Craig Carton arrested by FBI

[NJDfan1711]

So I normally listen to Boomer and Carton in the mornings on my way to work, pretty much for the past 5 years or so, and I grew to like the show and both guys, each for their own characteristics and what they brought to the table.  Boomer to me is the more level headed one, probably obviously, and also of course has the prior athlete type knowledge, while Carton on the other hand has a down to earth and everyday-guy type of perspective.  For the record, I always felt Carton was pretty knowledgable about sports too -- he seems to understand the games, the players, the finances and behind the scenes stuff, etc.  Sure he's loud and sometimes obnoxious, but part of that is for ratings, and the other part is just who he is, but it never bothered me.  I mean, sh!t, most of us are NJ/NYers and, at least me, now living in the south, I sometimes has a reputation for being loud, a little arrogant, talking fast, and some of the other things northerners and people from that region sometimes get painted with a broad brush about.  That doesn't necessarily make someone a bad person or an a$$hole.  Maybe it's me turning a blind eye to some of it, but I tend to try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I look(ed) at things he did for various charities, his foundation, neighborhood organizations, etc.  Now, don't get me wrong, all of these allegations, while possibly (and probably) true, are definitely bad and also pretty irresponsible and perhaps reprehensible too, I don't think it makes him the worst guy in the world.  Maybe one of the stupidest, but I don't think the worst.  He's definitely dumb for getting rapped up in gambling debts, and even stupider to think he could fix and/or mask it by duping some large corporations, but there's far worse individuals in the world.  I have a feeling he will get appropriate time for his actions, probably a few years in jail with early release for good behavior and long probation after that, and to me that would be justice well served.  It's a shame, and I feel for the guy and his family, but you have to face the consequences for your actions.  I'll miss hearing him on the radio because I think him and Boomer made a good team, and I hope Boomer stays on air and gets paired with someone else and they're able to keep going without missing a beat.

[Daniel]

2 minutes ago, NJDfan1711 said:

So I normally listen to Boomer and Carton in the mornings on my way to work, pretty much for the past 5 years or so, and I grew to like the show and both guys, each for their own characteristics and what they brought to the table.  Boomer to me is the more level headed one, probably obviously, and also of course has the prior athlete type knowledge, while Carton on the other hand has a down to earth and everyday-guy type of perspective.  For the record, I always felt Carton was pretty knowledgable about sports too -- he seems to understand the games, the players, the finances and behind the scenes stuff, etc.  Sure he's loud and sometimes obnoxious, but part of that is for ratings, and the other part is just who he is, but it never bothered me.  I mean, sh!t, most of us are NJ/NYers and, at least me, now living in the south, I sometimes has a reputation for being loud, a little arrogant, talking fast, and some of the other things northerners and people from that region sometimes get painted with a broad brush about.  That doesn't necessarily make someone a bad person or an a$$hole.  Maybe it's me turning a blind eye to some of it, but I tend to try to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I look(ed) at things he did for various charities, his foundation, neighborhood organizations, etc.  Now, don't get me wrong, all of these allegations, while possibly (and probably) true, are definitely bad and also pretty irresponsible and perhaps reprehensible too, I don't think it makes him the worst guy in the world.  Maybe one of the stupidest, but I don't think the worst.  He's definitely dumb for getting rapped up in gambling debts, and even stupider to think he could fix and/or mask it by duping some large corporations, but there's far worse individuals in the world.  I have a feeling he will get appropriate time for his actions, probably a few years in jail with early release for good behavior and long probation after that, and to me that would be justice well served.  It's a shame, and I feel for the guy and his family, but you have to face the consequences for your actions.  I'll miss hearing him on the radio because I think him and Boomer made a good team, and I hope Boomer stays on air and gets paired with someone else and they're able to keep going without missing a beat.

I really have no sympathy for the man, even apart from the fact that his schtick really annoyed me.  I will grant that the crime he almost certainly committed was small potatoes, and nearly victimless in that he ripped off a hedge fund and other "big boys" that ought to have known better, and who won't really feel a lot of pain and will likely get some amount of restitution.  In the end, he'll probably get three years or so in Club Fed, and might have the stones to try and resurrect his radio career.

Still, on the air he touted himself as some sort of gambling genius and would give out advice to listeners, all the while he had millions of dollars in gambling debts (allegedly).  Who knows if people lost money following his advice, although again people ought to know better.  As to his charitable work, anyone can help raise money for charity with mostly other people's money, which, based on his reported salary ($250k) is probably what he did.  It's honorable enough, but it's often really not much more than virtue signaling.

But I do feel bad for his wife and kids.  He ruined their lives and humiliated them.  

