I'm checking out the sports page of the local daily paper's website and what is the final story? It's a story about how many are left at the final table of the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.
I realize that poker is huge right now, but it wasn't much of anything in 2002 and then after the 2003 World Series of Poker, it just took off. But is most certainly is not a sport.
Just because ESPN broadcasts it doesn't mean it's a sports. Spelling isn't a sport but we see the Bee every year on ESPN. Just like programming on MTV isn't music. Literally.
And for the record, any activity in which you can eat, drink and smoke during, while being a participant is most definately not a sport.
Poker was fun in its infancy, but now you can see a poker or blackjack show every night. Sometimes with Q-list celebrities, but that doesn't make it any better. I actually think that ESPN can be blamed for why myself and many others hate it now.
Last year's World Series of Poker was over for maybe 30 days or more before they actually aired the final Texas Hold 'Em table. We all knew who won and never watched. ESPN also aired all of the stupid little games that go on with the World Series, but all we wanted to see was the tourney that led up to who made the final Hold 'Em table. They also filmed the table in what seemed to me like a primitive manner. I guess they were trying to make it seems more like poker in the den of Chuck and Pete's hunting cabin instead of the biggest poker tournament in the world in the gambling Mecca of the universe, Las Vegas.
Now I'm not a poker player, I used to have a chance to play about once a week with my friends, but I did enjoy watching the broadcasts before the TV world pulled a Millionaire. You remember the Who Wants to be a Millionaire show, don't you?
It is still on TV, but when it first came on it got such great ratings that they had a new show 6 nights a week. Pretty soon it got very old and you began to hate and fear Regis Philbin, but you couldn't get away from his monochromatic ties and shirts because he was on TV for 3 and 4 hours a day. If he didn't get you in the morning, he could find you in the evening.
Before too long they had to up the cash prize to $10 million just to see if throwing money at the problem would fix it. Unfortunately for them, about 2 nights into the $10 million shows, you realized that they were going to make sure that no one actualy won the cash.
So tonight I'm going to a bachelor party where everyone is going to be playing poker which I kill people and play golf on the Playstation 2. My night will be much more productive than everyone else's.
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