Greetings Syndicate Brethren,
So very nice to hear from
those of you eager to gamble on football. ; ) I’m the luckiest “neighborhood
bookie” in the world. True friends contact me through what some might term “archaic”
channels to wish me well and share their news. I’m genuinely spoiled by the
attention and affection of my dearest mates. A humble ghostwriter couldn’t ask
for much more. The word “blessed” doesn’t even begin to describe the depths of
my gratitude.
I seem to have won all of the
lotteries that truly matter. I won the “Ovarian Lottery”. I won the “Educational
Mentoring Lottery”. I won the “Fan Lottery”. A bookie who keeps winning tends
to ascribe his success to fearless and persistent hacking of a few arithmetical
algorithms. To hell with that shit. I’m just a lucky bastard. I may have put my
hard work and practice in, but I’m still just a lucky bastard.
Onset Betting Odds are
coming. Your friendly bookie is working on the sections whenever he can find
the time. The best I can do for now is offer a Syndicate “Pre-Release”. Whilst
working on the “Chile Section” earlier today, your friendly bookie struck an
unexpected small sliver of gold.
Enjoy!
Chile—“La Roja Americana”
Hell yes!! The surprise winners of the Copa
America Centenario are more than welcome to join us! However, before getting to
wonderfully eccentric human paraquats like Arturo Vidal, there’s a movie I’d
like to recommend to my Syndicate Brothers. Be advised that it’s not an
especially epic movie. Hollywood has its ways of taking creative liberties with
true stories. Anytime one watches a film adapted from an actual event, one
should don one’s “cynicism glasses” and assume that the production was mostly
guided by overpaid marketing committees and prima donna actors. Such was most
assuredly the case with the movie I’m about to extol the virtues of. Gentlemen
of the Syndicate, I wholeheartedly endorse a deep viewing of “The 33”!
“The 33” is a dramatic adaptation of the events
surrounding the improbable rescue of 33 Chilean Miners from a collapsed cooper
shaft in 2010. It stars Antonio Banderas and Lou Diamond Phillips. Now that we’ve
gotten that out of the way, you MUST see this movie! It’s not really about the
film per se. It’s about reminding oneself of how incredibly BADASS the human
race can be if we pool our resources and work together. The movie itself is
nothing more than a well-done-farcialized echo of what actually transpired. It
has great merit, nevertheless, in reminding us that what actually transpired
DID really happen. Most every aspect of our human civilization looks good in this very true story. Government institutions stepped in to lead expensive rescue efforts that private companies wouldn’t dare undertake. Engineers from around the world descended upon the Atacama Desert to undertake complex drilling operations in order to design an intricate way of feeding, maintaining, and ultimately pulling out the trapped miners. Let’s not forget the team itself. Thirty-Three men somehow found a way to organize themselves, rationing a three-day-supply of food over the course of seventeen days before surface teams could reach them. They overcame the constraints of a crowded five-meter refuge shelter, shook off all of their nicotine/alcohol withdraws, and withstood 100+ degree heat for over two and a half weeks!
We’d all do well to heed the lessons of 2010’s “Miracle
in the Desert”. Americans love their Superhero Movies. They love to debate
whether the latest “Thor”,“Wonder Woman”, “Batman”, “Transformers” or “Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles” lived up to their expectations. What they tend to forget
is that we’re perfectly capable of being our own Superheroes if we’d only work
together and pool our resources.
Remind yourselves of that. The badass human
race is more badass than you could ever imagine.
“Chi-Chi-Chi”
“le-le-le”
“Chi-Chi-Chi”
“le-le-le”
--SS P.J.W.
