(UPDATE BELOW)    Ya know?..The last thang on earth a casino needs to do fer me, iz extend me a line of credit.  Hell, Master Card and Visa are playin' with fire fer givin' me da cards they have...anyway, I'm jus' speakin fer myself but, to me..gamblin' izza rush...

     Backindaday...da Stevo, useta do it everyday.  'Course, I wuz single then and made pretty fair dollars, so, the only person I wuz hurtin' wuz jus' myself if I lost any large amount.  Nuthin' likeda Chuckster, of course, but it's all kinda relative...I useta bet football, basketball and baseball.  And I did it every day there wuzza game of some kind on.  The thang 'bout bettin' onna game wuz that no matter what teams were playin'..It would turn a ####-hum match-up into an EVENT ...anda Stevo wuz into events.  It made every Sunday better'n Super Bowl Sunday.

     Over a period that lasted 'bout 10 years, bettin' on all dis stuff, I'm gonna say that I broke about even...Most bookies will tellya that ifya did that good you prob'ly beat the system, and I got no reason to doubt 'em..Sure...you can have a week whereya hit 90% of yer bets and thank yerra genius...but it won't take long before sumpthin' bringsya back down to earth....

     ...Witness this story: 

     After bettin' ferrawhile...I ran across a sports accountant  that took baseball bets.  For the uninitated, here's how that works.  Usually in baseball the betting line is based on the pitching match-ups:  Say you had a game where Steve Carlton wuz goin' up against some jerk-off who wuz lucky enuff to be some teams spot fifth starter...You might hafta lay-down 500 bux justa win a buck-25 ($125).  But, say, Carlton wuz goin' up against Fernando Valenzuela....well, then, you might git an even bet..betta cupla hunnert and win/lose a cupla hunnert...lotta factors go into it but pitchin' iz always the most dominant barometer...

      Genius?!?!

     Ok...widdat outtadaway...My very first week bettin' baseball..I finished da week 30-2..that ainna misprint..even my bookie thought I wuzza genius and mebbe one of Gawdz Children, which gave us another thang in common.  Hell, I almost considered bein' a born-again Christian 'til I realized that gamblin' and that pursuit might be a conflict of interest.  And besides, I wuzn't givin' no church any juice money...

     Cuttin' toda chase here....It took me 'bout two weeks after that to regain some lost humility and rejoin da ranks of jus' bein' another mullet thinkin' he's gotda gift ....Durin' that stretch, one of my losses had me speedin' downda freeway to get to a pay phone (NOTE:fer you youngsters out there, ask yer daddy 'bout that term) to git my bet down on Dodger vs. Cubs at 'bout 5-1 oddz goin' with Fernando V...

.....Cubs bombed 'im...8-3 if I 'member right...  

  ....or Homeless?!?!?

 I ain't sayin' Chuck's right or wrong...but I am sayin':

     I Unnerstand.... But.... you ain't gonna beat 'em...I'm tellinya...you can make book onnit... 

UPDATE: Former Detroit Lion QB and Heisman Trophy winner Andre Ware has said on his Talk-Radio Show...down here in H-Town that he spoke with a close-personal friend of Charles Barkley last night (Tues) and the friend told him that Chuck is no where near close to any financial trouble...as "He is fine...trust me.."...like it was notta big-deal at all...