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World Juniors Gold Preview: When the ‘States’ Go Marching In

by Chris Hulsman, Co-Host & Technical Coordinator of the RogCast Buffalo Sports Pod

For the fifth time in tournament history the United States & Canada will renew their World Junior Hockey rivalry for Gold tonight (6:30 PT/ 9:30 ET) in the host city of Edmonton, Alberta. First, let’s discuss a few tournament notes.

BRAVO EDMONTON & BRAVO CANADA

This year’s tournament came with all of the emotion and concern surrounding a pandemic. Of course, the vacant stands typically filled with Canadian die-hards was palpable through our television screens. Whether you hail from Canada, Europe, or United States you cannot deny the energy of a Canadian World Junior crowd. They happily dominated our city of Buffalo in 2011 and 2018, injecting passion and celebration into our community. I sincerely enjoyed the scene. While much of the United States is unaware this tournament exists, there are patches of loyal followers across the world; then there is Canada. While we were not gifted the enjoyment (or annoyance for some) of Canada’s fans this year, I sleep well knowing it returns to Edmonton for the 2022 tournament. This year, Canada made the best of a great tradition albeit in different and difficult circumstances. Bravo!

USA vs CANADA OUTLOOK

The United States takes to the ice tonight to face their archrivals and perhaps the best team in Canadian and tournament history. Team Canada has amassed a team that consists of all first-round NHL draft picks. This is without captain Kirby Dach and Alexis Lafrenière. After barely escaping Finland, the United States has a tall order in front of them, if the U.S. is to win tonight, these are the things that need to happen:

1.) Embrace the knowledge that Canada is better

In 2018, before the Suisse WJC team faced Canada in the Quarterfinals, head coach Christian Wohlwend admitted the talent disparity between the teams, “We are far away from them. Still. They are faster, they are bigger, they are stronger. They can shoot better, they can pass better. They can do everything better.” For U.S. Head Coach Nate Leaman, the prognosis isn’t much better. As a coach, you can approach this in one of two ways: you can deny fact and instill a false sense of security in your players that often leads to disaster, or you can trust that clearing the air in the locker room of what your team already knows does no harm to them. This is typically a message you deliver well before game time, perhaps at a team meeting the night before or during a strategy session at the morning skate. The desired effect is that your team will dedicate time to focus on playing strong instinctual hockey within the framework of your system, rather than resort to bad tendencies and lazy habits that strong teams can typically get away with when playing a lesser opponent. Let your players embrace the fact that they are up against a mountain task. But reassure them that the climb is attainable. The good news is you don’t have to beat them ten times, just this once. I think Herb Brooks implied this one time…

2.) Weather the storm – The first ten minutes is huge

Sit quietly and count to six-hundred, if you look up and the scoreboard is 0-0 or better, you just might have a game. The first ten minutes of any hockey game is a fragile thing. The players are working out their jitters, the goaltenders are getting a sense of whether they will fight the puck, the coaches are settling into line rotations and progressions. This is often when the dominant team can take an early strangle hold on a game. And the Canadians have excelled at it this during the tournament. For the U.S. get a few pucks deep early, get involved in some physical play (giving and receiving). I’d bet money that Spencer Knight will have to make some early big stops. The longer a game stays close, the better it is for the underdogs. One unique wildcard is the lack of crowd. I could suggest that missing the Team Canada faithful in the stands could help the U.S. lull Canada to sleep. This will certainly benefit USA early. But as the game continues and stays close, not having 18,000 worried eyes on them could be a relief for Canada. ***Side Note: Shifts after goals are also fragile times during games, look for which team will take advantage of this.

3.) Attack the slot without the puck

Our hockey analyst and frequent show contributor John Centola often points out that the U.S. traditionally derives a lot of it’s offensive production from odd-man rushes as a result of turnovers or a quick transitions (that and power play of course). The reason for this is simply that it’s difficult to pluck stars from there respective teams and ask them to play depth roles. This is not an indictment of the players, but a simple fact. Most of these players typically don’t have to ‘grind’ at their ‘day jobs.’ While the U.S. will need to grind plenty to compete with Canada, they are going to have to force turnovers and transition quickly. Canadian teams play with high energy and occasionally step out of position to make the big hit. While André Tourigny’s squad has shown little evidence of this during the 2021 tournament, the U.S. simply must find ways to generate production on the rush.

