Since when

did poker become a spectator sport?

I was in a local establishment today and they had ESPN on several of their TVs. One of the shows was "The World Series of Poker". This is regular everyday folks playing poker on TV for some serious coin. Not that celebrity poker jazz...

I play poker, I'm not good at it, but I have been known to play on the rare occasion (when I have someone telling me what's good and what's shit sitting next to me). But on television? That ranks right up there with televised bowling. Bor-ring! I can see it now:

(Voices in a near whisper:
Ralph: Jack, Phil is holding a pretty good hand. But Bernie has a better one. David has cards that add up to crap. Will David put on his trademark poker face and bluff the others out of the party?

Jack: I dunno, Ralph, David has won a lot of coin using that technique. He forces the others to out do each other, but Bernie's been pretty sharp lately. Fortunately, neither Bernie or Phil have played with David, so they don't know what he's capable of. We'll just have to sit back and see what happens.

Ralph: I think you may have something there, Jack.)


Now, come on... poker as a spectator sport? Gimme the remote, I'm looking for reruns of Who's The Boss...

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While in this same establishment, they had some kind of classic rock music loop playing. One of the songs was one from when I was a freshman in high school that I couldn't stand then, and can't stand now. Undercover Angel...ewww! Lyrics go something like this: Undercover angel/midnight fantasy/I never had a dream/make sweet love to me... Uck! I need a barf bag! The intervening 25 years or so does nothing to make this song likable in my mind. The singer sounds like he was reading Playboy or Penthouse before he sat down to sing this little disgusting ditty...makes my skin crawl (and it did when I was 14, too....)!!

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That's all from where I sit.

--MorelaterZ--