Category Archives: Gambling/Cheating

Con Man Accused of Stealing $8000 From Parents of Young Baseball Players for “Traveling Team”

From our “Special Place in Hell” Dept:  Jeff Halter, 40, came to Hobart, Indiana (near Chicago) with a glowing resume and the promise to build a traveling baseball team of elite local players. Parents of budding ballplayers (mostly 11-year-olds) gladly stepped up and each paid Halter $675 for uniforms, practice time and travel expenses.  Practices started, everything looked good, and then according to police, Halter stopped showing up.

According to the boys parents, they then received a letter from Halter saying he had suffered a “breakdown” of some kind, but would be back soon. They became suspicious and checked in with the local uniform shop, only to find out that Halter allegedly had not paid for or even ordered the boy’s uniforms. A quick check of is resume found out that it had also been padded. And now, weeks later, no one has heard from Halter.

Halter is still on the loose, but has now been charged with 10 counts of felony theft.

Source: ABC News

Soccer Boss: Divers Should Face Three Game Ban

So, finally someone in the world of professional football (soccer) has admitted that so-called “divers” (because they dive to the ground clutching a non-injured leg) are damaging the sport and, if caught, they should be banned for three games.

Well, duh? It took them this long to see this is a problem? (Watch the video below for some classic dive examples.) At the World Cup two years ago, the diving reached comical proportions.

But now, Arsene Wenger, the manager of the Arsenal Football Club which plays in the Premiere League in the United Kingdom. Wenger is upset after several suspect penalty calls in recent weeks, including two caused by player Ashley Young of  rival Manchester United that lead to penalty kick goals for his team. Unfortunately, with just a couple of umpires on the large field at any time, one of the reasons soccer players feel they can get away with dives is that the great distance between them and the officials. And because no one remembers your “broken leg” two minutes later.

Maybe they need a “Dive Replay Expert” up in the booth? Or maybe, just maybe, they could teach soccer players to focus on playing the game and not their acting careers.

Video: Jalen Rose Calls Out High School Sports Hero Skip Bayless – ESPN

We heard about this last week, but hadn’t seen the video. Here’s more on the story behind the video from TheLostOgle.com

A few weeks ago, ESPN talking head and Oklahoma City native Skip Bayless took to Twitter to complain about Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook. The comments were really nothing new or insightful, just the typical “Westbrook’s not a point guard!!!” rhetoric that people say or think or tweet (me included) each time Russ heaves a contested 20-foot jump shot or shoots a wild lay-up while Durant or Harden are wide open for a three. (Bayless tweets about his high school career here.) Yep, Skip Bayless was a high school basketball star. Therefore, he’s much more qualified to provide insightful commentary on the Thunder or give LeBron James funny nicknames than you are. Or was he? . . . Skip Bayless scored a grand total of 21 points in 15 games as the “starting” point guard for the 1970 state runner-up. That averages out to 1.4 points per game. Considering his coach didn’t like him because he “shot too much,” you have to wonder how low his field goal shooting percentage was. And thank God we don’t have Skip’s stats for assists, rebounds or turnovers.