There's strange -- and then there's creepy
Oh yeah, I'd forgotten all about that. I have Michael Douglas' jacket. I'm moving down the hall to a different office at the Sun-Times, and as I was packing stuff up and throwing stuff out, I came across the jacket, which has spent the last four or five years tucked away in the back of a large file drawer, along with such collectors' items as a vintage Steve & Garry coffee mug, some yellowed clippings of columns from the Mullet Era, a signed photo from Julia Louis-Dreyfus circa 1994, and press kits from movies such as "Shrek 2," "The Grudge," "Meet the Fockers" and "Dodgeball."
The Michael Douglas jacket is a nondescript, dark-green, leather-collared lightweight overcoat with multiple pockets. I won the coat from Douglas in 2002 as part of a complicated bet involving shots of Jameson, a dare from Catherine Zeta-Jones and the lyrics to "Thunder Road."
OK, not really. In fact, the jacket is a wardrobe item from "Traffic." It was worn by Douglas in the role of drug czar Robert Wakefield, and it was among the items auctioned off at a charity event a half-dozen years ago, and for reasons I can't quite recollect -- but those reasons might have included beer and getting caught up in the moment -- I wound up as the winning bidder.
I suppose I had a fleeting notion of showcasing the jacket in a giant frame, the way sports bars hang football jerseys or the Hard Rock displays the concert attire of a Roger Daltrey or a Prince.
Instead, I folded the jacket and put it in that drawer and forgot all about it until the other day. (For pics of the wrinkled jacket, go to richardroeper.com.)
It's not like I was ever going to wear the thing. That would have been ... strange.
But not as strange as wearing a genuine Bernie Madoff watch.
Last Saturday, the government auctioned items seized from Bernard and Ruth Madoff's New York homes, bringing in more than $1 million.
A pair of onyx and diamond earrings worn by Ruth (I presume) went for $70,000. Another pair of earrings also went for 70 grand.
Somebody bought Bernie Madoff's custom-made, blue satin New York Mets jacket for $14,500. His college ring went for $6,000. One of Madoff's Rolex watches was sold for $6,500.
I guess some folks wanted a piece of Madoff memorabilia in the same way you might bid on a hat once worn by John Dillinger or an O.J. Simpson-signed football. There's a notoriety level at play. As one winning bidder of a Madoff item told the New York Times, "It's like having something off the Titanic."
"Even Ruth Madoff's Shoes Are Up For Auction," read the headline from the Business Insider -- but would someone actually wear those shoes, or walk around with a Bernie Madoff-purchased Rolex on his wrist? I can't imagine how that would feel anything but creepy. (And in the case of those shoes, J. Edgar Hoover-y.)
A Madoff Mets jacket? Michael Douglas is a good guy, and "Traffic" was a great film, but I obviously had no practical use for even that jacket.
In fact, I think I'll give it away. If it once again fetches a buck in the name of some worthy cause -- that's a lot better than having it sit in the back of another file drawer in another office for another five years.
The results are in from the Ladies Championship poker tournament in Lake Tahoe, Nev., and the winner is:
Greg Sessler.
Sessler, 22, was one of four men who entered the "Ladies Only" event.
As a spokesman for the World Series of Poker explains, "The WSOP isn't a political organization and can't be expected to get involved in debates about sexism, discrimination or other polarizing issues ... [but] the WSOP hopes that by offering and supporting ladies-only poker tournaments ... [men] will respect and understand the spirit of competition."
Of course, women can play in all WSOP events, and there are some world-class female players. Sessler said he entered the ladies tournament because it was the only one that fit his schedule, and he really wanted to play in a tournament.
"[It] had nothing to do with trying to take advantage of the ladies or thinking it was a softer field," he said. "This was the only tournament I could play."
Fittingly enough, on the final, victorious hand, Sessler was holding a pair of ladies, i.e., pocket queens.
What a gal.
Every time I hear about some guy trying to get a job as a "waitress" at Hooters or crashing some ladies-only event for whatever reason, I'm thinking it's kinda cheesy and obnoxious.
Let it go. Be a man.