Meet Your Major League Lock Club: Gladiator

The next installment of the "Meet Your Major League Lock Club" focuses on James "Gladiator" Banks.  Simply stated, the man is on fire.  9-3 people.  At $110 dollars a game, he would have turned $1320 dollars into $1880.  Not shabby.  Bruh, get out of this league, get that Drop Money, and take a drive to Vegas!  Maybe Jerry will let you stay on his couch.

I have included the full transcript as delivered to me by Mr. Banks.  I have also included a brief glossary for the bolded terms at the end of it to aid all non-Ladder 1 MLLC members' in their understanding.

***The following is an update offered by Mr. Banks

Meet Your Lock Club Questionnaire Form:

Your Full Name: James Richard Banks Sr.

Your Desired Lock Club Nickname: Gladiator

Birthplace: Cincinnati Ohio        

Currently Residing in: Indianapolis (a.k.a. Fire Station 1) Lol.    

High School/College/PostGrad: West Hi. ISU. And The Streets!

Sports Played and Level: Elementary School. "Legend". I've been spotted playing some HS, College, and Professional ball, Until finally at the firefighters combat challenge in Dallas and got my walking papers by Sir Tom, who wore a Fedora! Look it up if you don't know who I'm talking about!

Current Profession: Prestigious LC Member and Firefighter/Meter Reader/Director of the Lady GymRats "You Know"

Greatest Sports Accomplishment: Scoring the winning TD for West Hi against Elder in the now Great American Ball Park which replaced Riverfront Stadium. Running right in the zone where the Reds Dugout now sits. We hadn't beaten those R.N. Panthers from Elder since a
Pete Rose lead team did it. Word on the street is laid 2 stacks on the Mustangs to Win 20 years earlier. "Allegedly". West Hi got another win 20 years later when they bused a real bruh "Me" to West Hi! For you historian, Yes, Me & Pete Rose played at the same high school. 

Greatest Gambling Accomplishment: $5 G on the Hoosier Lottery!!!

One interesting fact no one else in the MLLC knows about you: I scalped tickets while playing game on Friday night in HS. I had the took up with some dude in the AD's office. I'm S. T. N. with some common sense!!!

As of this moment in history, what is your favorite song: Too Hard, but give me R&B any day of the week.

You have the floor.  Pontificate on any topic that you would like. Imagine that you have been given a segment on SportsCenter or 60 Minutes: 

I want to be on XM radio: UNCENSORED!!! Talking Trash or Shit. You decide which on you want. LOL!!!

Whatttttt??? "Pontificate"
First off, I didn't know what the heeezzz "Pontificate" was! That's some T-$, Commish, and W-1 shit! He's always trying to trip someone up with Big Ass words! At least for me they are. Lol. So why couldn't he just say speak on a topic. Pontificate! Get the Phuck out of here. I thought it was form of diarrhea. Now com'on man, was I the only one scratching head or looking in the dictionary for that one!  

I'm talking straight Bullshiggiddy!!! It's a Avondale thang. You might need a police escort if you happen to go through there these days. Well, Well, Well, lookey lookey. I stole that from Sha NaNa. What really going On? That's mine. Y'all messing with the wrong NWA. Just trying to be funny here. Ha Ha Ha. 

Y'all are getting ready to get the businazzzzz!!! I'm going to put this thing to bed early. So give me my MONEY !!! Commish you should have ask me for a resume before you let me in this all W'dub's Club! "Allegedly". It's no hoods allowed! Huh? You have to have a honest job to be in this fraternity! You can't be hanging on the porch in your lumberjack shirt waiting for someone to drive down the street to make a deal! Lol. Remember don't tell the other members that I'm giving you a cut after I win everything. So keep it on the Low!

Fellas this is FUN. Watching y'all poor S.O.B's struggling. This Lock Club stuff is for grown folks. My Bruh's, that's W'dub's too, sit back and take notice, as Gladiator gets locked-in, it's the Vincent Carter sign after he won the Dunk Contest, it's over!!!  Are y'all not entertained! I need to take some dirt and throw it in y'all face. This is too easy!

And I'm out this Mikey Flick!