[MadDog2020]

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/francesa-muzzled-wfan-suits-talking-craig-carton-article-1.3474562


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[MadDog2020]

https://mobile.twitter.com/KaylaMamelak/status/905516872807964672?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet [emoji23][emoji23]


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[2ELIAS6]

guy is a jerk anyway ... not surprised here.

[NJDfan1711]

9 hours ago, Daniel said:

I really have no sympathy for the man, even apart from the fact that his schtick really annoyed me.  I will grant that the crime he almost certainly committed was small potatoes, and nearly victimless in that he ripped off a hedge fund and other "big boys" that ought to have known better, and who won't really feel a lot of pain and will likely get some amount of restitution.  In the end, he'll probably get three years or so in Club Fed, and might have the stones to try and resurrect his radio career.

Still, on the air he touted himself as some sort of gambling genius and would give out advice to listeners, all the while he had millions of dollars in gambling debts (allegedly).  Who knows if people lost money following his advice, although again people ought to know better.  As to his charitable work, anyone can help raise money for charity with mostly other people's money, which, based on his reported salary ($250k) is probably what he did.  It's honorable enough, but it's often really not much more than virtue signaling.

But I do feel bad for his wife and kids.  He ruined their lives and humiliated them.  

Yeah I feel ya.  I meant to touch on the gambling thing. I'm a bit of a gambler myself, although never pulled the trigger on following any of his advice because when I would listen to the show it was on my way to work and never really at a point where I could execute a wager.  With that said though, I kept track of some of his bets just in my head and I actually think, at least the advice he gave on the air, was pretty sound.  I can't say whether or not he would win more often than he would lose, but he talked about hedging bets a lot and ways to cover yourself.  While not necessarily guaranteeing a win and shielding yourself from a loss, his advice on how to minimize potential losses was actually quite accurate.  Needless to say, the fact that he accumulated perhaps a crap load of gambling debt in light of some of the stuff he said on the air definitely is surprising, but in reality most people know it's pretty easy to get caught up in a snowball type situation like that -- once you get a pretty sizable loss, you wanna just make it back, but you don't, you get caught with a second, and a third, each one being exponentially bigger than the previous as you keep up your efforts to recoup your continuing losses, and before you know it, you're 2 million in the hole. 

I guess my biggest thing is that a crime like this which will most likely ruin his life and the lives of his family members just really sucks, because it's going to have a lot of the same repercussions and effects of people who do hard time for things like murder, rape, and other things that I'd consider substantially worse.  Not at all saying he doesn't deserve it, if anything I guess I just have some pity for him.

8 hours ago, MadDog2020 said:

https://mobile.twitter.com/KaylaMamelak/status/905516872807964672?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet


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Haha, that's fvcking hilarious.  So ruthless.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

NJDfan1711...like you, a lot of people CAN gamble responsibly and within reason.  I have friends who hit Vegas once or twice a year, might go to AC here and there, and they're all pretty good at not getting themselves into any appreciable debt.  Never been my thing...I guess that I'm just too attached to my money to ever lose it to gambling.

One thing I kinda hate is the whole "it's a disease" take...mostly because I think there are too many gamblers who use that as an excuse as to why they're not responsible for their actions (and why it's not really their fault when it results in them constantly screwing over other people out of money to feed their habit).  To me, it's not the same as being addicted to an actual substance that your body flat-out thinks it needs (not that I'm some advocate for drug addicts and alcoholics)...maybe I'm just not enlightened enough in that regard, but I find often gambling addicts incredibly selfish and annoying.

It's not that hard...if you don't have the fvcking money, don't spend what you don't have, and don't start fvcking people over because you can't get a fvcking grip on your gambling...and when the bottom falls out, take some friggin' responsibility for your nonsense.  I'm sorry, but to an extent I see this as more of a moral failing than I do substance abuse. 

[Daniel]

7 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

NJDfan1711...like you, a lot of people CAN gamble responsibly and within reason.  I have friends who hit Vegas once or twice a year, might go to AC here and there, and they're all pretty good at not getting themselves into any appreciable debt.  Never been my thing...I guess that I'm just too attached to my money to ever lose it to gambling.

One thing I kinda hate is the whole "it's a disease" take...mostly because I think there are too many gamblers who use that as an excuse as to why they're not responsible for their actions (and why it's not really their fault when it results in them constantly screwing over other people out of money to feed their habit).  To me, it's not the same as being addicted to an actual substance that your body flat-out thinks it needs (not that I'm some advocate for drug addicts and alcoholics)...maybe I'm just not enlightened enough in that regard, but I find often gambling addicts incredibly selfish and annoying.

