Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

yuk

Perspective and all.

Exactly that, it was all I could think of.

[tikay]

"Shell-shocked" was how a highly placed friend of mine described the last few days at Sky Sports.

Andy Gray & Richard Keys are almost a brand, whether you like them or not, & have been there, what, 20 years? To take the actions that Sky Sports did, & so quickly & decisively, seemed to me to show great courage on their part, but the whole of BSKYB is incredibly compliant to good working practices, & nobody can mess with that policy, nobody. To see guys like Botham, always smartly turned out on Telly, & always on message, says it all. 

Was it an over-reaction? Hell no - the decision was a no-brainer, a snap. This is 2011, times have changed, the days when blokes could pat a lady's bum, or pile on the cheap shots & laddish sexual innuendo in the workplace, & nobody said a word, are long gone. We don't have to agree with that, but it's how life in the workplace is now. Current work practices deem it gross misconduct, & everyone well knows that, & that is exactly the case in every single well-run Company, not just BSKYB.

Many of us regret the loss of Gray & Keys, I do, for sure, but they must have got above themselves, because they just know it's bang out of order. Just because most of us like them, does not mean we should not accept the facts of the matter. They crossed the line once too often.  Like scammers, grimmers & the like, they only get caught the once, but invariably they are serial offenders.

What a terrible waste of two fine careers, both guys must be mortified, but they must also know that if it ever got out, they were toast. Bills have to be paid. Keys seemed to be, to my mind, quite contrite & regretful, accepting his position fully. I've not seen or heard what Andy Gray has said.

I quite hope they get fixed up elsewhere, but they are both in their 50's, & must be worth a bob or two, so I guess they'll get by. I know that Keys was absolutely in love with his job, so that'll be painful.

Great - fantastic - news story, right up there with the Icelandic ash cloud & it's effect on civil aviation. Nobody died, and a great story.

Part of the buzz of doing Live TV is the knowledge that one single word out of line & you are insta-gone. If you are even the tiniest bit racist, or sexist, or swear like a trooper, as the hundreds & thousands of studio hours mount up, & you become more relaxed, the more likely you are to reveal the real inner person. The microphone hears everything.

So, today, we (865) all got a Memo. Paraphrased, "be careful, one improper word out of line & you are a goner". Quite right too. It may happen to me soon enough, who knows, but if it does, I hope I take it on the chin & with dignity. Because that's the price, to be set against what a great job it is.

[tikay]

Mondy, who attended Newcastle SPT, promised me he'd try & support blonde via Sky Poker a bit, even though, obv, he has committments elsewhere.

So he entered Thursday's £220 Tourney, then found he had a diary problem, so had to withdraw. And promptly staked someone else to play in his place, G2L I think.

Good luck Bedi, & I hope you TID for Mondy. That'd be neat, & no less than Mondy deserves.

And, in the last hour, a long-standing blonde, who asked, & will remain, anon, donated, right out of the blue, some cash for the GUKPT Manchester Live Update, which is being done on a voluntary basis. That cash is greatly appreciated, thank you Mr Anon.

A torrid day ends on a high.

[The Camel]

Jumped a Piccadilly Line train at 5pm after ICE at Earls Court, it is 35 minutes to Hatton Cross, where I'd dumped the car.

Announcement by the driver - "passenger incident at Boston Manor, being attended to by paramedics". Code for "body under train" usually. Train was terminated at Northfields, & we were all told to leave the Station. Annoying, but I kept thinking how annoying it must have been for the passenger who was in trouble. So terrible.

1,000 train-less peeps at Northfield, they gave us alternative Bus Routes, the Hatton Cross Bus was 5 changes, & about 500 people were in the bus queue. Wandered around for an hour trying to find a cab, no chance.

Returned to the Station, & now they had re-opened the line, but not to Heathrow, only to Hounslow Central. Oh well, it's 5 miles nearer the car, so I jumped on the train again.

Off again at Hounslow, rinse repeat trying to find a cab or a bus amidst the throng of disembarked passengers. Wandered around aimlessly, happy to walk the rest of the way, 5 miles or whatever, but had no idea which direction to set off on. Very down, & not even bothered about walking.

Eventually, spotted a cab office, & started to walk towards it.

The traffic was just stoppy-starty, zero to 30mph to zero sort of thing. Lots of peeps were trying to cross the road. And I saw it coming, in slow-motion.

