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Toe to Toe - Is poker really a sport?

Two combatants from Cogeco’s Sports Firing line Frank “The Toe” Caruso (left), and Chris Dawson (right) now take their arguments to the web with a new BayToday.ca weekly sports opinion feature called, “Toe to Toe.” Photo by Lee Anne Dawson.



Two combatants from Cogeco’s Sports Firing line Frank “The Toe” Caruso (left), and Chris Dawson (right) now take their arguments to the web with a new BayToday.ca weekly sports opinion feature called, “Toe to Toe.” Photo by Lee Anne Dawson.

With the NHL lockout last year, Sports Networks in Canada jumped on the Poker bandwagon and ran world tournaments and even Poker tips? But does this activity belong on a sports network?

Chris:

“I hate, I hate and I hate the fact that card games have become such a major facet of every sports network in Canada. It’s on Sportsnet and it’s on the Score where they even have a poker tips segment for crying out loud!!! Unbelievable!!!

“There’s already some questionable ‘sports’ programming on sports networks like Spelling Bee’s and Dog Show’s. But in my opinion I’d prefer to watch a 90 year old women strut alongside her Weimaraner for six hours straight over watching some guys and girls sitting around a table with a deck of cards on tow. I’d rather watch paint dry, or I’d prefer to watch a mountain erode (tough to do around here so I’ll be satisfied with the escarpment).

In my opinion, poker or Texas Hold’em or whatever you want to call it is not a sport.

“The bottom line is I believe poker should be sent on a royal flush down the proverbial TV network toilet all the way down the pipe to the Game Show network…That’s where it fits, hands down.”


Frank:

“Oh, Chris get over yourself. Let’s go back to what these sports networks were established for. They were established on sports, leisure and entertainment, that’s what they are established on. If you are going to take away cards and poker off the networks; a game that’s very intriguing to everybody because it’s a game where you use the mind and the bluffing and its emotional. So take away horse racing, take away WWE wrestling, take away pool, take away the lines on the NFL every week on sportsnet, take away all those things because that’s what you’re saying in this. I think you’re wrong. I think poker is a leisurely game, and it is a game, and that’s why it’s on the sports networks.”

Toe to Toe can be seen every Friday on BayToday.ca, but appears this Thursday due to a scheduling conflict.

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Chris Dawson

About the Author: Chris Dawson

Chris Dawson has been with BayToday.ca since 2004. He has provided up-to-the-minute sports coverage and has become a key member of the BayToday news team.
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