Today's sign the Apocalypse is on us

No, I'm not talking about the upcoming movie "2012," although disaster films typically rank as my least favorite genre, save for "Twister." (except the end when the characters just coincidentally hid inside a barn full of knives and other metallic objects of death... They had me going until then.)





What i'm talking about is the fact tht this week's ESPN The Magazine cover put a POKER player on the cover... Of the NBA preview edition?! Did no one else catch this? Did anyone hear Jim Rome say how ridiculous this was, followed by the signature way-to-long pause? Wow. It sure says something about how far hoops has slid in our conscious - and that's without even delving into the whole 'is poker a sport?' debate, which if it weren't for my tangents I would already be talking about!

Yes, I'm sure that Phil Ivey is the best poker player on the planet. And when I finally get to page 35 I'm sure I'll be excited to learn how a guy who spends his life playing cards - a game - unwinds, but I guess I just expected something a little different from The Total Leader In Sports. (I specifically did not use the word MORE in the last sentence in case I'm ever in the running for a job with them and they happen to stumble across this rant.)

And the weirdest thing? The guy on the cover looked EXACTLY like the guy across from me at Borders. Am I in the Matrix?