An Asian lady, completely oblivious to the cars coming the opposite way, tried to cross between stationery traffic on one side. The dull thud as the car hit her was sickening. She sort of flew up in the air, over the car roof, & landed in the road behind the car. Everyone just froze, she lay motionless. A man walking right behind her had been gabbing on his Moby when it happened, & he never broke convo, just carried on talking & walking, after stepping round her inert body. There was nothing he could do, of course, but his (in)action just seemed so incongrous with the tragedy we'd all just witnessed. A big crowd gathered round her, & I just wandered off. Like Moby man, I suppose.

I wanted to just go home, home home, there & then, & never open the front door again. Ugh.

Eventually I got back to my Hotel, set up the lappie, & sat in to my Tourneys. In unison, about 8 players all typed (various variations of) "just woke up tikay?, lol" & "glad you joined us at last". They were not to know, but I was in no mood to explain myself.

On the Site, I'm supposed to be happy & chatty 24/7, & I do a good job of networking with as many players as I'm able. Not tonight though. 

Had better days, & tomorrow I get to enjoy the tortous M6 Motorway to Manchester.

Back in the days when I used to commute to work, I was always amazed by the reaction of people to someone under a train:

"selfish bastard" "Oh God, how am I get to work now, I've got a meeting at 9.30" "Hope he's dead" etc etc

There's either been a tragic accident or someone has felt there life so worthless that the only solution is to end it.

Whatever has happened it is tragic and heart breaking.

A tiny inconvience is nothing in comparison with the fate of the person under that train.

[tikay]

I'm grappling with quite a moral dilemma.

The more I see, & watch & report on the WSOP Main Event, (as I have for 6 or 7 years straight now), the more envious I become. I love the job, adore it, but I try not to think about playing it. It's way too delicious a thought.

Can I afford $10,000? Well yes, I suppose so, depends what is meant by "afford". I have the cash, if that is "afford", but upbringing & culture tells me that $10,000 is way too much to spunk away on a game of cards, & I think I'd be mortified if I wasted that much money, & failed to cash. I think I would cash - but so does everyone who plays it, & 90% fail.

So, someone says to me a few weeks ago, "I think you could easily sell a bunch of your action, & I'd take a lump". And I know several who would, if I swallowed my pride & asked.

But here's the thing. If I'm not prepared to risk my own money, is it right to (try to) sell some of my action using other people's money? (Friends, mainly).

Somehow it does not feel right.

I've reached the position now where if I get the Sky Poker Vegas job, &, all things being equal, that appears likely, then I'll do it different this year. Instead of going out at the start of the Main, & getting right down to work, I'd go out a week or 10 days earlier, & play a bunch of Caesars/Venetian Deepies & stuff. (Assuming Sky Poker were OK with that).

I'd love to do that, love to, & it'd get the dream out of my system. I've never ever gone to Vegas to play, only to work, & it seems like a box that badly needs ticking. But not $10,000 ticking.

NB - A good friend of many years, with whom I have shared many happy poker travels & experiences, texted me today, too. "I've never played the WSOP ME, either, lets both play it, & swap 20%". Stop tempting me!
 

[The Camel]

I'm grappling with quite a moral dilemma.

The more I see, & watch & report on the WSOP Main Event, (as I have for 6 or 7 years straight now), the more envious I become. I love the job, adore it, but I try not to think about playing it. It's way too delicious a thought.

Can I afford $10,000? Well yes, I suppose so, depends what is meant by "afford". I have the cash, if that is "afford", but upbringing & culture tells me that $10,000 is way too much to spunk away on a game of cards, & I think I'd be mortified if I wasted that much money, & failed to cash. I think I would cash - but so does everyone who plays it, & 90% fail.

So, someone says to me a few weeks ago, "I think you could easily sell a bunch of your action, & I'd take a lump". And I know several who would, if I swallowed my pride & asked.

But here's the thing. If I'm not prepared to risk my own money, is it right to (try to) sell some of my action using other people's money? (Friends, mainly).

Somehow it does not feel right.

I've reached the position now where if I get the Sky Poker Vegas job, &, all things being equal, that appears likely, then I'll do it different this year. Instead of going out at the start of the Main, & getting right down to work, I'd go out a week or 10 days earlier, & play a bunch of Caesars/Venetian Deepies & stuff. (Assuming Sky Poker were OK with that).

I'd love to do that, love to, & it'd get the dream out of my system. I've never ever gone to Vegas to play, only to work, & it seems like a box that badly needs ticking. But not $10,000 ticking.

 

You and Tom should do a joint staking for this event.

It would sell out in hours and it would suit you both down to the ground.

And you would both have an absolute ball.

I'll take 3% of both of you.

[The Camel]

Every poker player should play the wsop main event at least once.

