By CHUCK POLLOCK, Wellsville Sun Senior Sports Columnist
Some bits and pieces while enduring the five-week hiatus before the Bills reconvene for training camp at Pittsford’s St. John Fisher University in late July:
BUFFALO’S roster — 91 players — and first-year head coach Joe Brady got through the optional and mandatory Organized Team Activities (OTAs) with nary a scandal nor serious injury the past two weeks.
Indeed the required segment featured 100% attendance with only the usual soft-tissure ailments.
After the current “vacation” the Bills will prepare for their preseason opener Saturday, Aug. 15, against the Carolina Panthers (1 p.m.).
MY ALL-TIME favorite female athlete, uncontested, was Chris Evert (Lloyd, Norman … if she ever took that last name).
And my all-time woman villain was Martina Navratilova.
Trouble was, as the years passed, it became clear that Martina, an extraordinary athlete, was the better player. She modernized her game, charging the net and hitting blistering forehands and backhands.
Chrissie was a classic baseliner, often delivering shots with two hands.
When their careers ended over a span of 16 years, Martina had won 43 of 80 head-to-head matches though both owned 18 Grand Slam titles and over that time one or the other was No. 1 in the world 592 of 615 weeks.
Eventually I softened, mostly because, after a contentious early relationship, they had become friends.
But that’s not all they would share.
Martina, 69, fought and beat throat and breast cancer while Chrissie, 71, is battling a recurrence of ovarian cancer.
The result is that the two of them have combined in a Netflix documentary “Chris & Martina, The Final Set,” not to be confused with the current full-length movie.
The film will debut on Netflix, June 26, but the two share a fascinating segment being repeated on CNN with Christiane Amanpour doing the interview.
FROM THE day that states permitted sports betting on cell phones, I contended that a flood of problem gambling was guaranteed to follow.
It was just too easy to be sitting at a bar, watching a game, and in an semi-inebriated state punch in a bet of ill-considered amount and replicate that behavior for hours.
But sports betting wasn’t the worst of it.
Along came Kalshi and Polymarket, two sites where you can bet on just about anything, and which are very open to insider trading.
Who better to take advantage of that flaw than New York Congressman George Santos, you know, the one who got a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free-Card from our 46th President.
He told the public, back in Frebruary, that he would be attending April’s Correspondent’s Dinner in Washington, D.C. George then bet thousands of dollars that he wouldn’t show. He didn’t, winning a fortune.
But the folks at Kalshi were more than a little suspicious — Santos worked at competing Polymarket — and brought in the authorities to investigate.
Now the standing joke is betting on whether Santos will return to jail.
Some bits and pieces while awaiting the five-week hiatus before the Bills reconvene at Pittsford’s St. John Fisher University in late July:
— BUFFALO’S roster — 91 players — and first-year head coach Joe Brady got through the optional and mandatory Organized Team Activities (OTAs) with nary a scandal nor serious injury.
Indeed the required segment featured 100% attendance with and only the usual soft-tissure ailments.
After the current “vacation” the Bills will prepare for their preseason opener Saturday, Aug. 15, against the Carolina Panthers (1 p.m.).
MY ALL-TIME favorite female athlete, uncontested, was Chris Evert (Lloyd, Norman … if she ever took that last name).
And my all-time villain was Martina Navratilova.
Trouble was, as the years passed, it became clear that Martina, an extraordinary athlete, was the better player. She modernized her game, charging the net and hitting blistering forehands and backhands.
Chrissie was a classic baseliner, often delivering shots with two hands.
When their careers ended over a span of 16 years, Martina had won 43 of 80 head-to-head matches though both owned 18 Grand Slam titles and over that time one or the other was No. 1 in the world 592 of 615 weeks, each earning the top spot seven times.
And over that time I softened, mostly because, after a contentious early relationship, they had become friends.
But that’s not all they would share.
Martina fought and beat throat and breast cancer while Chrissie is battling a recurrence of breast cancer.
The result is that the two of them have combined in a Netflix documentary “Chris & Martina, The Final Set,” not to be confused with the current full-length movie.
The film will debut on Netflix, June 26, but the two share a fascinating segment on CNN with Christiane Amanpour doing the interview.
FROM THE day that states permitted sports betting on cell phones, I contended that a flood of problem gambling was guaranteed to follow.
It was just too easy to be sitting at a bar, watching a game, and in an inebriated state punch in a bet of ill-considered amount and replicate that behavior for hours.
But sports betting wasn’t the worst of it.
Along came Kalshi and Polymarket, two sites where you can bet on just about anything and which are very open to insider trading.
Who better to take advantage of that flaw than New York Congressman George Santos, you know, the one who got a Get-Out-of-Jail-Free-Card from our 46th President.
He told the public, back in Frebruary, that he would be attending the Correspondent’s Dinner in Washington, D.C. George then bet thousands of dollars that he wouldn’t show. He didn’t, winning a fortune.
But the folks at Kalshi were more than a little suspicious — Santos worked at competing Polymarket — and brought in the authorities to investigate.
Now the standing joke is betting on both sites whether Santos will return to jail.
(Chuck Pollock, a Wellsville Sun and Olean Star senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@wnynet.net.)
