“A Mexican, a Jew and a colored fellow walk into a bar… The bartender looks up and says… Get the f*** out of here.”
Some of you might recognize that as one of the many racist comments made by Clint Eastwood’s character in the film Grand Torino. It is also what Victory Poker pro player Dan Bilzeria tweeted and subsequently caused Joy Miller to lose her freakin’ mind.
According to Bilzeria, “Joy Miller read this and lost her mind… She told the CEO from victory poker that neither myself or any of the 20 sponsored pros would get any ESPN coverage until I gave a formal apology. I explained to her that it was a quote from a movie. She flipped out and started swearing and screaming at me about using the word colored. She sent me a bunch of angry texts, yelled at the CEO, and you can hear the voicemail she left swearing and yelling at me in the link below.”
Here is the link he references.
Now, first off, I think Bilzeria has a lot to learn about public relations if he’s going to be a public representative of a company. Second, I think Bilzeria demonstrates a shockingly ignorant understanding of the history of the NAACP which he later tries to use as justification for using the word “colored.”
In other words, I think the guy exercised some extremely poor judgment.
But Joy Miller has no right to threaten anybody. At best she should have taken the matter up with him personally, explained to him why it might be inappropriate, and moved on. She is not ESPN and according to Poker News Daily ESPN told them “She is not an employee of ESPN and, as such, does not speak for us in any capacity.”
So who is Joy Miller? Well, first off she’s the psycho who went ballistic when Terrence Chan posted on his blog how her decision to shortcut the end of a tournament for time reasons and allowing Annie Duke to openly coach one of his opponents during a hand cost him a prize.
She seems to be a rather unstable person with a mouth like a sailor and a habit of using the power of whatever position she has to threaten people who do things she doesn’t like or agree with.
Here’s some photos of Joy Miller when she isn’t acting outraged.
And though I hate to give this guy any exposure, I really had to point out the poor reporting that passes for journalism at Gambling911. Gambling911 covered this story and Jagajeet Chiba seems to get it all wrong. First off, he completely focuses on Bilzeria’s joke and says nothing about Joy Miller’s behavior. While I think what Bilzeria said was stupid, saying things like “Miller is the poker equivalent of Gretta van Sustern,” is beyond logic.
He also displays his ignorance of the topic in general when he says that the film Grand Torino “features a rape by young Hispanic gang bangers seeking revenge.” Uh, dude, they’re Hmong.
Who the f*ck proofreads over there?
Hmmm . . . I had a hard time deciding whether or not to answer this at the meta level or to give you a insight into the thought process. I guess I’ll do both 🙂
You chose the correct word when you asked what “editorial” value the pictures added. An editorial is an opinion or op-ed piece. My blog is mostly editorial. Much of what I write is my opinion or my take on things going on in the poker industry.
You can ask why I write anything. I guess everything any of us writes on the internet is done for SEO value. That was the part of your question that confused me somewhat. Would you or I or any other blogger write anything with the hope that nobody reads it? Our writing styles, use of humor, etc are all things we inject into our writing in the hopes that someone might find it interesting. So in that sense, my use of those photos of Joy were both an editorial choice in the sense that I wanted to convey to people that she is not some distinguished corporate suit at ESPN AND to provide some visual entertainment which I presume you construe to be SEO value.
I really don’t know, Al. Everything we do has some sort of SEO value. Do you try to be witty for SEO value? Are Wicked Chops’ photos of blurred out pros with hot women in the background for SEO value? Is an interview with Phil Ivey for SEO value? Where do we stop calling something for SEO value?
On the other hand, if I had written this story and then posted a nude photo of Natalie Portman that seems more like a gratuitous use of SEO because the photo has nothing to do with what’s on the page. In this case, I thought the fact that someone accused (twice now) of leaving foul-mouthed threats and using bullying language has no qualms about guys burying their heads in her tits in public was relevant in regards to showing her character.
So – online poker – if you – online poker – want to know – online poker – if – online poker – I – online poker – use SEO – online poker – I ask – online poker – don’t we all – online poker?
What editorial value do you get from including pictures of Joy Miller when she is off the clock other than purely SEO? What point does it have to the story?