[doogan]

"Shell-shocked" was how a highly placed friend of mine described the last few days at Sky Sports.

Andy Gray & Richard Keys are almost a brand, whether you like them or not, & have been there, what, 20 years? To take the actions that Sky Sports did, & so quickly & decisively, seemed to me to show great courage on their part, but the whole of BSKYB is incredibly compliant to good working practices, & nobody can mess with that policy, nobody. To see guys like Botham, always smartly turned out on Telly, & always on message, says it all. 

Was it an over-reaction? Hell no - the decision was a no-brainer, a snap. This is 2011, times have changed, the days when blokes could pat a lady's bum, or pile on the cheap shots & laddish sexual innuendo in the workplace, & nobody said a word, are long gone. We don't have to agree with that, but it's how life in the workplace is now. Current work practices deem it gross misconduct, & everyone well knows that, & that is exactly the case in every single well-run Company, not just BSKYB.

th

Many of us regret the loss of Gray & Keys, I do, for sure, but they must have got above themselves, because they just know it's bang out of order. Just because most of us like them, does not mean we should not accept the facts of the matter. They crossed the line once too often.  Like scammers, grimmers & the like, they only get caught the once, but invariably they are serial offenders.

What a terrible waste of two fine careers, both guys must be mortified, but they must also know that if it ever got out, they were toast. Bills have to be paid. Keys seemed to be, to my mind, quite contrite & regretful, accepting his position fully. I've not seen or heard what Andy Gray has said.

I quite hope they get fixed up elsewhere, but they are both in their 50's, & must be worth a bob or two, so I guess they'll get by. I know that Keys was absolutely in love with his job, so that'll be painful.

Great - fantastic - news story, right up there with the Icelandic ash cloud & it's effect on civil aviation. Nobody died, and a great story.

Part of the buzz of doing Live TV is the knowledge that one single word out of line & you are insta-gone. If you are even the tiniest bit racist, or sexist, or swear like a trooper, as the hundreds & thousands of studio hours mount up, & you become more relaxed, the more likely you are to reveal the real inner person. The microphone hears everything.

So, today, we (865) all got a Memo. Paraphrased, "be careful, one improper word out of line & you are a goner". Quite right too. It may happen to me soon enough, who knows, but if it does, I hope I take it on the chin & with dignity. Because that's the price, to be set against what a great job it is.

Tikay this comes across as such a sell out , corporate answer, and in my mind does you as a person no favours. What they did was just banter between fellow workmates and to be treated in any other way is just a shambles. In todays society you cant be seen to do any wrong but im sure there are 100 other exambles that could of been made

[action man]

10k is a lot of dough tho keith, if i never play the event and keep earning enough not to get a job ill be happy.

[MereNovice]

I'll take 2% please.

[Bongo]

Odd that the BBC journo could call a cabinet member a "Jeremy Hunt" live on air and still keep his job, I guess things work differently at the beeb!

[MereNovice]

Odd that the BBC journo could call a cabinet member a "Jeremy Hunt" live on air and still keep his job, I guess things work differently at the beeb!

That was an isolated, unintentional slip of the tongue rather than repeated sexist comments and behaviour.

Seemed like fair comment to me, too.

[Bongo]

Tikay this comes across as such a sell out , corporate answer, and in my mind does you as a person no favours. What they did was just banter between fellow workmates and to be treated in any other way is just a shambles. In todays society you cant be seen to do any wrong but im sure there are 100 other exambles that could of been made

.

[Bongo]

Odd that the BBC journo could call a cabinet member a "Jeremy Hunt" live on air and still keep his job, I guess things work differently at the beeb!

That was an isolated, unintentional slip of the tongue rather than repeated sexist comments and behaviour.

Seemed like fair comment to me, too.

Didn't he do it again when he was trying to apologise for the first incident?

Also I think tikay has mentioned before someone with a similar name where a slip of the tongue would have him sacked...

[MereNovice]

Odd that the BBC journo could call a cabinet member a "Jeremy Hunt" live on air and still keep his job, I guess things work differently at the beeb!

That was an isolated, unintentional slip of the tongue rather than repeated sexist comments and behaviour.

Seemed like fair comment to me, too.

Didn't he do it again when he was trying to apologise for the first incident?

Also I think tikay has mentioned before someone with a similar name where a slip of the tongue would have him sacked...

I'm not aware of James Naughtie repeating it but I may have missed it.
Andrew Marr certainly repeated it when reporting on the event.

However, I am convinced that there is a massive difference between inadvertent swearing and inculcated sexism.