FEBRUARY IS ALMOST OVER

February is almost over and thank God for that!  There are a lot of great things about living in Oklahoma but February is not one of those things.  Oklahoma is very safe. I am not sure what city isnt safe as long as you are smart about things and dont do or sale drugs.  When you hear about murders, most of the time it is  someone they knew or they were picking up their crack for the weekend.  Oklahoma is clean and doesnt have bad traffic. Those are good points, I have been to a lot of cities that smell (NYC and New Orleans) and traffic is a problem in most big cities. I am predisposed to road rage so it is better that I dont have to deal with bad traffic.  I will tell you that each year in February I feel I might be able to handle the crime ect to be able to wake up and look at the ocean each day.  Everything is brown in Oklahoma in February. Everything is dead in Oklahoma in February and Everyone is grumpy in Oklahoma in February.  The good thing is, once we get to March, the flowers come back, the grass starts to turn green and everyone cheers up.Only then do I remember why I raise these kids here as apposed to some other place. Spring break is almost here and we are winning a lot of money in hoops so things could be worse. I am looking forward to a huge March and some fun in the sun. 

FEBRUARY IS ALMOST OVER

February is almost over and thank God for that!  There are a lot of great things about living in Oklahoma but February is not one of those things.  Oklahoma is very safe. I am not sure what city isnt safe as long as you are smart about things and dont do or sale drugs.  When you hear about murders, most of the time it is  someone they knew or they were picking up their crack for the weekend.  Oklahoma is clean and doesnt have bad traffic. Those are good points, I have been to a lot of cities that smell (NYC and New Orleans) and traffic is a problem in most big cities. I am predisposed to road rage so it is better that I dont have to deal with bad traffic.  I will tell you that each year in February I feel I might be able to handle the crime ect to be able to wake up and look at the ocean each day.  Everything is brown in Oklahoma in February. Everything is dead in Oklahoma in February and Everyone is grumpy in Oklahoma in February.  The good thing is, once we get to March, the flowers come back, the grass starts to turn green and everyone cheers up.Only then do I remember why I raise these kids here as apposed to some other place. Spring break is almost here and we are winning a lot of money in hoops so things could be worse. I am looking forward to a huge March and some fun in the sun. 

THESE ARE THE DAYS I THINK ABOUT MOVING

 February is almost over and thank God for that!  There are a lot of great things about living in Oklahoma but February is not one of those things.  Oklahoma is very safe. I am not sure what city isnt safe as long as you are smart about things and dont do or sale drugs.  When you hear about murders, most of the time it is  someone they knew or they were picking up their crack for the weekend.  Oklahoma is clean and doesnt have bad traffic. Those are good points, I have been to a lot of cities that smell (NYC and New Orleans) and traffic is a problem in most big cities. I am predisposed to road rage so it is better that I dont have to deal with bad traffic.  I will tell you that each year in February I feel I might be able to handle the crime ect to be able to wake up and look at the ocean each day.  Everything is brown in Oklahoma in February. Everything is dead in Oklahoma in February and Everyone is grumpy in Oklahoma in February.  The good thing is, once we get to March, the flowers come back, the grass starts to turn green and everyone cheers up.Only then do I remember why I raise these kids here as apposed to some other place. Spring break is almost here and we are winning a lot of money in hoops so things could be worse. I am looking forward to a huge March and some fun in the sun. 

THINKING ABOUT SOME INSIDE INFO!!

For those of you that keep up with these entries, you know by now I am very involved in my children's life. I coach some of their sports and I take a daily roll in trying to figure out how to make my children's life happier and better than mine was. Part of this is attending the kids games and giving advice.

 My son is a decent 8 year old athlete. I always laugh when I hear a parent say " my kid is a stud!"  as if  they had a lot to do with it AND their next stop is to resign from their job because the signing bonus their kid will be getting in 10 years will solve all of the problems.  BTW, have you ever noticed the parents that had some athletic success themselves are never the ones that are bragging about their kids.  Sorry for getting off track.  As I was saying, my son is a decent athlete, he is a good listener, a hard worker and a great kid. I think that ,combined with the God given abilities, will allow him to  thrive on sports teams during his school years. If not he can always play the tuba in the band. I am serious, I may be the first parent on record to honestly say I would be OK with a tuba playing moron as long as he was happy.

and then we have my daughter.. 

