Letter to the editor: Beguiling coincidences
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A coincidence can be beguiling. News viewers can be easily nudged into conjecture. And it can be so wrong to jump to conclusions, as might an unmindful blowhard. But please consider:
I watched Martin Scorcese’s film “Casino” a few times before, and then again just the other day. It’s among my favorite movies. Joe Pesci is among my favorite actors, and I loved hearing him talk voice-over about how gaming works. In one scene, Pesci talks about college basketball. He mentions “crooked zebras” and “locked-in point spreads.” “Zebra” was slang for college basketball referee. The striped uniform. Funny.
A few days later, there was the real-life news announcement that the ’Burgh’s own police chief was retiring from law to become a more committed college basketball referee. There was a picture of the chief in the black-and-white striped shirt marshaling basketball. A coincidence? In my mind, I instantly heard Pesci talking about college basketball. The sport was discussed in both “Casino” and “Goodfellas.” That’s coincidental. Movie talk about the gaming industries. Beguiling ones. About many tricks used to cheat at college basketball.
Perhaps only a dunce would make a fuss over the above correlations. Speaking of movies, a character in the film “Klute” says, in French, “Honi soit qui mal y pense,” or crudely translated, “it’s stupid to dwell on unpleasant thoughts.” I’m not. Thanks for reading.
Bruce Reisner
Perry South