Off Topic : Read This Book

Based on the fun that Two Gun and I have had over the years when we chased wagers that weren't exactly in our wheelhouse, I've decided that the greatest challenge for the upcoming season is going to be staying true to the system. We have strayed in the past, in car racing for example, to wagering on open wheels when we make our money studying NASCAR, or betting on American Idol instead of...anything else. I still think we got jobbed on that Adam thing last season, and we had him at +800.

Speaking of straying, when you see Two Gun, ask him about how he interpolated the "bet the Mexican" rule to apply to an Australian driver racing in England, and made it pay off.

To counter the stress of imposed discipline, I have the occasional off topic post. Today's is a guaranteed winner.

My son had a required summer reading assignment, a book called "Playing With the Enemy", written by a gentleman named Gary Moore. Through a set of fortuitous circumstances, the copy of the book my spouse ordered was delivered to our home personally by the author. That's Gary Moore with my son in the photo. The story of Playing With the Enemy is an inspiration and a celebration of life.

Mr. Moore has written the story of his father, Gene Moore, who was a true prodigy as a baseball player growing up in tiny Sesser, Illinois. Signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers at age 15, young Gene's march to the big leagues was put on hold by the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Dodgers, ever clever, channeled their best prospects into the Navy, where their duty assignment was to play baseball exhibitions against an Army squad in North Africa. The tale, told to Gary by his father the day before the elder Moore died, is an incredible, uplifting story of one man's journey. I will divulge only that the Brooklyn Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the U.S. Army and Navy, and the U-505 submarine (yes, the one that is today at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry) are interwoven in a series of events that will charm you beyond all reasonable expectations, much as Gary Moore's stories behind the story have done for my family.

Click here to learn more about Playing With the Enemy.

Playing With the Enemy is going to be a major motion picture, too, tentativley set to be released in fall/winter of 2010,with some really big stars and one rising star. Gary's son, Toby Moore, will play the part of his own grandfather, Gene Moore. Gary will have a cameo as his own grandfather. So, the current day father and son will portray the prior day father and son, who are their respective grandfathers. It's kind of like the scene in Back to the Future II where Marty and the Professor watch themselves in another time, and I have never understood the time and space continuum explanation from the Professor.

Playing With the Enemy: It's a four star winner.