_{USA 2010 World Junior Team won gold in 2010 by scoring often on the rush. These two images show them taking advantage of turnovers and tight gaps by Canadian defenseman. Both resulted in a U.S. goal.}

The truth is if the U.S. expects to win, they are going to have to catch Canada making mistakes. Canada overpowered Russia’s ability to control the puck on the rush with a combination of tight gaps and a strong backcheck. The U.S. will have to drive wide and crash the slot when entering the zone. There will not be time for nifty drop passes and weaves. Positive puck movement into the offensive zone is their only option.

4.) The U.S. must win faceoffs

Disrupting Canada’s momentum will be a strategy for the U.S. tonight. One way to achieve this is to get pucks on Devon Levi and force him to freeze it. This strategy is useless if you can’t win draws. The U.S. struggled on faceoffs against Finland, especially in the third period, winning only 40% of their draws in the game. Look for Alex Turcotte to take key faceoffs at key times.

5.) Score a short-handed goal

I may have offended some by suggesting that there is a tilt to Canadian ice when hosting this tournament. Let me be clear, home ice advantage exists for a reason, 50/50 calls are going to often lean towards the host team. Setting that aside, expect the U.S. to take more penalties tonight, not because of a predetermined malicious intent, but because Canada will force the U.S. into positions to take penalties (see #1 above). I’ll spare you the speech about the importance of special teams, it’s well documented. But in order to shock the world, they’ll need to shock Canada on the ice a few times. I would look for the U.S. to try to catch Canada playing aggressive and stretch the ice a little while killing off penalties. But they will need to get the puck first.

Final Analysis: Canada is really, really good. Perhaps the best team since ’05. The U.S faces a difficult task, they’ll need everything to go their way. In addition, they’ll need Canada to make mistakes. If they pull this off they’ll need the above mentioned to come to fruition and even more. This is Canada’s year: 5-1 Canada.

TOURNAMENT NOTE: ONE-SIDED DOESN’T MEAN MISGUIDED

A lot of discussion this year was dedicated to the one-sided nature of many of these games. This is not a phenomenon, it is not an outlier, and it is certainly nothing new to this tournament. While it may be difficult to sit through a game dominated by one team, please, I beg you, have patience. Underlying this entire tournament is the universal goal of spreading this game’s popularity throughout the world. While your evening’s plans of overtime excitement and end-to-end pace may have fallen into the disappointment of a 16-2 drubbing, there are a few things to take into account.

First, let’s not demean these athletes with phrases like “they’re just kids.” For any of these players to be at this level, they likely have been on both sides of these games many times in community rinks across Canada, United States, Finland, Sweden, and many other hot beds of hockey across the world. For those who have invested time in the minor hockey careers of kids, these types of games are a fact of life. It is impossible to encapsulate the thousands upon thousands of travel hockey teams within a spirit of parity. The fact is sometimes you’re going to have to traverse miles and compete against a team that is simply much better than you. But what is possible is inclusion. By expanding this tournament, we increase the possibility of exposure to youths across the world. We simply cannot deny countries entry into this competition for the sake of entertainment.

Currently, the women’s international game has grown in leaps. When thinking of the late 1990s, specifically the Nagano Olympics, it would be easy to exclude nations based on the lack of merit in raw talent. But foresight outweighs immediate wishes, and given time (sometimes painful amounts), inclusion breeds stronger competition. There is still a ways to go, but emerging programs in Sweden and Finland have begun to nip at the heels of the USA & Canada kingpins. It has taken a long time, but let’s hope our daughters get to watch the women of hockey across the world compete in a competitive 10-team tournament some day. For now, the World Juniors is fine with ten in the top division.

There is no doubt that Germany’s late tournament performance earned them the respect to accept how much they belonged in Edmonton. And it certainly meant something to Tim Stützle. This tournament certainly meant something to Austrian goaltender Sebastian Wraneschi tz, who more than doubled the views for his page on Elite Ho cke y Prospects.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with running up the score at this tournament. Let me repeat that: there is nothing wrong with running up the score at this tournament. This is the highest level of organized hockey in the world at the under 20 level. While I defend the existence of emerging and developing programs at this tournament, I also understand that breaking into the top division comes with pioneers and sacrifices. Set aside the fact that a goal differential tie-breaker could doom a team into the dreaded relegation. Set aside the fact that telling your team to slow-up is a dangerous coaching maneuver in a short tournament. No team wants to be patronized. I could guarantee you that USA Hockey administrators during the period of time between 1977 to 2003, when the United States were blown out multiple times and had yet to win a gold, appreciated placing their athletes against the best in the world. It only made us better.

