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A major theme in the upcoming book about deceased portal operator Ken "The Shrink" Weitzner likely will be self-destruction, Gambling911.com can reveal in another exclusive about the controversial project!
Weitzner owned and ran betting-themed portals The Prescription (www.rx.com) and later Eye on Gambling (www.eog.com), making millions of dollars off them but blowing an equal amount of money on bad bets and bad investments before killing himself last April. Gambling911.com broke the news last week that Weitzner's stepson, Jerry Donahue, is writing a tell-all book about his late stepfather's controversial life.
Possible themes of the book are beginning to emerge.
One of them likely will be self-destruction--the notion that "The Shrink's" problems were brought on by himself.
When Weitzner was involved in a libel lawsuit with an offshore sportsbook operator in 1998, the case was taking place in a Virginia courtroom, but local media was ignoring it.
Weitzner saw an opportunity to gain publicity for himself so he called the local newspaper, the Virginian-Pilot, and asked them to send a reporter to cover the trial.
The newspaper did, and Weitzner--at first--was overjoyed.
But things soon started turning sour for Weitzner at the trial, as dirt on him uncovered by the other side's private investigators was offered in court as evidence of Weitzner's character, and the very unflattering evidence was duly reported in the newspaper's trial coverage.
Just days after calling the newspaper and begging for coverage, "The Shrink's" reputation was getting shredded in the paper and he was lamenting that he ever called them.
In an e-mail exchange with Donahue about the book, Gambling911.com reminded him of that story and noted that the incident was a microcosm of "The Shrink's" life--he brought on his own problems.
"I can't argue with your last statement," Donahue noted, suggesting that will be a major theme in the tome.
The theme of self-destruction is nothing new in literature--the concept has been around for centuries.
When Brutus complains about his problems in Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar"--written 400 years ago--Cassius scolds him, saying: "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars but in ourselves."
More recently--in 1971--Pogo, lead character in the newspaper comic strip "Pogo," summed up his philosophy of life with the now-immortal words, "We have met the enemy and he is us."
Accompanying the theme of self-destruction in literature is often the eventual theme of redemption--protagonist suffers setback(s) but is able to recover and turn his life around.
Unfortunately for Weitzner--and Donahue--"The Shrink" never got the opportunity for a Second Act.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
