scene.

10) Draft Day— GM of the Cleveland Browns has the opportunity to rebuild his team when he trades for the number one pick. He must decide what he’s willing to sacrifice on a life-changing day for a few hundred young men with NFL dreams.

NFL stumbled onto a gold mine because of this movie; they delayed the draft a couple weeks in 2014 to promote this movie, but then Radio City Music Hall wasn’t available for the new date, so they moved the draft to another city- they soon realized that this was a great idea, and now they do it every year.

9) Invincible— Based on the true story of Vince Papale (Mark Wahlberg), a 30-year-old bartender from south Philadelphia who overcame long odds to play for the Philadelphia Eagles for three years in the 70’s.

They take some liberties during the movie with the actually football scenes, but as the credits roll at the end, they show the actual plays as they unfolded.

8) Bull Durham— I waver constantly between this movie and Major League, as to which I like better, but I like both of them. Hard to believe they were both made over 30 years ago.

Kevin Costner plays an older minor league catcher whose job it is to home the talents of a young, hot-shot pitcher (Tim Robbins), while both of them try to win the heart of a baseball groupie (Susan Sarandon).

7) Major League— The new owner of the Cleveland Indians purposely puts together a horrible team, so they’ll lose, attendance will tank and she can move the team to Miami (why???), but the team starts winning just to spite her.

Bob Uecker is the Indians’ radio announcer in this movie, which was mostly filmed in Milwaukee, where Uecker works for the Brewers in real life. Uecker is so great as Harry Doyle, I’m only half-joking when I say he should’ve gotten an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

6) One on One— This movie came out when I was a senior in high school; I walked to the theater after school one day, and liked the movie so much I started running home, until I realized it was more than a mile away, so I wised up and walked home, but I loved this movie.

Henry Steele (Robby Benson) is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he gets a scholarship to a D-I school in the big city, he soon realizes that he has few skills outside basketball, plus the coach hates how he plays.

Basketball scenes were filmed in Colorado State’s Moby Gymnasium, where the Rams still play their home games. GD Spradlin plays Coach Smith; he was also Tom Landry-type coach in North Dallas Forty.

5) Any Given Sunday— Al Pacino plays an aging pro football coach whose team struggles, which causes the new owner (Cameron Diaz) to make his life unpleasant.

Miami Sharks play four games in this movie; the opponents were all coached by NFL Hall of Famers; YA Tittle, Bob Sinclair, Dick Butkus, John Unitas. Barry Switzer, Oliver Stone are the TV announcers most of the time. Jim Brown, Lawrence Taylor are also in the movie.

4) For Love of the Game— Kevin Costner is an aging star pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who finds out he is going to get traded, just before his last start of the season. A series of flashbacks follow during the game, where of course, he pitches a perfect game and gets the girl at the end.

John C Reilly is great as the Tigers’ catcher, who is basically Billy Chapel’s personal catcher as they both near retirement; JK Simmons plays the Tigers’ manager; he is a Tigers’ fan in real life.

3) Blue Chips— A college basketball coach (Nick Nolte) is forced to break the rules in order to get the players he needs to stay competitive. This movie was filmed in a high school gym in Indiana, which seats about 8,000 people. Guys who made the movie wanted to pay people to sit in the stands during the basketball scenes; they were quickly told that people would gladly do it for free.

Bob Cousy plays Western U’s athletic director; he has a scene in the beginning of the movie where he shoots free throws while he talks to Coach Bell (Nolte). Done in one take, Cousy makes ten free throws in a row, while in a shirt and tie, at age 65.

2) Fast Break— Gabe Kaplan plays the manager of a Manhattan deli who is a huge basketball fan and is offered the coaching job at a small Nevada college. He brings some players with him, giving him a talented nucleus— one of them is a young lady playing in disguise.

In order to get the job permanently, he has to beat the number one team in the country; there are couple scenes in this movie that wouldn’t fly today, not politically correct, but the basic idea of a guy who runs a deli becoming a big time hoop coach made this an excellent movie.

