Cover of the Star Tribune
"You were on the frontpage of the star tribune today man..."Instant quote of the day, and it's only 8:50am, and I woke up about thirty minutes ago. I knew this story was going to be released today, but I had no clue that it would involve cover time! I'm curious to see it. The online article appears here.
I've already spoken with my friend Lindsey from MN about the article. At one point in our conversation she asked me, "Did you know she was going to say your life sucks?" Thinking to myself, uhhh, no.... Lindsey said that she herself had not read the article, but her parents had and called her and relayed that little piece of information. I knew that the writer was going to mention some tough stuff about me, but really did not think that "my life sucks" was going to be communicated. Here is the section in question:
Some veteran gamblers are wary about what a life built around poker might do to the young guys long-term. "They end up being gamblers with no family, no life, no nothing," said Dick Hoffman, who was also playing in the Canterbury tournament. Hoffman has been gambling for 30 years, though not as a profession. "Poker will be their life. Maybe that's OK, I don't know. But I wonder."
Devonshire, 25, has already seen some effect.
He grew up in California and came to Minnesota to get married, but he says late-night poker playing helped kill his marriage in less than a year. He now lives just outside Las Vegas; a recent text message he sent at 7 p.m. said, "Just woke up today :-)."
He went broke playing stakes that were too high for him, he said. He worked his way back when a casino hired him to play poker to entice customers.
A former Christian youth minister, he struggles with how some in the church might view what he does.
"I'm curious," Devonshire conceded to Hoffman, standing in the card club at midnight on a Thursday. "In 20 years, what am I going to think about this period of my life?" - Pam Louwagie, Star Tribune.
Ok... where to start. This is my first personal experience with the media in the context of a story is done and this is the final product. This entire story is about 10% of the material she put together. Pam, the writer, was limited by spacial constraits of the newspaper, and this I understand. This blurb is the product of about ninety minutes of phone interviews. I really wish that the tone of poker killing the marriage was changed, and she did to some extent, but it really can be taken the wrong way here.
My marriage was doomed for many reasons, poker being one of them. In fact poker was kinda the last straw that ended everything. But, poker was by no means responsible for killing my marriage. Take poker completely out of the equasion and I'm still not married right now. The simple clash of personality differences was enough to do it in eventually.
The rest of it: all true. I do wonder what I'm going to think about this period of my life in 20 years. I do struggle with my relationship with God and the church, and poker is a big reason for that. I did go bust playing too high too soon.
I just wish that she contrasted the negatives with the positives. But, I see the story, and I understand. I had a good story about some of the negatives. The rest of the story is the positives, and my little blurb is used to contrast those positives. I understand. It's just going to get annoying if people keep calling me and telling me that the paper said my life sucks :-).
Still, sweet to be on the cover of a major metropolitan newspaper. Never done that before!
Peace and good luck,
Devo
posted by Devo @ 10:12 AM
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