2008 Woodie Awards
The closer theory
Bill Zureikat
Issue date: 3/25/05 Section: Sports
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Have you ever had a day out with friends and everything was going great until somebody showed up and ruined the day for everyone. You know who I'm talking about, the typical friend of someone's friend that nobody knew was invited. Well, he can be compared to a closer in baseball. The pitcher who is called upon late in the game to get the final outs for his team.
There are closers in all aspects of life. One in particular that I had an encounter with this past weekend is what I like to call, "the blackjack closer."
This past weekend, I was at the Mystic Lake Casino in Minnesota with a few members of our Flyer staff. Given my gambling addiction I had to make a stop at this casino upon my first glance of it in the hotel city guide.
As soon as we arrived at the casino, I spent the first few minutes analyzing my options and debating my gambling karma. Should I play video poker or go straight to the blackjack tables, I pondered.
I decided to press my luck with some good ol' fashion 21. After waiting for an open seat for almost 20 minutes I raced into the open spot like a seat filler at the Oscars. I started out on fire, winning the first four hands. Cue up the Rocky music: Now I'm up $50 and the pit boss just ambled over to see what was happening. Almost 15 minutes later I have built a small fortune and I was overly excited at this point. Then out of the blue, the pitboss comes over, taps Larry (our dealer) on the shoulder. Mr. Pitboss has made a call to his bullpen. Larry then says, "Thanks guys, have a great night." Words I did not want to hear.
Enter into the picture, Pauline, a stonefaced Pacific Islander woman who sent chills down my spine. She also is the closer sent in to cool myself and the other gamblers down. She starts off by dealing me three blackjacks in four hands. I then tipped her after the last hand for the quality of work she was putting out. Hayley, one of our online editors, observed the hot streak I began on. It felt like I was hitting homers off Eric Gagne. All is going well until Pauline begins to find her control and settles down.
There are closers in all aspects of life. One in particular that I had an encounter with this past weekend is what I like to call, "the blackjack closer."
This past weekend, I was at the Mystic Lake Casino in Minnesota with a few members of our Flyer staff. Given my gambling addiction I had to make a stop at this casino upon my first glance of it in the hotel city guide.
As soon as we arrived at the casino, I spent the first few minutes analyzing my options and debating my gambling karma. Should I play video poker or go straight to the blackjack tables, I pondered.
I decided to press my luck with some good ol' fashion 21. After waiting for an open seat for almost 20 minutes I raced into the open spot like a seat filler at the Oscars. I started out on fire, winning the first four hands. Cue up the Rocky music: Now I'm up $50 and the pit boss just ambled over to see what was happening. Almost 15 minutes later I have built a small fortune and I was overly excited at this point. Then out of the blue, the pitboss comes over, taps Larry (our dealer) on the shoulder. Mr. Pitboss has made a call to his bullpen. Larry then says, "Thanks guys, have a great night." Words I did not want to hear.
Enter into the picture, Pauline, a stonefaced Pacific Islander woman who sent chills down my spine. She also is the closer sent in to cool myself and the other gamblers down. She starts off by dealing me three blackjacks in four hands. I then tipped her after the last hand for the quality of work she was putting out. Hayley, one of our online editors, observed the hot streak I began on. It felt like I was hitting homers off Eric Gagne. All is going well until Pauline begins to find her control and settles down.
