Action Packed Sunday

Yesterday, there was a full “card” of baseball and basketball games, 7 NHL tilts and Scott Scheffler holding on to win a not so exciting Masters Golf Tournament.

Oh do I have perspective on the great movie from 1974 or so, “The Gambler,” starring James Caan, having conversed with both Paul Sorvino and London Lee on the subject of gambling.

There was a Howie in the great film, I saw most of yesterday on Showtime (big deal Optimum lets me have that but jacked the rate by 35 %, leaving me sans sports and even the great TCM on principle and I suppose principal.

He was played by the excellent actor Steven Keats, who died far too young at age 49.

This evokes another gambler Howie “Schtunk” who once talked of Sundays as “change the previous days weekend results.” I thought of it yesterday and as is my life story (remember I bet very small. Losing a bet since it is small does not hurt but NOT HAVING A WINNER, in this case an 8 of 9 bonanza does!) I did NOT do anything!

8 of 9 games involving winless and undefeated teams resulted in the “Schtunk” theory winless team prevailing yesterday. Only the Rays (3-0) are unbeaten while the O’s are zeroes in wins, (0-3) having been swept in Tampa. T.B. has beaten “Balti” in 15 straight tilts and in 21 of the last 22.

Believe it or not, I stick by the Orioles improving and the Rays declining. It is worth money for the Rays to defy me and continue to win steadily.

The superb actor, Paul Sorvino, pictured above once told me (on a Monday night, as I complained the scores were going “wrong”) what he said as a character in “The Gambler,” namely that he did NOT gamble.