Skill vs. Talent

February 14, 2008 | 02:45PM  | maudie dot b - gmail d c | |

Distraction. So much distraction. Poker is a cold, cold pot on the back burner for the time being. Fellow poker bloggers are immersed in the presidential campaigns, exhorting their opinions, criticisms, support of the candidates. I'm pumped - the next eight and a half months are going to be spectacular. It looks like the sexists will win out over the racists which means we won't see Hillary break through the ultimate glass ceiling this time around. I'm disappointed, I was hoping that it was our time. Our time for women, that is. That said, we are fortunate that Obama is the man he is. Either way you look at it, I strongly believe we'll see history being made and a paradigm shift in the way people think come next fall. I'm looking forward to seeing Obama dig in, bare some teeth and put up a good fight - we are in for a fantastic ride, folks.

But, hey, there's another contest that's launching in earnest next week that has me all a-flutter and just might move poker completely off the back burner to the bottom of the dirty dish pile in the sink.

Yup. It's time for Season 7 of American Idol. This group of twenty four is shaping up to be perhaps the most talented group of kids they've had to date. I'm eager to see who's going to rise to the top. Will it come down to a battle between apparent shoe-ins David Archuleta and Danny Noriega or is there a dark horse waiting to surprise us all? Can Amanda break out of the rocker persona and show some variety? Can Randy come up with something other than "Dog, that was awesome"? Will Simon finally put Paula out of her misery? Wil Ryan open the closet door at last?

Oops - gotta run. Stay tuned!