Besides, two of the players coach Greene brought to Cadwallader U were played by Bernard King and Michael Warren, two pretty good ballplayers in real life.

1) Moneyball— I’ve been an A’s fan since 1965; what did you expect?

Movie is an offshoot of Michael Lewis’ fine book, which describes Billy Beane’s successful attempt to assemble a baseball team on a small budget by employing computer-generated analysis to acquire new players.

I still remember when Miguel Tejada hit a walk-off homer for the A’s 18th consecutive win that year; I went out on the front lawn and did some weird kind of dance in celebration, as my dad stared at me in disbelief- I was deliriously happy. Every time they show Tejada’s homer in the movie, it brings me back to that moment, a pleasant memory.

TV highlight of the day: First round of the MLB Draft; too bad the geniuses can’t find a way to play baseball games. That would be a real highlight. 

26) North Dallas Forty— A semi-fictional account of life with the Dallas Cowboys in the early ‘70s; based on a book written by Pete Gent, who played WR for the Cowboys.

Nick Nolte, Mac Davis, Bo Swenson, Charles Durning, Dabney Coleman; quality cast.

25) Youngblood— A 17 year old farm boy is offered a hockey tryout; his brother drives him to Canada to try out. The kid is skilled, but doesn’t like to fight; he has fast legs, slow fists, but he makes the team, and because he is Rob Lowe, he dates the coach’s daughter.

Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves are two of his teammates; Youngblood’s dad is played by Eric Nesterenko, who in real life, played in the NHL/WHA for 23 years.

24) Breaking Away— An Indiana teenager who is obsessed with the Italian cycling team tries to win the heart of a college girl; he and his townie friends try to beat the college kids in a bicycle race, which is an uphill battle.

Paul Dooley is great as the kid’s father; Dennis Quad plays one of the kid’s friends, so does the guy who was Kelly Leak in The Bad News Bears.

23) Caddyshack— An exclusive country club has problems with a brash new member (Rodney Dangerfield) and a mischievous bunch of gophers. 

Bill Murray, Chevy Chase, Dangerfield, Ted Knight. Some of the guys I went to college with knew every line of the movie by heart, and watched it often. 

22) A League of Their Own— Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry. Tom Hanks is the manager. Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna are two of the players.

21) Love & Basketball— A young man, young lady grow up next door to each other in Los Angeles, and both become college basketball players.

The guy from the Allstate commercials (Serrano in Major League) is the young man’s dad who also played in the NBA. Alfre Woodard is the young lady’s mother.

20) The Replacements— During a pro football strike, the owners hire substitute players, one of whom is Keanu Reeves. Gene Hackman is the team’s coach, Jack Warden the owner; they even had Pat Summerall, John Madden announcing the team’s games.

19) Heaven Can Wait— Not really a football movie, but……
— Rams win the Super Bowl in this movie, at a time when I wasn’t really sure if they would ever win the Super Bowl in real life.
— Jack Warden is the trainer of the Rams; Jack Warden was freakin’ awesome.
— When this movie came out, I got a theater poster from someone and had it on my bedroom wall. It is still upstairs somewhere.

18) The Bad News Bears— An aging, down-on-his-luck ex-minor leaguer coaches a team of misfits in an ultra-competitive California Little League.

Walter Matthau is brilliant as the sarcastic coach; his best pitcher is a girl (Tatum O’Neal), he recruits his best player the the kid runs his motorbike around the Little League complex.

Bears were sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds, I always remember that.

17) He Got Game— The father (Denzel Washington) of a highly sought-after high school basketball star (Ray Allen) has to convince his son to go to a certain college so he can get a shorter jail sentence; the governor went to Big State- the warden (Ned Beatty) explains that to the father, before he gets a work release to try and convince his son.

Jim Brown plays a probation officer keeping his eye on the father; John Turturro is the coach at Tech U, which is also trying to recruit the son. Underrated movie.