  She is 5 years old and is the cutest little girl I have ever seen. We have our fourth basketball game on Saturday. I have looked at the line for this game and her 5 year old team is a 27 point underdog. The total is 31.  I will be taking the other team and the under with predicted final score of 28-2.  All of the teams have both boys and girls but the problem in our first few games is that the other teams girls are a bit better than our girls and their boys are a bit better than our boys. Not a good combination.  The good news is that,if they lose, my daughter will have nothing to do with the loss. If they win I am positive she will have even less to do with the win.  She is the youngest, one of the shortest and best dressed kids on her team but is a non factor when it comes to the game.She cant shoot,she has trouble dribbling and her defense is spotty. Honestly, I am happy about this. The last thing I want is 2 kids that are good at sports.

 The way sports are now, you have games 8 months a year in all sports and are expected to work out the other 4 months to "stay in shape"  I have friends that are going to the batting cages in February!!! Give me a break! An 8 year old has no business working on baseball in February. These little league coaches that came up with this idea need to get a life!!!! Or at least another hobby besides helping their kid burn himself out on the sport THEY are sure is going to be their ticket out of the ghetto. If they had ever played anything in their life they would know that MOST of the kids that are stars @ 8 and 9 don't even end up starting on even their high school teams.  I know they don't want to hear that but its true.

I can honestly tell you this.  I don't care if my kids are stars, I don't care if they get scholarships and if they get a signing bonus, they can keep it.  As I said before, all I am trying to do is make my kids childhood as happy as possible.

Of course I would love to have some of that "inside information" that may come from having a professional athlete. LOL.

Actually, I am 11-1 since Sunday in basketball. I don't need inside player info. We are doing just fine. Have a good weekend.

TULSA FOR POKER

 Saturday I went the Lucky Star for a "Jack and Jill'" poker tournament. I played with one of the dealers out there and we finished fourth. It took about 6 hours and I made 1000.00. In the poker world you can play a long time and not make much money. I do these events for the competition more than the money.

 I had some free time yesterday after a winning day and decided to leave Norman around 3pm for Tulsa. They are having the Oklahoma State Poker Championships. I left for the 2 hour drive around 3pm so I would be able to play in Sundays event that started @ 6pm. I signed up for the Omaha 8 O/B event and we started playing. the problem with this event is it was a "limit" event and unless I am very unlucky was going to take a LONG time.  I didn't bother making a hotel reservation because I was thinking I would either get knocked out early or make it in the money and play most of the night. As luck would have it I was knocked out in 37th place at 2am. That is "no mans land" Too late to drive home but I wasn't tired and couldn't see getting a hotel room.   The great thing about poker (after midnight) is you get funny and different types of people. I don't mind conflict so it is funny to watch these insomniacs fight with each other. Last night I played with an arrogant kid named "Ben" he used to be a dealer and decided he was good enough to be a pro player and now travels the poker tour. I am all for guys reaching for the stars but when they are so insecure about their life that they become a jerk I do have a problem. I usually stay out of the classless banter that takes place in these overnight games but I was angry for being knocked out of the tournament and was frankly just trying to stay awake so I really enjoyed what happened. 

A drunk cowboy walked up and started hitting on the cute dealer at   our table.He was feeling really sexy in his drunken state, I could tell  he was a true ladies man and his pickup line didn't disappoint. "hey dealer, is their any way you might think about giving me your panties on your next break?" he confidently asks.  The dealer looked up at him with this evil stare as if to say " you are drunk and even if I wore panties I would never give them to you."  But she said nothing .He says " OK, I will just wait here " and sat down behind "Ben". Ben , feeling good about himself after winning another pot, says "hey dude, will you please not sit behind my chair?"  The cowboy says " how about I kick your @$%*&% little #$&?"   As I begin to laugh the cowboy and Ben look at me and ask what is so funny?  I said " I just think it is funny that out of nowhere, a drunk goat roper walks up to the table, asks for the dealers panties and then calls the biggest prick at the table a p%&$@. "  I was tired and couldn't quit laughing and started telling everyone that would walk up to the table that they just missed  a drunk hillbilly try and pick up a dealer by asking for her panties and then called "cocky Ben " everything in the book.

 Around 4am I decided to drive the 2 hours home and see my kids off to school.  After reading this I can now see it was one of those " you had to be there moments"  but it was very funny. Have a good week and I will check back in Wednesday.

