poker

since when did poker become a sport? in searching the tv listings looking for soccer games they list soccer, baseball, golf, tennis, car racing, hockey, football, basketball. i can understand these but to say that poker is a sport. c'mon. sports are defined as an activity involving physical exertion. mind you i have seen guys break a sweat when they've gambled away their christmas paycheques playing poker and they have nothing left to take home to their wives and children.

it seems when there was a hockey strike on last year (unbeknownst to me) that poker took over the airwaves. it's bad enough that so many people squander their earnings on lottery tickets, hoping for that big win. now gambling is dubbed a sport??? i was having fun playing fish with my grandchildren when they wanted to change the game - texas hold'em. they had to change the rules for me because i didn't have a clue what a blind was, big or little.

i know someone who has squandered away her life's earnings playing bingo, lottery tickets, pull tabs. always hoping for that big win. each week playing more and more thinking this time she's gonna have a winner. over her lifetime we figure it may have amounted to in excess of $250,000.

now i see people who used to watch hockey games playing poker with higher and higher stakes. it's scary to think there is another popular, powerful addiction out there sucking the life blood out of people.