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Dollars, Doldrums, & Zamboni Drivers: Why David Ayres became an Overnight Sensation in the “New NHL”

by Chris Hulsman, RogCast Buffalo SportsPOD

The NHL trade deadline weekend brought some curious & perhaps seminal moments.

David Ayres pictured after earning his first (and only) NHL win.

David Ayres (pictured above), the 42 year old minor hockey coach and zamboni driver for the Toronto Marlies celebrates his first (and most likely only) NHL win much to the dismay and excitement of Toronto fans at Scotiabank Arena

Forty-eight hours before the NHL’s annual trade deadline, perhaps the most curious and seminal game of the NHL season took place at the Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto. With the Leafs clutching to a tenuous two point lead in the final playoff position in the Atlantic Division, the Carolina Hurricanes made their way to the Great White North. After seemingly hitting rock bottom the previous Tuesday in Pittsburgh, the embattled Leafs responded with a serious effort on home ice two days later to capture retribution against that same Penguins team.

The Hurricanes have been a paradigm of workman’s diligence. They are seldom flashy, but rely on solid two-way efforts and the brilliant seasons of Sebastian Aho and Andrei Svechnikov. This would be an excellent test for a Maple Leafs team teetering on the brink of legitimacy, all the while holding the weight of the thing that should stabilize them: their elite front-end talent. But their albatross revealed itself again as Tyson Barrie was rode into the boards with an awkward hit by Andrei Svechnikov just passed the six-minute mark of a scoreless first period.

Leafs defenceman Tyson Barrie gets accidentally boarded in the first period on Saturday night

The normal Leafs reaction would ensue; posturing, face washes, chirping, followed by the inevitable pocketing of the ever so important power play.

But while the Leaf’s non-reaction was the expected result, more surprises came later when newly acquired Leafs forward Kyle Clifford barreled into goalie Petr Mrázek who was already playing in a back-up capacity.

Kyle Clifford collides with Carolina goalie Petr Mrazek

The rest, as they say, is history. The Leafs would go on to lose 6-3 in possibly a franchise worst effort and the 42 year-old zamboni driver would get the night of his life. By now we have watched the interviews, read the stories, scrolled the Twitter rolls, and shared this incredible story.

But let’s focus on the parts of this story that weren’t discussed or shared with viral social media fervor. In a game that featured a questionable boarding call, and the injuries of two goaltenders (albeit the Clifford running was most likely unintentional) there was a combined total of 20 penalty minutes if you set aside the Clifford-Edmundson scrap in the late stages of the second period.

It is at this point I feel the need to divulge my passion for the scrappy days of the 1980’s NHL landscape. While player safety has thrust itself into the greater consciousness of professional and amateur sports, we should be realistic about what exactly player safety means in a game that is played at lightning speed these days. Of course, the NHL can’t allow itself to devolve into the donnybrook spirit of the disco seventies. Nor can the NHL allow itself to revitalize the persona of upper-fueled tough guy’s from the eighties that left so many players physically, psychologically, and emotionally damaged (See Tough Guy – a shaking documentary about the life of Bob Probert). But there must be a middle path that allows players to defend the dangerous plays witnessed in Toronto on Saturday while promoting speed and finesse. In fact, there are good arguments to be made that fighting earns space for the game’s elite talents. These matters are always hard to quantify, so let’s stick to what we can quantify.

As a whole, fighting has decreased precipitously since 2000 starting from .65 fights per game in 2002 to .22 in 2018 (See graph below, Source: hockeyfights.com)

Meanwhile, NHL salaries have grown rapidly. Currently, the active league average salary is $3,133,603 (Source: Derived from statistics taken from Hockey-Reference.com and analyzed at the RogCast Exile on Main Street Studios), with a league minimum currently at $700,000. This rise in salaries comes as a result of strong leadership in the NHLPA and actual gains in league-wide revenue (Source Forbes Magazine):

