Poor Stewart

As I while away the hours leading up to tonight's Euro 2012 games, a couple of things caught my eye. One was a Betfair forum post with a link to a video showing "Russian hooligans are beating Stewart". How they knew the guy's name is beside the point, but someone commented that the fight was "25 vs 4". I couldn't resist replying that it was perhaps "5 and 2 squaring up to each other?" Very funny stuff, if I do say so myself. As a follow up comment said "that's very funny - you're wasted here" - which is why I spend little time on the forum these days.

The other was the statement from someone that "I have recently been to Liverpool twice on holiday". Now it seems to me that when you are representing a service, it might not be the best marketing strategy in the world to tell people that your holiday destination is Liverpool. Nothing against Liverpool - I have been there twice, and was only attacked on one occasion, which is a better record than some destinations in England have, but nevertheless, it's probably not in my top ten holiday destinations. The trappings of success usually reach a little beyond Liverpool when it comes to holiday destinations.

On a more serious subject, I had an email from a Paddy in, you guessed it, Ireland, who has asked for his blog to be added to my blog roll. His is not the usual request though, as he explains:

Hello Mr Cassini, you don't know me by this is but I was an avid reader and contributor to the sports betting / trading community. I have now begun another chapter in my life and trying to recover from gambling addiction. I have started a blog to try to assist me in my journey and would appreciate it if you could find a way to plug it for me, It may sound contradictory but I think some readers of these BLOG (including my own one in the past) may have similar issues to me and I would appreciate a little help from influential bloggers such as yourself. If you feel it is inappropriate I will understand but hey ho, it was worth an effort. Wish me luck.

It might be an inappropriate request were I to be asking for this blog to be added to that of a blog dedicated to quitting gambling, but I have no problem the other way around. Gambling for most of us, is harmless entertainment. A very few people do well from it, but sadly there are also a few who for whom it is not harmless entertainment, but a destructive force that most of us can't begin to understand. I wish Paddy the best in his battle against addiction - not just gambling, but also with alcohol.

Well that was a jolly topic. Back to the Euro 2012 games coming up, and I'm not sure why the Netherlands price (Match Odds v Denmark) has drifted out to 1.83 (from as low as 1.5) but that is where my 'fun' bet will be today.