Nolan writes:
"The question we should ask is not -- Why do people gamble? The real question we should ask is -- Why do some people NOT gamble? Think about it. Gambling satisfies all of the basic hopes and desires in every human being -- for stimulation, excitement, human interaction, competitivelness, and the fulfillment of dreams."
Nolan, it may seem alien to you, but most peoples 'hopes and desires' are to live a decent life with their family, raise their kids properly, have enough money to put food on the table and never have to worry about a bad beat affecting their marriage. Your condescending BS is revolting and mis-guided.
Stimulation and excitement? If these are things that validate being a gambler, then you may as well stamp 'loser' on your forehead. Seriously, if those things are good traits in reference to gambling, then you are already in it for the wrong reasons. More importantly, you will lose. No question.
Human Interaction? Sure, it's great fun when you and your buds are all rooting for the same team, and all that. How many lives have been ruined by the same?
Fullfillment of dreams? Pulllease. Are you kidding here? Which kind of dreams are you talking about? Financial dreams? Yeah, right. Maybe on a very limited scale, but certainly not at any rate that would support your view of 'why wouldn't somebody gamble'? Maybe if you said 'destruction of dreams', that would make much more sense.
"He essentially says those who gamble tend to be people who embibe in living life to the fullest. Those who reject gambling (or more specifically those who are not risktakers) are the REAL losers. It's like the TV commercial says -- the biggest risk in life is NOT taking one."
As mentioned below, there are many more examples of taking risks than betting on a roll of the dice, or spin of the wheel. But besides that, why would you consider somebody who has no real chance to win, a loser?
"In my life I have met both gamblers and non-gamblers. With some exceptions, of course, I have found gamblers to be MUCH more fun loving, more open minded, more prone to enjoying life, and more fun to be around than non-gamblers."
No question. I attribute the same traits to heavy drinkers, drug addicts, prostitutes. Within these same groups, I also find a high concentration of unreliable, unstable people who are all to willing to blame their problems on their addictions/predilections and place their burdens squarely on other people. I have also found more than a few willing to welsh on bets, you included(no explanation needed, 8 people gave their opinion here at mj's and all 8 agreed with me), so please save it.
" Show me a person who doesn't gamble, and I'll show you (most of the time) a hypocrite, a person with repressed psychological issues, and a prude. Non-gamblers bore me. Gambling is living."
Your most reasonable comment in this whole post is 'non-gamblers bore me. gambling is living'. You see, that is your opinion and can't be taken away from you . All this crap about repressed psychological issues(and everything else) is a joke.
If everybody looked at things like you, we would have a society of broke mf'ers. Everything in the gambling world is based on making gamblers broke. And it works! For you to look down your nose at people who don't gamble tells a lot about your character.
I have no greater passion in this world than sports gambling, but how anybody could have such disdain for non-gamblers is absolutely incredible.
I believe you broke down one time here at MJ's how your income comes in. And this was AFTER a big pro football season(as opposed to your horrible football season last year). You said that you made something like 25 grand between poker and sports and 25 grand writing articles in that year.
If you are truly serious about life-altering 'risks' that would preclude you from being a 'loser', I would suggest that you lose the writing gigs and simply 'gamble'. Now THAT would be a risk that even you would be proud of.