This is a far cry from 1990 when only two NHL players made over one million dollars annually (Wayne Gretzky $1.72M & Mario Lemieux $2M). Granted, that was thirty years ago when hockey played a minor niche role in the world of professional sports. Unless you were raised in the northern hockey hotbeds of the United States & Canada or grew up in the plains of Alberta, hockey didn’t factor into your use of leisure time. Now let’s get to the fulcrum. The burden of the NHL’s success has increasingly fallen upon television networks, but also the fans. The same fans who have witnessed the buying power of their dollar diminish since the days of their grandparents. A recent report from Pew Research Center concluded that real wages have barely grown over the last few decades:

In the face of these numbers, from the memories of legendary brawls and fights, and in front of a fan base in Toronto that currently employs the three highest salaries (not AAV) in the league, enter David Ayres. From all accounts a likable and hardworking man who drives a Zamboni and slipped into a collision course with fate to beat the team he often practices with. The Toronto fans buzzed at Ayres’ first touch of the puck when he came out to steer it weak side. No, this was not a fan base deriding a person so obviously out of his element. This was not a fan base cheering for the man that has served within the Leaf organization and volunteered to coach children. This was not a crowd hyped up in an original league moment like baseball fans hype for no-hitters and perfect games. Just twenty-three months ago a Chicago accountant, Scott Foster, dressed as the emergency back-up for the Blackhawks to preserve a 6-2 victory and stopped all seven shots faced throughout the final fourteen minutes. This was a crowd that saw something on the Scotiabank ice they haven’t seen in a long time: someone they could root for, someone they could relate to. As a life-long Leaf fan, I found myself turning the table on my childhood team to route for someone that I could be certain would give their 100% effort.

The standing ovation for Mr. Aryes was well deserved, and it came as no shock that the Toronto faithful was able to put their passion for the game above their disgust for the mirage that the Leaf players have sold their fanbase. Brian Burke, the former Maple Leaf GM and SportsNet analyst, opined that this was an “embarassment” for the league. He further posited that the league should find alternate ways to staff an emergency goaltender more qualified to serve as the emergency back-up (EBUG). Burke made no mistake in understanding that this is an embarrassment to the National Hockey League. Perhaps he didn’t mean it in this way, but it served as a perfect juxtaposition between what fans want and what fans get in the new NHL.

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Super Bowl 36: How The Patriots Saved My Marriage… For Awhile At Least

By Roger Walsh

January 30, 2019

On Sunday all of the world will watch Super Bowl 53 between the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Rams unfold in Atlanta. The game will be played seventeen years to the day of their first Super Bowl match up when the Pats won 20-17. That day the legend of Tom Brady began, the brilliance of Bill Belichick was further demonstrated in yet another step to becoming The Greatest Coach Of All Time, and the Pats unwittingly gave my marriage another five years of life before it came to its logical conclusion. By the way, thanks for that guys.

For a quick history lesson for those who were not old enough to intelligently digest what the Rams offense was about back then, simply put, they were almost unstoppable.

They were scoring 500 points a season when The Greatest Show On Turf was in its prime and racking up big plays for TD’s like it was free.

The offense was led by Hall Of Fame players such as QB Kurt Warner and RB Marshall Faulk, excellent WR’s who have been candidates for the HOF in Issac Bruce and Torry Holt, and slot specialist Ricky Proehl. The unholy combination terrorized opposing defenses in a multitude of ways. Warner was deadly accurate. The WR’s ran incredibly crisp routes with track meet speed and Faulk could do it all. Catching passes out of the backfield and as a WR in the slot, Marshall was also one of the best pure runners ever who could take it the distance on any play when he got to the second level. Plus he wasn’t afraid to run it inside. Oh yeah, he was also very adapt at picking up the blitz. All the while the unit was orchestrated by Head Coach and offensive guru Mike Martz. Many Defenses tried to stop them. Most failed. Want to blitz Warner? Go ahead and marvel when one of his WR’s beats man coverage and waves hello to you on his way to the end zone. Play man? Have anyone who can stay with Faulk? I thought not. Play zone? Well, the Rams will take that and thank you for the 41 points afterwards. The legends are true. They were that good. So when they matched up with the plucky Patriots who were mostly unknowns led by a Coach on his second head job and going 5-11 the year before, and with a yet to be proven QB, it was no surprise when the Rams were installed as a 14 point favorite. St. Louis obviously had superior talent on the offensive side of the ball. The game was being played indoors at the Superdome in New Orleans featuring a tailor made fast track. The Pats dynasty that no one, not even themselves saw coming, was an embryo at this stage. An amorphous blob of sound defensive play, death by inches offense, and a spectacular special teams. Most of the sane betting public took the Rams, but not me. Due to the 9/11 attacks there was no week off before the game.