John Turturro also plays Joey Knish in Rounders; very good actor.

16) Hoosiers— A coach with a checkered past (Gene Hackman) coaches a small town high school basketball team to become a contender for the Indiana state championship; one of his assistant coaches (Dennis Hopper) is the town drunk, the father of one of the players.

The coach is about to get fired when the team’s star player, who had been sitting out, decides to play again; he wants the coach to stay, and because its the movies, the teams keeps winning, even though the coach always seems to want the star to be a decoy on key plays. Even the drunk guy knows that Jimmy should take all the big shots.

15) The Natural— An unknown slugger comes out of nowhere to become a big hitter for the New York Knights, making the Knights a contender.

This movie was filmed at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, where the Bills played before Rich Stadium was built.

14) Little Big League— Owner of the Minnesota Twins died unexpectedly, leaves the team to his 12-year old grandson, who winds up firing the manager and naming himself to the job. Believe me, this movie is a lot better than it sounds. The scenes in the first 25:00 with the grandfather and the kid are very well done.

TV highlight of the day:
Magnum PI episode with Frank Sinatra was on today.

13) Vada Pinson:
— Had 2,757 hits in 18 years, mostly for Cincinnati
— From 1959-67, he played in 154+ games every year.
— Led NL in hits twice, doubles twice, triples twice, runs scored once.
— Arguably the best player not in the Hall of Fame.

12) Octavio Dotel— July 1999, Dotel is a rookie for the Mets; he is pitching on a Saturday afternoon against the Cubs. I’m in my dad’s hospital room; he had cancer surgery four days earlier, and now, the nurse is struggling with one of the tubes in his right arm.

My dad lets out a yell, the nurse jumps and asks if she hurt him. He waves his left arm and says “Its not you. The Cubs have the bases loaded.”

Got up, went up and got a Coke out of a vending machine and stopped worrying about him.

— Played for 13 different teams, in a 15-year career.
— Was with Astros for five years; didn’t play more than two years for anyone else.
— Started 30 games his first two years, started only four more games in his career. He wound up with 109 saves.
— Made the playoffs five times, for five different teams.

11) Al Oliver
— One of the most underrated hitters ever: hit .303 in an 18-year career.
— Made All-Star Game seven times.
— Played 10 years for the Pirates, then bounced around to six other teams.
— Led NL in RBI’s in 1982, when he was 35.

10) Tommy John: He actually had two different careers:
— 1963-74 , before the surgery: 124-106
— 1975— Sat out entire season
— 1976-89, after the surgery: 164-125
— From 1977-82- Made playoffs five times in six years, his only playoff appearances.

9) Nolan Ryan
— Threw seven no-hitters, with last one coming at age 44. 
— Spent 27 years in majors; pitched in ’69 World Series at age 22, but never got back.
— Led AL in strikeouts four years in row from 1987-90, at ages 37-40.
— How the hell did someone this good lose 292 games (324-292)?

8) Jamie Quirk
— Played 18 years in majors, batted 250+ times in only one season.
— Played for eight teams, playing 11 years in Kansas City.
— Made playoffs four times, winning a ring with ’85 Royals.
— .645 career OPS; he must’ve been a good receiver.

7) Mike Morgan
— Morgan started a game against the Orioles three days after his high school graduation, at age 18. He lost 3-0 on a Sunday afternoon.
— Wound up lasting 22 years in the majors, for 12 different teams.
— In 1991-92, he went a combined 30-16 for Dodgers/Cubs, his best stretch.
— Made playoffs twice, with ’98 Cubs, ’01 Diamondbacks.

6) Matt Stairs
— Played 19 years in the majors for 12 different teams.
— Hit 265 home runs, had career OPS of .832.
— Played five years for the A’s, only team he played with for more than 3 years.
— Won a World Series ring with the 2008 Phillies. 

5) Jose Vizcaino
— Played 18 years in majors for eight different teams.
— 434 games at 2B, 226 at 3B, 947 at short, 355 as a pinch-hitter.
— Never made an All-Star Game, but earned $26M in his career.
— Made playoffs six times, three times with Houston. 

