Rant #3,803: Bits and Pieces

I welcome back "Bits and Pieces" to The Ranting and Raving Blog.

"Bits and Pieces" focuses on current topics that might not need a full Rant devoted to them, but need to be spoken about, in a shorter form.

So here goes--

NBA Betting Scandal: it has just come to light that the NBA--which opened its 2025-2026 season on Wednesday-- is embroiled in a betting scandal, including current and retired players and coaches.

Some of it involves supposed injuries and inside information that only players and coaches would know.

It involves the Mafia, and the feds named others involved, including those who took part in some shady poker games as well as supposed fake injuries.

Probably the biggest name being investigated is Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups, former Detroit Pistons player and current Portland Trailblazers coach.

The cat is out of the bag, with nearly 40 states legalizing sports betting within the past couple of years, and you just knew that professionals would eventually get involved.

It is not just the NBA; Major League Baseball has also been hit, including a betting scandal involving a couple of players on the Cleveland Guardians just this season.

The temptation is out there, and people--pro athletes and the average Joes--should really know better than to get involved in this nonsense, but they have no.self control--

Especially when it takes just a push of a button on your phone to start betting.

When i see professional wrestling being bet on--a "sport" that is pretty much pre-planned, with outcomes pre-determined--you just know things have gotten way out of hand.

Any player or coach, or any sports official, who is found to be involved in this, or any other betting scandal, needs to be banned fir life.

Any betting scandal ruins the integrity of the sport involved, and absolutely cannot exist. 

Again, are we talking about pro wrestling or pro basketball here?

Record Collectors or Record Investors: I am a collector.

When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards, comic books and records, and now, I have whittled it down to just records.

I buy vinyl records that I like, regardless of what anyone thinks--I would rather buy a record by the 1910 Fruitgum Co. that i don't have in my collection than a Led Zeppelin record that I have no interest in.

On Facebook, I have noticed that all of a sudden, supposed collectors of older and more recent vintage are suddenly asking what the worth is of particular records that they have or are thinking about including in their collections.

This irks me to no end.

I buy records because I like them, not because I know they might be valuable--

And that is what makes me a collector, and not an investor--a situation that has plagued both baseball card and comic book collecting for decades.

in fact, when I finally sold the remainder of my comic book collection two years ago, i sold it to someone who i lnew would actually enjoy the comics, and not flip/resell them for a profit.

Each of my 10,000 records is worth $1 million to me. I am not selling, so I really could care less what their actual, individual worth is. 

Not being flip, but I collect not to see how much my records are worth; I collect because I actually like the music. 

Anyone who does otherwise is not a collector; they are an investor. 

Not me!

The Government Shutdown Continues: Funny, those that are promulgating this idiocy continue to receive their paychecks, while average folks are waiting on food lines, because they are not being paid through this crisis.

There is enough blame to go around on both sides, and the longer this goes on, the more average people are being hit.

But our elected legislators really don't care, blaming the other side for the situation.

Again, I do believe that if these legislators' own paychecks were affected, they would move a bit quicker to resolve this thing.

It is going on five weeks since the government shut down--

And how long can this thing go on before the ever-stretching rope breaks right in the middle?

Lock these selfish imbeciles in a room and don't let them out until this thing is settled.

Later today, I have a meeting to cover that revolves around the shutdown topic, and how its continuance will impact military stores.

And by the way, note that each of these topics revolve around one thing--

M-O-N-E-Y.

So let me go.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.