The bingo business has suffered deeply from a major decline in players over the last few years. Consolidations, closings, and severely lowered charitable earnings have plagued the industry. What has been the cause of the industry collapse? (Yes, besides the fact that their core consumer base found “Murder, She Wrote” too edgy and violent.)

 (And to think Skip’s deal as Pall Mall pitchman was just about to close!)

The NEW YORK TIMES picks up the meme covered elsewhere recently: if bingo players can’t smoke because of new anti-smoking laws, they don’t want to play bingo anymore. They’ll go to Indian reservations, get online, cross state lines, or just sit quietly with a tiny fire in their hand and wait to die.

We don’t see why the cigarette companies caved on the whole “cigarettes are addictive” matter. Not at all.
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• Mike Golic & Mike Greenberg bust their acting chops in “Guiding Light“:

Wonder if they’ll bring Dana Jacobson along to the Daytime Emmys?

• A-Rod is pumped at the thought of his daughters marrying Andy Pettitte.

• Knicks teammates Zach Randolph & Nate Robinson exchange words - then some water & towels.

• The Big Cactus needles Kareem & Wilt The Stilt about a lack of respect.

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• Keeping on the cancer stick shtick, KISSING SUZY KOLBER and WE ARE THE POSTMEN enjoy the smooth flavor of this classic Marlboro commercial for the NFL:

• FOOD COURT LUNCH jabs us wit their punchable faces of Chris Berman.

• WICKED GOOD SPORTS gives some tips to their Beantown brethren on how to avoid the stereotype of “that Boston fan“.

• MR. IRRELEVANT shows off proof that Dmitri Young had the same off-season workout regiment as Josh Beckett:

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We’re obsessed with Paul Lukas’ UNI WATCH BLOG. Every day he’s got something in there worth discovering. Today, Lukas has a post on the joy(!) of cigarettes in sports. He’s got plenty of photographic evidence, including this bloody smashing SI cover of Dick Allen:

We’d love to have sat in on the SI editorial meeting that selected the opening sleeve for that issue. Then again, it probably was pretty boring, since the cancer stick probably never came up in the discussion. Read more…