PHASE THREE: Memos from my meandering mind

PHASE THREE By Arnold Bornstein: Thoughts on debates, sports gambling, entertainment and health.

By: Arnold Bornstein
   I will be watching tonight’s second presidential debate with apparent enthusiasm. Last week, in the hours preceding the first debate, I surprisingly felt enthusiasm similar to looking forward to a New York Jets pro football game on television.
   Interestingly, for the Jets game last Sunday, I had my customary beer as well as pretzels, while during the first debate I had Fruit 2 O (fruit-flavored, bottled water) and soy crisps. Regarding the snacks and the respective TV viewing, I don’t know the psychological and/or sociological implications, if any. All I can say is that I’m staying tuned, to the debates and to the Jets.

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   In connection with my fondness for sports (and not considering presidential debates as a sport), I have some sports predictions that should absolutely be ignored in terms of betting. By the way, I have been informed that it’s illegal in Las Vegas to bet on presidential elections and casinos there do not make odds or take bets on it.
   However, I noticed that betting facilities in England, Australia and elsewhere outside the United States are taking bets. It’s hard to decipher their odds though, other than to note that it’s very close and no doubt will fluctuate from week to week.
   Again, ignore the betting potential of my sports predictions, as I usually predict with my heart rather than my mind, and my dismal record has been significantly more wrong than right.
   In any event, the Boston Red Sox will finally win the World Series (I’m an anti-Yankee fan and, as you know, the Mets were out of it long ago). The New York Giants will slump as their schedule progresses, and the Jets will go far in the playoffs.
   Shortly after we moved to New Jersey, the federal government was getting ready to enact a law banning states from allowing sports betting, other than where it already existed — Las Vegas. New Jersey was given an exemption within a timeframe, as the state at the time was considering sports betting for Atlantic City casinos.
   It would have required a statewide vote, but politicians — who too often let politics trump over judgment — never let the proposal get out for a vote by the electorate. So the timeframe exemption expired and New Jersey became governed by the federal ban.
   Just think, if there was legalized sports betting in Atlantic City, perhaps you could have become a quick millionaire without even leaving the state.

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   What is entertainment? To me, it seems basically to be subjective. What entertains one person can be a bore to somebody else. When you ask family or friends about a particular movie, TV show, book, show, concert, even a restaurant, or whatever, you can get a widely varying difference of opinion, some of which may differ with your own. While I would not classify presidential debates as entertainment, a number of people would contend that the format apparently does have some entertainment appeal.
   That which can hold our attention or divert us or distract us from preoccupied thinking is probably at the core of entertainment. Our jobs, our family concerns, our daily stress and pressure are often relieved by entertainment, which is why the entertainment industry thrives so successfully in the world.
   Living in a so-called adult community where most of the residents are retired, you see another side of the issue. In such an environment, people are often seeming to seek an abundance of entertainment to perhaps offset boredom rather than to relieve the pressure of jobs they no longer have. The old joke among seniors when asked about making an appointment commitment is: "I’m too busy!"
   Another aspect, however, is that retirement does provide the freedom of time, time to do and pursue many things that you were unable to when working fulltime and your children lived at home. Oscar Wilde said that "art is choice" — in that, for example, one person could look at a modern painting and see art, while another looks at it and sees optical gibberish.
   In a larger sense, if entertainment and art are subjective and relative, then it follows that what we deem a good lifestyle or a good quality of life also involve subjective and relative choice.

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   For many years now, medical and health spokespersons have been urging us to improve the way we eat, exercise and control our stress. Evidently, a number of people at just about all ages haven’t gotten the message, or received it but discarded it.
   There’s no point in me belaboring the issue. As it says on medication packaging, consult your health care practitioner. However, I would like to advocate the joy and value of an exercising regimen. No matter what the quality or level of their game or exercise, it’s good to see people playing golf and tennis, biking, going bowling, tap dancing, and taking walks or even jogging around the community where we live.
   I got into running as I approached middle age and in recent years shifted to racewalking and biking because of less pounding on the legs. In fact, while writing this column, I suddenly got up from my computer and went outside for some easy racewalking. It took my mind off of things for a while, I couldn’t hear if the phone rang, my mind seemed to think more clearly, and I came home somewhat refreshed.
   If you exercise rather regularly, that’s great. If not, it’s something you may want to try. It should also help your stress control as well as help your eating habits.
   

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   My wife wasn’t having a good week recently because of a family matter, and I overheard her talking on the phone to her close friend, who with her husband is facing difficult health issues. My wife said: "The whole world isn’t all round; it’s also lopsided — and we’re on the lopside."
   Generally, we eventually get back on the right side.
Arnold Bornstein is a resident of Greenbriar at Whittingham in Monroe.