On that Monday night I started to have an overwhelming feeling that the spread was way out of wack. In the face of all reasonable data I would put my marriage on the line in secret and trust Belichick with my mortgage payment. Telling myself over and over that they are an extremely smart team that will find some way to slow the Rams down. Or so I hoped.

The genesis of my thinking dated back eleven years earlier. Super Bowl 25. As any fellow Bills fan will attest to, it was the most frustrating/devastating game a fan could ever witness. Buffalo’s vaunted no huddle Offense was slowed to a crawl by Belichick’s innovative defensive scheme. Using combinations of a 2-5-4, 2-3-6, and other completely insane concepts at the time, his Giants unleashed a torrent of massive hits on the Bills WR’s. Andre Reed must still have nightmares about Carl Banks and Myron Guyton launching themselves into him like unguided missiles. The D was designed to take away the pass and concede yards to Bills HOF RB Thurman Thomas. As we all remember, Buffalo’s hubris didn’t allow them to adjust and feature Thomas more. Not to mention the Bills D played like eleven individuals instead of one unit. It all added up to putting the Bills in a position to kick a 47 yard FG to save themselves by Scott Norwood who was never had range on grass. We all know the result. When fans of other teams cry about getting beat on a walk off HR or a miracle half court shot, I just shake my head. You don’t know true pain. Ask any Bills fan.

So, the precedent had been set for Belichick making teams play left handed and taking away their strengths. By the Wednesday of Super Bowl 36 I was convinced it would happen again. The only issue now was following through on my convictions and betting on the Pats. I knew the consequences were going to be massive if I was wrong.

My ex-wife and I were just getting into our careers as kickoff beckoned so money to play with was pretty scarce. I knew there would be no convincing her that I knew something that most of the betting public didn’t. I could draw up on a white board for her what Belichick did in SB 25 and assure her that he would be just as creative and effective this time around too. That thought lasted a few shinning seconds before I dismissed it as completely idiotic. There was just no way I would get any kind of approval and the outburst that was sure to come of her questioning my competency as a human being was something I really didn’t want to put myself through. Since there was no point in telling her, I didn’t. If I recall correctly our mortgage was around $880.00 a month. I decided to round it up to 1,000 and started to dig around for someone who had a friend of a friend of a friend who could take my action. However, not being in that orbit, it took until Friday to find that kind soul who had good news and bad news.

He could take my bet, but his line was now Pats +12.5. I prayed that the Rams would not back door cover and the 1.5 points wouldn’t matter. I prayed a lot that weekend as you could imagine.

At the time I was working at WGR in Buffalo and I thought I would take the temperature of my co-workers under the radar to make myself feel better. It didn’t work. I’ll never forget our Bills reporter Chris Brown telling me that I was reaching after I laid my case out for the Pats. “Uh, I don’t know Rog,” he said. That’s when I started to panic. Chris knew. He always knew and for the most part still does. On my Sunday show in the morning I confidently picked the Pats for the multitude of reasons I stated before. I was really trying to make myself feel better about taking such an enormous risk. That didn’t work either.

All the callers, except one, said in no uncertain terms that I had no idea what I was talking about. Thanks Buffalo.

For a few weeks before the game, the plan was to have friends over to my place like I did for several years in a row. That changed a few days before the game for undisclosed reasons, and I ended up at a friend’s party in Clarence. I invited my then-wife and prayed she’d wouldn’t take me up on the offer. She didn’t, thank God. If the worst happened and the Rams won by two TD’s, I would have at least the drive home to think of a way to approach the unapproachable. My friend that accompanied me swung by and we stopped at the Harris Hill Inn for a drink and to shoot some pool before we hit the party. I started to feel, albeit on a much less important scale, the way Americans felt during the Cuban missile crisis. My fate was now totally out of my hands. Or how someone facing ten years feels at sentencing when your Lawyer tells you no deal could be reached and it’s acquittal or a decade of pure misery. As we arrived at the party at 5:30, I just had to hope my faith in Belichick would be rewarded.

The next three hours may have been the longest of my life.