4) Gary Sheffield
— Played 22 years in big leagues, for eight teams.
— Hit 509 homers, had a career OPS of .905.
— Hit .312, had .998 OPS in four years with Dodgers.
— Made nine All-Star Games, played in playoffs six years.

3) Gaylord Perry
— Played for eight teams in his 22-year career.
— Went 314-265 in his career, with 303 complete games.
— Went 21-6 for the ’78 Padres, when he was 39 years old.
— Wrote a book in 1974; Me and the Spitter. He admitted he cheated.

2) Bartolo Colon
— Was the last active major leaguer who had played for the Montreal Expos.
— Once threw 38 consecutive strikes in a game at Anaheim.
— Played for 21 years with 11 different teams; he spent six years in Cleveland.
— Went 247-188 our his career, made four All-Star Games

1) Rickey Henderson
— All-time greatest base stealer, with 1,406 stolen bases.
— Played 25 years in majors for nine teams; he played 14 years in his hometown of Oakland, in four different stints.
— Led off 81 games with home runs, 27 more than anyone else.
— Had a career on-base %age of .401; in 1990, he had a .439 OB%. 

It dawned on me today that I have a lot of books in my house, and I’ve read just about all of them, but most of them I read a long time ago; these days, I’m re-reading bits and pieces of them, and that has worked pretty well.

Today I’m reading “Ace on the River” a book written by the great poker player Barry Greenstein in 2005. If you like to gamble in general, or specifically play poker, there is a lot of wisdom in this book, some of which I’m going to share with you today.

Here are some of the characteristics that Barry Greenstein says “….separate winning poker players from losing players”

— Have a good sense of humor— Winning players have learned to tolerate bad beats that happen. A gallows’ sense of humor may help them endure the bad times.

— The best players must be able to talk their way into good situations and should be gracious to losing players. There are times when they have to be able to speak up for their own best interest. Being able to talk is a plus, and so is knowing when to be quiet.

— Winning players have to formulate strategies and change them when they’re not working. Intelligence is the ability to adapt to one’s environment; an intelligent player knows how to use information to his maximum advantage.

— Most winning poker players are quiet during each hand and maintain the proverbial poker face. Even after losing a hand, they don’t show their disappointment.

— Winning poker players have memorized basic strategy; they remember what worked in the past, and what didn’t. They have a mental catalogue of every opponent’s playing style and idiosyncrasies.

— Winning players aren’t afraid to pull the trigger; they aren’t afraid to make the right play, even if it is risky. They also realize that there is a fine line between being bold and being reckless.

— Even if a good player’s results have been bad, he will continue to make decisions that he believes are the right ones.

— If a game is far more lucrative than usual, a good player will not quit, especially if he is winning. He looks at this as an opportunity to make enough money so he won’t have to work as long on occasions when the game isn’t as juicy.

— Many winning poker players are very scrappy; some were refugees from other countries. They know life isn’t always fair, and they’re used to fighting to survive. They expect obstacles and believe they can overcome them. In the Darwinian sense, winning players are survivors of the poker battle.

— Winning players don’t take anyone’s advice without thinking about it first. Plenty of bad advice is readily available; they don’t submit to peer pressure that will lead them down the bumpy path the majority has followed.

— Winning players are usually big tippers; they don’t place a high value on money because it comes so easily at times that it doesn’t hurt to give some of it away. They are respectful of people who work hard for their money.

— Winning players pay great attention to detail; they remember each pot, how many players were in it, who raised, who had the key cards, who hesitated at key moments.

— Psychologically tough— The best don’t give in, no matter how severe the psychological beating. Psychologically tough players have the mindset that they can win in any situation and can overcome anything. You cannot judge a player until you see how he handles adversity.

Again, the book is “Ace on the River”, written by Barry Greenstein. If you can find it online or in a bookstore, you’ll learn a lot from it.