04/24/24
May 03, 2005
Striking Out with Six Balls: Ken Griffey Jr. and several Cincinnati Reds teammates blew $1,000 on tickets for the Ohio Lottery's Mega Millions drawing on April 19, which was $168 million. Harmless fun or another Rick Neuheisel situation?
the wealthy are still allowed to steal from the poor, right? i see no change in paradigm here.
posted by garfield at 10:11 AM on May 03, 2005
Hey, they hit their jackpot. They should let the stupid continue their silly fantasies of idle riches.
posted by scully at 10:19 AM on May 03, 2005
Legal gambling v. (technically) illegal gambling. Related to one's job (albeit tangentially) v. unrelated to one's job. Not really similar at all. Methinks the desire to use a clever title hath clouded our resident pope-squatter's judgment. (BTW, I'm still waiting for rcade to become embroiled in some sort of newsworthy dispute so I can use the title -- "The rcade Fire." Would have worked well in discussing the flames of eternal damnation that will engulf him if he doesn't quit that unseemly pope-squatting behavior, but yerfatma beat me to it.) Maybe the Reds should quit trying to strike it rich in the lotto and focus on not getting a seven-spot dropped on them by the Cardinals in the ninth inning.
posted by holden at 10:32 AM on May 03, 2005
Griffey's odds of winning the lottery and slugging percentage are roughly the same number. I like the phrasing "blew $1,000." It's like saying I went out and "blew a penny"
posted by mayerkyl at 10:38 AM on May 03, 2005
I thought you had to gamble on a sport for it to be a crime. In any instance, I think gambling of any kind should be a no-no for an athlete or coach. The problems arise when a player or coach get into debt with a bookie and then they are asked or coerced into making decisions to affect a game in order to pay off debts. The lottery or those scratchers can still be addicting and get you into financial trouble. Like what if you couldn't pay your electric bill or house payment because you blew all your money on lottery tickets? The in desperation you robbed a store? See, that is how gambling causes crime.
posted by bluekarma at 10:55 AM on May 03, 2005
I don't see a problem here, frankly. The only way this could have become an issue was if he won the jackpot and then decided to keep it for himself, which would be a PR problem, not a gambling one. In fact, I'd bet you a crisp whole new dollar (a larger percentage of my income than Griffey blew on this escapade, I assure you) that this stuff happens all the time, in every town, on every team. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if every so often, someone won something, and then gave it away as some kind of gesture. Also, I think the title was worth the sort-of-iffy story.
posted by chicobangs at 11:07 AM on May 03, 2005
The problem that I can see is one of modeling really stupid behavior, and that's certainly not any different from any number of other nouveau-riche tricks, like buying an ostentatiously rich and tacky mansion, or driving an ostentatiously rich and tacky car, or sleeping with any number of eye-candettes that are drawn to your ostentatiously rich and tacky self.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:10 AM on May 03, 2005
LBB, you make those things sound so ... wrong.
posted by chicobangs at 11:19 AM on May 03, 2005
Like what if you couldn't pay your electric bill or house payment because you blew all your money on lottery tickets? The in desperation you robbed a store? See, that is how gambling causes crime And then while robbing the store, you took a break to eat a snickers and amazingly happen to see Marshall Faulk and save him from a falling dinosaur and end up with a parade and keys to the city. The human imagination is boundless. It was a few frickin lotto tickets among millionaires, relax!
posted by mayerkyl at 11:20 AM on May 03, 2005
LBB, you make those things sound so ... wrong. They're tacky; of course they're wrong, inherently so. Now, when they're done in a non-ostentatious and non-tacky manner -- as someone with taste, like myself, would do them -- there's nothing wrong about it at all. Just gimme the money and I'll show you how tasteful I can be!
posted by lil_brown_bat at 11:46 AM on May 03, 2005
BTW, I'm still waiting for rcade to become embroiled in some sort of newsworthy dispute so I can use the title -- "The rcade Fire." As long as a certain video doesn't surface on the Internet, I should be fine. I didn't know if this story was frontworthy, but it seems weird to me that the press didn't at least ask the league if organized lottery pools are verboten. Neuheisel lost his job over two March Madness pools in which he spent $6K and won around $12K. Though such pools are of questionable legality, millions of people participate in them. Is what he did really exceptionally different than throwing a grand together for a lottery pool?
posted by rcade at 03:56 PM on May 03, 2005
who cares? its just a lottery.. they didnt bet on baseball or anything else illegal
posted by redsoxfan91 at 04:02 PM on May 03, 2005
Were they betting on baseball? No? Harmless fun.