The consensus of the gathering was pro Pats. Remember in early 2002, New England was in no way as hated as they are now. In fact, they were the underdogs you could get behind because, Buffalo, like America, loves underdogs. Wearing Red White and Blue after 9/11 didn’t hurt the cause either. Most of us shared the national feeling America has when one of their teams isn’t involved in the Super Bowl….”just give me a good game.” A good game is a close game. No Ram fan was in attendance either and I was grateful for that. Imagine me trying to explain to some poor person why I sucker punched them if the Rams took an early 21-3 lead. No, the only wounds here, if there were to be any, would be self inflicted.

The first calming feeling I had about the game actually took place before kickoff. After the Rams individual player introductions on FOX by Pat Summerall , he uttered an unforgettable statement that I’ll never forget: “And now Ladies and Gentlemen, choosing to be introduced as a team, here are the American Football Conference Champions, The New England Patriots.” Now, I understand that this was a common practice by the Pats during that season and has since been adopted by every other team from then on, but it absolutely floored me. I knew they were ready. Another good sign was the National Anthem was sung directly to Patriots bench. “Ahh” I thought, “karma is in the house!” I felt better than I had all day after that, plus drinking with both hands will help ease the nerves as well. That good feeling lasted up until the ball was actually kicked off. The Rams were getting the ball first and I couldn’t wait to see what plan Belichick had for the Rams. Only thing is Yo Murphy returned to ball to his own 39. “That’s where they start?” I yelled, and everyone looked at me like I had three eyes. “Yeah” Dave said “it’s called a kickoff return.” After a Holt catch it was 1st and 10 at the Pats 44. Not good. A two yard run by Faulk and then the play that told me I may have been right all along. Warner dropped back on 2nd down, looked right, and immediately was pressured by Willie McGinest. He had to turn and roll left. Warner floated a pass down the sideline for Holt who was absolutely throttled, in a collision that would have killed a normal man, by Patriots Safety Tebucky Jones. “Yeah baby!” I screamed. St. Louis would punt pinning Brady at his own three. Also not good, because other than those in the facility in Foxborough, Brady was an unknown. Sure he got them to the Super Bowl but the big stage can bring out the worst in young QB’s. In the most underrated drive of the game he would smartly guide his team out to his own 48 where the drive stalled, and a Ken Walters punt flipped the field position.

Over the next few possessions the Belichick strategy came into focus. He flooded the field with six or seven DB’s, got great pressure on the occasional timely blitz, and limited Faulk’s damage by targeting him on every play. With the ball or not, Marshall was going to have to deal with contact all evening. This was all well and good but I needed points because no spread was ever safe with the Rams. Then just over six minutes into the 2nd quarter, the universe smiled on me. Mike Vrabel clubbed Warner in the head as he was throwing and Pats CB Ty Law caught it and ran down the sideline to the end zone. Summerall exclaimed “That’s what the Patriots were waiting for!” Me too. God bless Ty Law and his friends and family for all of eternity. I literally ran around the room and then outside screaming like an escapee from the Buffalo Psych Center. I had to calm down. 16.5 point cushion with 38:49 left in regulation is not a guarantee. After a few stomach turning changes of possession, the Rams tried to mount a late first half drive. Proehl caught the ball over the middle and Pats DB Antwan Harris put his helmet into the football and New England had another turnover. Brady with the ball 1st and 10 at the Ram 40. A few plays later he found David Patten on a eight yard out and up for a TD and I about lost my mind. Howard David on the Westwood One call intoned “Can you believe what is happening here in New Orleans?!” I did. Of course, right when I felt I won and skipped into the kitchen, I heard from the other room “They’re reviewing it!” A loooooong 1:31 ensued. It was a clear TD and not to be overturned.

The second half was a blur. It could actually relax and enjoy what turned out to be a terrific game. I couldn’t count how many times I told myself I would never do this again and I haven’t. Lesson learned. Even more good fortune as the game wound down. I had 0-7 in the work pool and won 500.00.

When I saw Chris Brown the next day he just smiled and said “You were right Rog.” Yes I was but it took a good eight years off my life and looking back it is in the top 5 of the most reckless things I’ve ever done. This one time I actually got away with it.

I never told my ex and smartly and slowly spent the money on our bills. Except for the 100.00 I spent buying drinks at my neighborhood bar a few days later. “No occasion” I stated to the lucky few around me, “I’m just happy tonight.”

On Sunday I am certain there will be more than a few people who will risk money beyond their means in one form of a bet or another. I can only relate my experience. In the end it really wasn’t worth it. On the other hand, if you really got a feeling…….