This Post Couldn't Have Less To Do With Poker

Although I will say, finished 4th in the 1r1a $55 Stars tournament this week, had big chip lead with four left than lost it all, at some point I'll go back and decide if that goes in the category of "didn't catch cards, unlucky" or "totally epic fucking collapse, I suck". Probably somewhere in between.

Anyway, I don't normally watch Sunday morning political shows because they (politicians, hack commentators like George Stephanopoulos) feed us such drivel, but I happened to catch the "Commentary" by Bob Schieffer at the end of Face the Nation. What followed was, I thought, hilarious, but then again I have a weird sense of humor. In case you don't know, Schieffer is 100 years old. I might be rounding.

"Finally, today, I'm just back from two weeks in France. I hadn't been there in awhile and I'd forgotten just how beautiful Paris can be. But there was a little culture shock and it took me a day or two to figure it out. Then it hit me; I was seeing something on the boulevards of Paris that I hadn't seen lately in America, at least not in the Northeast: couples. Boys and girls paired off, men and women holding hands, strolling, talking, sitting in sidewalk cafes, immersed in each other as the world passed by. Stroll down an American street in the early evening and what you see are not couples but groups of young women going off to see Sex and the City or some such, and then gangs of guys heading for sports bars. Late in the evening, or so I'm told, they eventually meet up at clubs or other gathering places where everyone, for wont of a better word, gets plastered. Long ago, I moved from participant to consultant observer status in such matters, and it is none of my business of course, but based on my boulevard observations, here is my thought on all this. American guys would do well to start talking to the ladies much earlier in the evening before the drinking starts. Those French guys seemed fascinated with what their dates were saying, and from what I could tell, things were moving along just fine."

Top three moments in that speech:
3. All French guys are "fascinated" by their dates.
2. Referring to any group of guys as a "gang", and he had a little bite in his voice when he said it.
1. Eventually everyone meets up and gets plastered. I suppose I can't argue with this, but hearing Schieffer say it in his advanced age was awesome.

Also, unlike the other morning shows, Face the Nation is only a half hour. Are we really setting aside two minutes so Schieffer can lecture us young whipper snappers? Of course, this is the same network that still allows Andy Rooney to talk, despite the fact that he makes less sense than your average person in a mental asylum. So maybe I shouldn't be surprised.