The Gambler

If you have any money parked in traditional investment vehicles, you are probably accustomed to getting hammered. Real estate is in the tank, equities have been in a steady decline and low interest rates mean low returns for cash. Don't despair, there is an alternative.

The alternative is the Sportsbook.

I was never much of a gambler. I didn't play cards, I didn't set foot in a casino until I was into my, well, not a kid anymore, and I didn't get into betting on games. Playing cards was like work for me. I could explain the arithmetic behind all the casino games and I wanted to be the casino, not the gambler. Betting on the games required research that I didn't want to do.

Then along came Pete. Pete was an inveterate oddshound. He tracked the horses, worked the baseball lines (a weird subculture of wagering) and followed the football spreads. Pete and I would talk baseball generalities, as he is a devotee of the history of baseball and a veritable font of statistical minutiae, as well as an all around good guy.

One day, when Pete brought up the current outlook for whichever team he was following at a time when I wasn't any too interested, I pointed out the arithmetic that makes baseball a bad addiction. I explained to him that there are 162 games in a season. Every team is going to win 50 games and lose 50 games, so there's a hundred games, or about three months worth, that we can push to the side of the road, almost 2/3 of the season played to get back to where you started. So, if everyone skipped the first hundred and played just the remaining games, I continued, we'd have a six week baseball season and I wouldn't get so bored and we'd all have time for things that matter. Pete uttered "national pasttime" and I responded with "it's time has passed" as he considered my argument.While this was a pretty clear case of figures lie and liars figure, it appeared to assuage Pete's current state of angst.

Pressing on, I challenged Pete to consider a new source of entertainment that provided a compact and immediate gratification completely unlike baseball, plus time for a nap. I introduced Pete to NASCAR. What followed this introduction is a parade of rewards that I could never have expected.Tomorrow, I'll explain how we corrupted a casual conversation for our mutual gain, both personal and financial.

DAY 3 of the Amazing Photo Mystery: Here's another hint in the ID the Photo challenge. The photo was taken from the perspective of a place named in honor of a Chicago politician (imagine, honoring a Chicago politician!). By the way, the place doesn't have an actual street address, how 'bout that!