Haralabos Voulgaris

Bill Simmons' BS Report had a guest host today - Jay Caspian Kang who spoke with Haralabos Voulgaris. The subject was the men's Olympic team and NBA betting.

I Googled Voulgaris because I knew him from him playing on High Stakes Poker - I didn't know anything about him as a sports bettor. Turns out he's the Bill Belichick of NBA betting.

The story of his first big hit is a tremendous story. Be sure to click the above link to find out how he turned a job as a sky cap in Canada into $500,000 and a life in Las Vegas.

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

This may be strange but the person I would really like to hear from regarding how Jeremy Lin was handled by the Knicks is writer William Goldman who happens to be a big Knicks fan... If Time is real and is subject to the forces of gravity doesn't that mean that Time somehow has mass or some sort of energy component?.. Whenever you read about Barack Obama saving Detroit - how come you never see any workers from Saturn or Pontiac quoted in the story?... JA Happ and Jon Lester have basically been the same pitcher this year. People who advocate trading Lester should consider that and look at how comparatively little the Astros got for Happ... Interesting - according to Todd Brunson the poker show Poker After Dark paid the players a flat rate of $5,000 for 8 hours while the show High Stakes Poker paid $1,250 per hour... The Democratic Convention is going to be a disaster. Having one of the least successful Conventions in recent memory will be a big drag on the Obama campaign. The stories will be more about who isn't there than who is attending. Also post Convention don't be shocked if there isn't a bunch of stories about local vendors getting stiffed by the DNC. I just want to say that now.... I would love it if Fred Willard's defense is that he had a cramp and was just trying to work it out...

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

You can't have good without evil yet Christianity has official blessings but no official curses. I think that may be a missing ingredient... People remember Jean Van de Velde's meltdown at 1999 British Open but can you recall who won it? Likewise I think people will remember 2011 Masters more for Rory McIlroy's final round meltdown than for Charl Schartzel winning... The fastest marathon humanly possible may be only 76 seconds faster than the current record... After seeing the ESPN special on Tom Brady and the 2000 NFL Draft - I am amazed that some 49ers fan hasn't created a fake Gio Carmazzi Twitter account yet. I think that would be classic. The fake Carmozzi can tweet about what his goats are doing while Brady is throwing touchdowns... Quote for the day: "The message leaps from heart to heart by way of the brain, and where the brain is unpersuaded the message cannot pass." - Joseph Campbell... I listened to Bill Simmons podcast with Norm McDonald. I found it interesting that High Stakes Poker was not mentioned even once. It was mildly interesting but that interest was offset by it being just an ESPN/Disney pimpfest (Norm's new show is on Comedy Central a member of Team Disney)... Every time I see that Water for Elephants commercial I think, "Hey Cedric Diggory lives!" I then wonder if the jealous husband is really Voldemorte... Bible thought for the day: Do you think Eve fed Adam the apple so he would know that it was wrong to have sex with the animals of the Garden of Eden?... With Rory McIlroy being from Northern Ireland - I was disappointed that I didn't see any Sunday, Bloody Sunday U2 references made regarding his dismal final round at The Masters. "This is not a rebel song. And this is not a song about Rory McIlroy's final round at the Masters. This is Sunday, Bloody Sunday"... This is pretty cool. It would be awesome if the Navy could put these on the heads of freakin sharks... By the way Paul Lawrie won the 1999 British Open.

Funny Norm McDonald Interview



Norm really brings the funny. I keep waiting to see this type of humor on High Stakes Poker.

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Public unions force taxpayers to fund Democrats

- Shirtless Steve Spurrier atop an RV at Daytona drinking original Coors

- Sorry, Firefly Fans, But Nathan Fillion Can’t Bring It Back

- Nice work, Eddie!

- The Honey Badger is hilarious!

- Interesting - what do pro refs and umps make?

- Interview with New High Stakes Poker Host Norm Macdonald

Linky Links

Stuff I found interesting and thought I'd share.

- Heroes

- Norm McDonald in and Gabe Kaplan out at High Stakes Poker - not happy about this but I will still watch

- The time George H.W. Bush took Mubarak to an Orioles game

- So wrong but yet so funny

Flotsam and Jetsam

Miscellaneous thoughts and observations.

Originally the Vikings in Capitol One commercials were supposed to represent the plundering done by other credit card companies through high fees and APR. Capitol One was supposed to protect against that. Now the Vikings are their inept spokesmen. This is basically Capitol One's way of saying morons are their target market... Watching High Stakes Poker last night I was struck by how much Gabe Kaplan is starting to look like Grandpa Munster... Best Mohammed Cartoon... Congrats to Holy Cross QB Dom Randolph who signed with the Giants. I saw Joe Flacco play in college and I think Randolph was the better QB... The Simpsons stand with South Park (sort of). On a related note - the drawings of Mohammed deck of cards is genius. I'd buy a few packs... Interesting:

If you'd taken the $5,700 it cost to buy an Apple PowerBook G3 250 when it came out in 1997 and invested it in Apple stock, you'd have $330,000 now. Makes you think twice about springing for an iPad.