CLEMONS,MCNAMEE ECT

I could spend a lot of time talking about these two idiots but I will just say this, BOTH of these guys need to spend a little more time learning the English language and learning from others sins.  The one thing I have seen from both of these guys is that neither are very smart.  Words like " misremembered". Clemons said that Andy Pettit "misremembered" a conversation they had.  If that is a word, I don't think it should be. If it is a word then I submit misconversated for approval. How about misargued." My wife and I had a misunderstanding that was due to a 5 minute misconversation that resulted in a misarguement and caused me to sleep on the misconfortable couch." Sounds good to me.

I also think that if we have learned one thing from our past presidents its that you can make just about any mistake you want as long as you say your sorry. Does "I did not have sex with that woman!" ring a bell.  We live in a country that you can go from "I did not have ..." to  "my wife wants to be president" in a very short time. I think Roger Clemons needs to stand up and say " Yes, I did do HGH. I am not proud of it but yes, I made a mistake.I am sorry and I shouldn't have lied but I thought I could get away with it." then he needs to say "Oh and  McNamee is a back stabbing  little weasel and I hope he gets run over by a bus. Please dont throw me in jail" 

OK, maybe the hole he dug is too deep for a confession but it would make for great Wednesday afternoon TV.  ESPN was better than Springer today.

GOING GOOD AND CATCHING UP

Now that football season is over I have a little more time for other things. I was a guest bingo caller at the Truman Elementary Bingo Night. I always enjoy it when public schools and gambling come together for a good cause. lol.  I  have been going over last season and looking at the games I lost and why. I have also been getting ready for some poker promos I will be hosting next month.? I have been allowed this time because basketball is going GREAT.  I don't know what it is but the last 3 hoops seasons have been really good and that makes life easier. We are 11-5 this week and  24-9 over the last 2 weeks.That is good and if you add in the last couple of months to that, it gets even better. Lots of wins and lots of happy clients. 

 I am always puzzled by some of the guys that I know gamble on the games and don't sign up. I know a guy that makes good money and likes to gamble.In fact he plays about 2,000.00/game and bets on multiple games each day. From what I can tell, he doesn't win. My selections cost about 3.00/pick and I do win. I would think that even if he liked playing his own games he could add my selections to his losing ones and not lose as much. If I go 13-4 last week and he went 5-10 he would actually win money instead of paying the 10k he lost on his own and it would only cost him around 40.00 for those selections. Seems like a good deal to me and even if I lose it wont be any worse than he does on his own. Oh well, some would rather lose on their own instead of admitting someone might be able to help them. These are just some of the things I have been thinking about during my latest winning streak.

I will be heading to Tulsa next week for the Oklahoma Poker Open,until then I will be catching up and hanging with my wife and kids. I will check in mid week.

BACK FROM VEGAS

I am home from Vegas and back to work. One of the great things about leaving is it makes you appreciate coming home. I REALLY missed my kids and was happy to see them.

 Vegas was OK. I have had better trips and far worse trips from a gambling aspect. This trip is always interesting because of the people that attend. Compared to past years, this  was a  pretty tame group. One year I had a guy attend that brought 2 girls he had just met at the race track. He was the type of guy that wouldn't have anyone to bring except a couple of girls he just met and they were the type of girls that would go with a stranger.  The next year I had a guy that bought hookers all weekend and paraded them around like he had won them at the blackjack table. When we got back his wife and kids met him at the airport. As you might expect all of the "normal" women that went on the trip were irate with his behavior and told his wife what he had been doing.   This year we had regular people and no "springer" incidents.

The trip is always better when we win the game. I hated the game and stated that to all of my clients but it is hard to "pass" on the biggest game of the season so I released New England. The good thing was that I went 13-5 last week in basketball so everyone that is playing the hoops didn't care about the Super Bowl. In fact I heard from a lot of guys that told me they respected the fact I didn't really have a great opinion on the game and they played NY because they liked them. Good for them, I always want my clients to win. My wife says New England didn't win because they are cheaters and Tom Brady left his pregnant girlfriend for a super model.  Maybe I should have placed more importance on the "karma" factor.

Not a lot of gambling stories from the trip. It seems every year I come home from this trip feeling more like I hosted a wedding instead of going on vacation. Oh well, there will be plenty of time to vacation, this was a trip to thank the people that help make my life better and to celebrate ANOTHER great football season.  Make plans now to attend next years trip, it is always a good time.