Somewhat long. You may have to wade through some bread to get to the meat.

1) SSJ writes:

  "DANNY                   REGIS
  uNCANnY   78"

2) GI Joel writes:

                     "There are a couple of others amongst our ranks
 whom I would also describe as idiot savants (tho perhaps not for the
 same reasons as myself), but I won't bother naming names, I'm sure you
 can all guess who they are."

Since David Gibson isn't here to defend himself, I for one must protest this patently pernicious portrayal!

3) Bonnie Rudolph writes:

 "The Las Vegas Scrabble Tournament will be  November 20-22, 1998 at
 the Palace Station Hotel & Casino."

Excellent. I'm glad to see this moved from a different weekend than National Rodeo Finals. If the cabstands at the Mirage were awash with shitkickers, you shoulda seen the Phoenix airport.
(No offense, Marlon)

4) Zax writes:

 "Tell me what this means... Still waters run deep."

The velocity profile of hydraulic flow rate is a function of the depth of the liquid, the viscosity and the contour of the boundaries of the flow. Given we have the first two unknowns, but not the third, I conclude we need more information to ascertain the veracity of this statement, let alone its meaning.

5) SSJ writes:

 "Kathy Lee ... was a bad sport from the get go.  ... she threw a fit ...
 She screeched around a lot..."

6) Steve Oliger writes:

 'Skill' at what? Winning?

Yes. That was what I was saying. Specifically,

"The player who garnered the 1000 point spread probably was not doing so at the expense of his winning chances, and he wasn't thowing away the close ones. He was probably playing better throughout all phases of the game than his putative rival.

(and earlier)

Game-specific considerations may well necessitate times where spread is sacrificed to steer the distribution. ... However, by and large, players do NOT have control over how this distribution is assigned. "

7) Stu writes:

 "I noticed that Gerry Carter is listed as a player from the UK."

8) Steve Oliger writes:

 "Another possibility is that he DOES personally have
 respect for world class players, but writes from the
 projected disparaging point of view of his typical
 readership for their pleasure and entertainment"

Having met the author, I do believe that he has respect for world class players, and Joel. (haha) Having spent many hours with Scott (SL) Price, I also feel that he had great appreciation for the effort and talent of top players. And, I liked both articles. The SI article painted Joel and Richie (and to a lesser degree, top players in general) as heroical figures I thought.

I'm not a gambler, but I'd wager that if you got the ten best players in America together and asked them how they perceived themselves, you'd get nine different answers (Felt would abstain and talk about the rating system). Now throw in a layman charged with conveying this psychic hodgepodge to readers of his publication. Now take out the part where they explicitly explain themselves and throw the burden on the writer. What are the odds everyone will think the article was representative of how they perceive themselves? Pretty slim.

I bet you could extend this line of thought to groups other than scrabblers. What are the odds, say, Republicans are pleased with all the coverage they receive? Probably slimmer.

Steve made a good point earlier that you don't read about the demons inside MJ's head, BUT most celebs aren't airing their pathos when the mike is on. Perhaps JDW should come up with an interview-prep packet for aspiring champions..

i) No mentioning the closest you got to getting laid was knowing the mnenonic for SCORING
ii) No threatening to kick someone's ass.
iii) No mentioning communism.
iv) Learn all the anagrams of WEATHER.
etc..

Well, that's it for commenting on what others have said.

Last Modified 9/24/00

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