Mickelson to boycott Detroit after News article

[Jake from State Farm]

The golf media is a shell of what it used to be (in numbers and quality), which has allowed Phil to be Phil with little consequence until an outlet like Detroit stuck their courts reporter onto an (old) story. And even then, it's not like he faced a firing squad.

The story wasn't about Phil
It was about Phil's name coming up in this court filing about the gambler
Phil said it was old news
Only to him

 

[hondo]

Does Phil brag about his gambling exploits?

Was the bet illegal at the time?

If both answers are "no," then I'm sort of with Phil.
If one of those answers is "yes," then run it and fork him.

Phil brags when it makes him look good ... such as gloating over how often he wins Tuesday games on the Tour (to the point where Ryder Cup captains think it helps rookies on the team to deal with pressure by playing against Phil in practice rounds) or when he won a big chunk on the Ravens winning their first Super Bowl at 30-1 or some such odds.
But when it comes to the gambling losses in Vegas that the Callaway front money covered in 2004 or getting stiffed by a bookie for $500K in this case, not so much. And golfers don't employ leg-breakers to get their money when a bookie won't pay up. You're kind of taking your chances there. It's like a drug dealer getting robbed. Who's he gonna call?
Then there's this juicy tidbit from the original story:
According to the trial transcript, DeSeranno [the bookie] was questioned about Mickelson after receiving immunity from federal prosecutors and testified as a government witness in the 2007 racketeering trial of Jack Giacalone, a reputed organized crime leader in Metro Detroit. Giacalone's dad was the late, admitted mob captain Vito "Billy Jack" Giacalone, a suspect in the unsolved disappearance of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. And his uncle, the late mob captain Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, was supposed to meet Hoffa the day the labor leader disappeared in 1975.

 

[JC]

Phil brags when it makes him look good ... such as gloating over how often he wins Tuesday games on the Tour (to the point where Ryder Cup captains think it helps rookies on the team to deal with pressure by playing against Phil in practice rounds) or when he won a big chunk on the Ravens winning their first Super Bowl at 30-1 or some such odds.
But when it comes to the gambling losses in Vegas that the Callaway front money covered in 2004 or getting stiffed by a bookie for $500K in this case, not so much. And golfers don't employ leg-breakers to get their money when a bookie won't pay up. You're kind of taking your chances there. It's like a drug dealer getting robbed. Who's he gonna call?
Then there's this juicy tidbit from the original story:
According to the trial transcript, DeSeranno [the bookie] was questioned about Mickelson after receiving immunity from federal prosecutors and testified as a government witness in the 2007 racketeering trial of Jack Giacalone, a reputed organized crime leader in Metro Detroit. Giacalone's dad was the late, admitted mob captain Vito "Billy Jack" Giacalone, a suspect in the unsolved disappearance of Teamsters President Jimmy Hoffa. And his uncle, the late mob captain Anthony "Tony Jack" Giacalone, was supposed to meet Hoffa the day the labor leader disappeared in 1975.

But not a story.

 

[goalmouth]

Phil's betting (see what I did there?) that most fans don't care.

It's the percentage play.

He's not wrong.

 

[Woody Long]

Phil's betting (see what I did there?) that most fans don't care.

It's the percentage play.

He's not wrong.

Imagine that, a fantastically wealth white guy who commits insider trading and whines about his taxes going up playing the victim card!

He'd better hope reporters don't do a deep dive into his gambling history. Someone's probably already working on it.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Gambling stories will probably be the only ones written about this dude from now on. I don't see another field falling down and puking like they did at Kiawah any time soon.