It's not that hard...if you don't have the fvcking money, don't spend what you don't have, and don't start fvcking people over because you can't get a fvcking grip on your gambling...and when the bottom falls out, take some friggin' responsibility for your nonsense.  I'm sorry, but to an extent I see this as more of a moral failing than I do substance abuse. 

I'm not a doctor or a scientist obviously, but it almost has to be true that some people have a certain brain chemistry or genetic predisposition that makes them more inclined to engage in compulsive behaviors, one of which is gambling in one form or another.  I tend to agree with you though that we have to come up with some different kind of word for addiction than "disease."  Although overcoming addiction is not solely a matter of will power or "snapping out of it," to a certain extent it is.  There's still nothing in your brain that absolutely forces you to drive a few hours to AC and plop several thousand dollars down at the black jack table or to drive to the liquor store and buy a bottle of Jack Daniels.  On the other hand, there's really nothing you can do about late stage cancer or Alzheimer's other than figure out the best advice from a doctor and hope for some kind of miracle beyond your control.  That's what I'd call a disease. 

[Jimmy Leeds]

I was indifferent to his plight at first. But I am friends on FB with a radio personality who said she worked with him for years and she said there was no bigger jerk that she's ever worked with. Many of her radio friends chimed in all agreeing that it was a huge dose of earned karma.

He made his bed..........lie in it

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

3 hours ago, Daniel said:

I'm not a doctor or a scientist obviously, but it almost has to be true that some people have a certain brain chemistry or genetic predisposition that makes them more inclined to engage in compulsive behaviors, one of which is gambling in one form or another.  I tend to agree with you though that we have to come up with some different kind of word for addiction than "disease."  Although overcoming addiction is not solely a matter of will power or "snapping out of it," to a certain extent it is.  There's still nothing in your brain that absolutely forces you to drive a few hours to AC and plop several thousand dollars down at the black jack table or to drive to the liquor store and buy a bottle of Jack Daniels.  On the other hand, there's really nothing you can do about late stage cancer or Alzheimer's other than figure out the best advice from a doctor and hope for some kind of miracle beyond your control.  That's what I'd call a disease. 

Agree with your "disease" point and loose definition...that word gets thrown around too easily, and allows some to use it as a cop out for their selfish (sometimes bordering on sociopathic) behavior:  "I can't help myself, I have a disease!".  Unfortunately, as we know, alcoholism can be passed down (sure, you have to voluntarily drink it, but some people get hooked a lot more easily than others).  Physical withdrawal from a drug can be brutal and torturous for sure...for some of those addicts, it's so hard to deny those drugs that their bodies are constantly craving, no matter how badly that they want to get clean...I readily admit, when it comes to my 9-year-old daughter, that's one of my greatest fears...that she could one hang with the wrong person or persons, and get involved with (and possibly addicted to) drugs one day. 

No matter how I look at it, I can't put gambling "addictions" in that same "disease" category, even if some of the less pleasant symptoms mimic some of those of advanced drug users and alcoholics (burning through money, stealing/lying and doing whatever it takes to keep the fix going, etc).     

The ones I feel sorry for are those that Carton knowingly screwed over...and even more so, his children.  I don't feel any pity for him at all.   

[Daniel]

10 minutes ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

Agree with your "disease" point and loose definition...that word gets thrown around too easily, and allows some to use it as a cop out for their selfish (sometimes bordering on sociopathic) behavior:  "I can't help myself, I have a disease!".  Unfortunately, as we know, alcoholism can be passed down (sure, you have to voluntarily drink it, but some people get hooked a lot more easily than others).  Physical withdrawal from a drug can be brutal and torturous for sure...for some of those addicts, it's so hard to deny those drugs that their bodies are constantly craving, no matter how badly that they want to get clean...I readily admit, when it comes to my 9-year-old daughter, that's one of my greatest fears...that she could one hang with the wrong person or persons, and get involved with (and possibly addicted to) drugs one day. 

No matter how I look at it, I can't put gambling "addictions" in that same "disease" category, even if some of the less pleasant symptoms mimic some of those of advanced drug users and alcoholics (burning through money, stealing/lying and doing whatever it takes to keep the fix going, etc).     

The ones I feel sorry for are those that Carton knowingly screwed over...and even more so, his children.  I don't feel any pity for him at all.   

The fortunate news is that this appears to be an almost victimless crime in that Carton and his partners appear to have gotten most of the money from hedge funds, who can likely absorb any losses and might actually be insured, not to mention the fact that they probably should have known better.  Also the total money involved was something like $5.6 million, which isn't that much by Ponzi scheme standards and it doesn't seem to have been going on for that long.