Amiram Hayardeny's My China Experience

High Rollers - The Elliott Spitzer Story - from a Slightly Different Angle

I was thinking about it a lot.  About the story, about the person, about whether or not he should be forgiven, or whether we should feel sorry for him.  I also thought about whether or not I should write about it.  Right about, well, now, I realized that if it stuck to my mind for so long, and with such intensity, then I should definitely write about it.  Elliott Spitzer.  The former governor of the State of New York.

And the terms I'm thinking about are slightly different than what I have read in the news media about this story.  I was thinking along the following lines.  Lets assume that one is a born gambler.  And lets assume that he realized that the thrill of betting money on horses, cars, cards, sports is simply not cutting it for them.  How would one go about in setting a bet so colossal, so daring, that practically puts everything he or she had on the line, and see how much can they lose.

I think if I was one looking for a bet like that, I'd follow in Elliott Spitzer's footsteps.  I'd be born to a rich family, and get the best education to begin with.  As if Princeton isn't enough, I'd go and throw Harvard Law on top, just to bring up the stakes.

I would then get married to another Harvard Law gal, who happens to be as smart as she is beautiful.  But still, losing it all at this point doesn't seem worth the effort.  I would have to try harder.

How about joining the Manhattan District Attorney's office, under the legendary Robert M. Morgenthau, to pursue organized crime?  Getting better?  Just you wait.  Lets go after the Gambino family, and run for the office of State Attorney General of New York, and go after “white collar” criminals.

I know that this sounds enough already.  After all, at this point in time, betting and losing it all would certainly a big deal: a stellar career as a lawyer, a nice family, stature, money, everything.  But as you know gamblers are always looking at raising the bet just a little more.  So as an icing on the cake, I'd run for governor, on a ticket of “stopping corruption”, win the job and start pursuing corruption wherever it is, while making sure everyone knows not to mess with the governor, because he has a bad temper.  Not the state senate, not the state officials, and most certainly not all the corrupt SOBs everywhere around the Empire State.

I believe now would be a good time for a bet.  So let's call an extremely expensive call girl (out of curiosity I wish that someone would explain to me what can a call girl possibly do for $5,000.00 per appointment).  And wait.  Make the call again, and wait again.  Eight times, allegedly.

But I believe the wait was well worth it.  I think that Elliott Spitzer should be recognized in the Guinness Book of Records as “The Man Who Put the Most on a Single Bet – and Lost”.

As the “lesson of the day”, look around you.  If you have even 5% of what Mr. Spitzer had, and you feel that in whatever it is you're doing right now, you're jeopardizing it, stop right there.  For one, you may not want to lose what you got.  And besides, there's no way in hell you'll break this record.

And just in case you're wondering, there's another little twist here.  Can you try and count how many enemies has this man collected over the years?  And how many of them populate the state prisons, and the federal ones?  It is quite possible that Mr. Spitzer will be found guilty and send to serve a short sentence in one of the state or federal penitentiaries.  Can you imagine the welcome committee he's expected to meet?  I really wouldn't like to be in his bright orange suit...

Posted at 06:18AM Mar 15, 2008 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal  |  Comments[2]