My mom would always say you are never too old to learn something new, and as usual she was right. This past week I learned a lot just watching all our smart politicians in DC.
What did I learn?
Just a little background on my mother “Broadway” Mary Saber. She was born Mary Lamantia in Steubenville, Ohio. Mom tended bar for her dad Frank and knew who her customers were and where the whiskey was hidden.
In WW2, the war to end all wars, she drove a crane in the steel mill as all our boys were over the pond fighting for our freedom. When the war ended she worked at a dry cleaner. It was like she always had a job.
Mom was a crossing guard at my high school Steubenville Big Red, right across the street from our house on 6th Street. She also booked numbers from most of the teachers and even a few of the priests and nuns at St. Pete, which was across from Big Red.
Mom even bet a few pennies on a number or two.
When you booked the numbers you kept .25% of the take and turned the rest into the big guy downtown – whoever that was at the time. My mother used the extra cash to buy gas for the car, odds and ends and pay her own numbers and a few ponies.
The one thing she did was put some of the money away for a rainy day. She would always say “money doesn’t grow on trees.” The thing I really learned from “Broadway Mary” was always live on a budget.
Hey, you so-called wise guys in DC! Listen to my mom! Always live on a budget, learn to budget your money and things will turn out. And, they did.
I have lived on a budget all my life thanks to my mom, and my check book is always balanced.
We have a long football season in front of us, and with money short and the economy in the tank there needs to be a game plan for the upcoming season. Don’t get your gambling money mixed in with your bill paying money.
Have a game plan, put aside the amount of money you have to gamble with each week, decide how many games you are going to bet or how many parlay cards you are going to play and spread it out so it will last the week.
Just add your winnings to what you are going to do the following week and remember it is called gambling. There are no sure things, no locks. The only lock I know for sure is Yale!
Remember, money doesn’t grow on trees; we want to have fun in this long football season.
So what did I learn this past week? DC – as usual – was wrong, money doesn’t grow on trees and my mom was right, as usual. You need a budget and a job. Save some money for a rainy day and don’t get your gambling money mixed in with your bill paying money.
That just may be a good song for someone to sing.
If I were going to bet on one exhibition NFL game this week, I most likely would take a small portion of my betting capital and put it on the Eagles -3 at home this Thursday against the Ravens in what will be a low scoring game.
If I win that bet I will take a piece and put it on the Lions -4½ Friday. If I win that game, here I come with Houston -2½ on Monday.
In baseball the Phillies continue their amazing run and look like a good thing to get to the World Series but you never know. Stranger things have happened.
The Pirates just could not rebound after the bad call game and their season is over for the most part.
Have a good week, enjoy the football action and have a good time.