Joe Brennan Jr. Rewards Come From Life Rendering Encounters
Clearly The Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association founder Joe Brennan, Jr. won't be up for any eGaming Review Magazine awards this year. It's not as if eGaming Review Magazine even realizes there is a state, Kentucky, looking to seize 141 online gambling domain names and Mr. Brennan is working tirelessly to stop this from happening. They are yet to mention it even though the pride and joy of eGaming Review Magazine - Microgaming - seems to hold a special place in the heart (or some other part of the anatomy) of the commonwealth for reasons unknown.
And speaking of anatomy, Gambling911.com has decided to give its own award out to Brennan, Jr.
We lured him down to Miami Beach last January under the guise of a boxing match with our own Cuban transgender reporter, Sparky Collins. While Joe Brennan seems to have no problem taking on an entire state and the Dukes of Hazard, he was crying and bitching about having to fight the very powerful and awe-inspiring Sparky....so much so that we had to call the bout off.
Instead, a jittery and sometimes uncomfortable Brennan, warmed up to Sparky all through the party. It was the first time he had ever been with a transvestite.
The brash transgender reporter is the son of a Cuban government secretary who was described as "disruptive" back home. Though he fled the Communist island nation via an inner tube across 90 miles of shark-infested waters eventually landing in Florida, he/she probably should have just waited to be thrown out of the country. (video: Sparky Collins at the Gambling911.com Annual party)
Though it may seem as if this story is going nowhere, nothing can be further from the truth.
"I know what it is like to be silenced and for a government to censor like that state," Sparky said in his strong Cuban accent, unable to get the words out "Kentucky". "Can Yucky" he called it.
Sparky compared that state's actions to that of his native Cuba.
"Governor Beshear, he must be a fan of Castro," Sparky said.
It was after all the good governor's efforts that helped bring about this action against 141 online gambling domain names.
When Brennan, Jr. first met Sparky at the annual Gambling911.com party, he had no idea of the common ground they both shared, aside from the fact that the two share an affinity for ice cream and gum balls. Sparky has a bigger Adam's apple than Joe. And while in Kentucky, Joe never once mentioned the film "Deliverance".
Sparky's fight for freedom began in the mid 80's. He never quite has grasped the English language, yet he's achieved something few Americans ever will - becoming a writer for the famed and uber popular Gambling911.com website, read by millions. Some time in 2009, Sparky will officially be declared a US citizen. He regrets not being able to vote in the upcoming US Presidential race with the rest of the G911 crew who head to the polls for early voting in Florida on Thursday.
Brennan's fight for freedom began only this year. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth and adorned with diamond encrusted diapers, Brennan, Jr. has always lived on the right side of the railroad tracks. The first time he ever saw someone who looked different from him was on the show "Good Times". He had a crush on Penny (played by Janet Jackson) but she lived in the ghetto and was inaccessible. Penny's mom burned her with an iron. Joe's mom would use a similar instrument to press his expensive Armani suits and his choir robes. Brennan Jr. lived in a well kept three story tudor style brick home with 8 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms and ivy climbing up the walls, plus one of those Brady Bunch swing sets in the back yard.
He has never had to worry about his rights being infringed upon. He can vote (for McCain). He can speak out against injustices without fearing a lifetime prison sentence (similar to those of Sparky's childhood friends back in Cuba). Living in the commonwealth of Virginia, he can still only have missionary sex though, and only with his wife (think Marv Albert). The same laws apply in Kentucky.
After learning of Judge Thomas Wingate's decision to have those 141 online gambling domain names forfeited come November 17, Brennan Jr. was overheard saying by a friend "This is like Cuba."
No it's like Kentucky!
"Cuba at least they don't lie and they really care about children!" Sparky bellowed, referencing Kentucky Governor Beshear‘s ridiculous remarks about protecting the children from the wonton world of "illegal" online gambling when his state has its own Internet gambling website at www.twinspires.com.
Brennan's chance meeting with someone who is "different" than he is helped plant the seed that would nine months later help him to muster up the courage and take on a state that has long been stereotyped as "backwards". Brennan was now inspired to fight.
Because in America you can be anything you set your mind out to be, Brennan was not only fighting for an entire industry, he was also fighting for a Cuban transvestite who each day cherishes every ounce of freedom that was not available to him in his native Cuba. And while Brennan Jr. could not fight the transvestite last January, the transvestite put the fight in Brennan Jr.
------
Alejandro Botticelli, Gambling911.com
