Oscar Gamble Society

In short, Stallworth will spend 30 days in jail for killing a human being:

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news?slug=ap-stallworth-pedestriankilled&prov=ap&type=lgns

There are other aspects… two years house arrest, eight years probation, lifetime suspension of driver’s license (although he can apply to have that lifted in five years), and drug and alcohol counseling.

But we talked about this before… Mike Vick killed dogs and has this public outcry to prevent him from returning to the NFL, after he’s served his 3 years (actually, it was more like 2-1/2… wasn’t it)?  Obviously I’m not advocating dogfighting, and the associated torture and killing of dogs.  But as I’ve said all along, as bad as it is to kill dogs, it’s worse to kill a human being.  It just is.

And for killing a human being, Donte Stallworth will spend 30 *days* in jail.  So… how long should I wait for the same public furor to face Stallworth as we’ve seen face Vick?

Just curious.

Found this on Yahoo.com:

 http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/Hockey-mystery-What-happens-to-hats-thrown-for-?urn=nhl,167824

I admit it… I’ve always been curious myself.

Usqueuque idem eadem idem

I stared at the TV for a while.  Then, I stared some more with my hands wrapped around my face.  Karen said something to me.  I didn’t hear her and I didn’t acknowledge her.  I shuffled listlessly to the kitchen and reached into the cabinet, like countless times before. 

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But since coming off the DL Chien-Ming Wang has cut his ERA by more than half… to 16.07. Two earned runs in eight innings pitched; maybe he’s fixed. If the Yanks keep this up I may start hoping for more than a week of post-season play in the Bronx.

I’ll spare you the details (thus the “abridged version), but suffice to say that when examining defensive metrics, surprisingly Manny is generally measured to be a better LF than Jason Bay - though both are below average.  Many fans and media use “hustle” as the lone metric when assessing defensive value.  Manny doesn’t usually appear to be hustling, so the general conclusion is he’s not that good defensively - and he’s not, but…. Bay does usually appear to be hustling, so the general conclusion is that he *is* good defensively.  Unfortunately, he’s actually not very good in absolute terms (based on the actual, unbiased defensive metrics) and probably not even as good as Manny (based on the actual, unbiased defensive metrics).
 
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A lifelong Celtics fan, before the playoffs, I resigned myself to the fact that the Celtics wouldn’t repeat.  Barring a miracle, I decided I’d like to see Lebron lead the Cavs to a title in the alternative.  But if Lebron can’t/doesn’t, then I’m left with… just not the Lakers please.  I suspect I’m not alone among Celtics fans - as the Lakers are a longtime rival and natural “enemy”.
 
Every NBA season, I have two desires, in this order:  (1) Celtics win the title, or at least (2) Lakers don’t win the title.
 
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Anybody know what happened to Hank Steinbrenner?  Is he in witness protection or something?  Is he stranded on a deserted isle?  Where’d he go?  Is he like Super Joe Charboneau, a one-year wonder who burst onto the scene and steals the show (and the RoY from Dave Stapleton, but I’m not bitter)… only to do nothing after that?
 
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A few years ago, when Vince Carter decided to go 1 on 5 for an entire 4th quarter against the Rapters in a first round playoff series, I wrote off the NBA…. it had basically in my mind become unwatchable.  I haven’t seen a game since.

Last night I was at the Brewer Game and stopped into TGI Friday’s on my way out.  The Cavs/Magic game was on with 6 seconds left in regulation…..Cavs by 1… Magic ball…. OK.. I’ll check out the ending.  Lewis hits a turnaround 3 pointer with 4 seconds left.  When he shot it I thought it was a terrible shot.  First, he looked like he rushed the shot, and second, he had plenty of time and left too much time on the clock. Read the rest of this entry »

Why would the Yankees charge up to $2,500 for a seat amid the worst economic downturn since the 1930’s? And faced with scores of embarrassingly visible empty seats, why would they cut prices on less astronomically-prices seats while leaving the $2,500 price point intact? Wishful thinking undoubtedly played a role, but for the primary driver I suspect one need look no further than the tax code.

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Manny Ramirez was just suspended for using drugs for his lady parts that were on the list of banned substances. MLB told him what he tested positive for, which was on the list, and has no legitimate utility to Ramirez (unless he really does have lady bits) and most people can probably agree that the process was reasonably fair.

Contrast that with the experience of NASCAR driver Jeremy Mayfield. He was just suspended by NASCAR for failing a drug test. For what drug? NASCAR won’t say. Was it on the list of proscribed substances? Well, no, because no such list exists. Mayfield says he is on a prescription drug and also took Claritin D for severe allergies; there is seemingly credible speculation that NASCAR’s silence is in part due to an unwilingness to offend Schering-Plough, whose Claritin brand is a sponsor of driver Carl Edwards.

Each sport is effectively “run” by someone for whom I have little regard; Bud Selig is a liar and a scoundrel, but Brian France strikes me as a truly Faulknerian idiot man-child. I guess the difference is the legacy of Marvin Miller in baseball, compared with the largely unchecked power of the sanctioning body in racing (as evidenced by the pathetic obsequiousness of EVERYONE in the sport when discussing the sanctioning body and the France family).