This Is Gladiator!!!
Yeahhhhhhhh Boyyyyyyyy

Glossary
Avondale - What be like a neighborhood of Indianapolis that's straight-up hood!

Bruhs - African Americans 

Bullshiggiddy - phrase coined by Huggy Lowdown meaning nonsense.

Firefighters combat challenge -  This is and athletic event related to a firefighters job. I participated in one down in Dallas.

Sir Tom in a Fedora - Had Tom Landry tell me he had to let me go. (Got Cut)

Get the businazzzz - to be on the receiving end of a vigorous session of sexual intercourse or just getting fucked up

heeezzz - heck or hell

ISU - Indiana State University

Lady Gym Rats - Nike Elite AAU program; have won national championships

Mikey-Flick - mother fucker

NWA - originators of "gangsta" rap, one of whose members use to drive a Feet-2-10

R. N. Panthers - Redneck Panthers; Elder High School Panthers; all-male Catholic high school in Cincinnati famous for their concrete bowl stadium "The Pit."  Google it.

S.T.N. - Still that NERGO

W's - Caucasians


W-1 - Head Caucasian at IFD Station 1

How 'bout Them Cowboys!

It was a crazy week full of ups and downs.  Only one person went 3-3 (our leader, Gladiator) and only one person went 0-3 (Montez, currently 14th of 14).  We had four people start in the negative and finish at even or better for the year, while busted Vapors ensured that Dirty D and CDes/Bink would experience the opposite fate.  As a league, we were 0-3 on Vapor Locks total and saw our League Net Unit Total for the Season fall to -24.

The big mover of the week was Well Tea who overcame a -2 penalty for failing to submit his picks on time to move from 7th into 4th.  On the flip side, this week's biggest losers were Dirty D and CDes/Bink.  Dirty D continued his plummet, going from 6th to 11th.  CDes/Bink went from fourth with 6 points to 9th with -5 points.

Gladiator is currently riding the longest consecutive win streak of the season at six in a row.  The longest consecutive loss streak is a multiple way tie at 4.

1 Not the Loneliest Number

Things did not start off well for the MLLC early on Saturday.  While TCU came out and took care of business for Uncle PJ, the other early games were not so kind.  Dirty D saw his consecutive loss streak reach four as PSU not only failed to cover but got pounded like they were one of Jerry's Kids in the showers.  The Hoosiers were, well, the Hoosiers, letting the Captain down in the process of getting run off the field by a bad Div 2 team.  Add Wisky failing to cover to this motley crew and you have a lot of long Lock Club faces.

Things took a change for the better for most members from here.  The lil' BG's managed to cover by 0.5 points for T-$.  NC State kept it close for Well Tea who bounced back well after being hit with the "late fee."  The Irish proved their -9.5 line wasn't just a sucker bet for our resident ND supporters, Packy and Cento.  Even Ole Miss managed to pull through with a huge TD on 3rd and basically goal in the final minute of their game for an improbable cover.  However, it wasn't all rainbows and lollipops as the Dreaded Duo of CDes and Bink lost their 11 unit College Vapor when Mizzou managed to steal one from the OBC's 'Cocks.

So where does that leave us?  Gladiator is still "killing" every one (see what I did there).  T-$ treads water in second.  Then comes the pile up.  Meehoe and Well Tea are tied for third with 2 units.  Captain, Dirty D, Packy, and Uncle PJ are all tied for fifth with 1 unit.  Cento and Gator continue their climbs out of the negatives while CDes/Bink fell from a tie for third all of the way to 11th.  The Hitman fell into twelfth, and the bottom two spots remained the same.  On a side note, if the Nebraska score holds, Spencer will break his consecutive loss streak at four.

Meet Your Lock Club: Dirty D

Welcome to the first post of a new regular segment here, "Meet Your Major League Lock Club."  Over the next few weeks, I would like to feature every member on here in an effort help people get acquainted.  We truly have an interesting and diverse group of men gathered here with some fascinating back stories.  In future editions I hope to take the answers provided via the survey I send out and compose a fresh write-up, but I felt like Dom more than answered the bell this week.  I'm just going to paste his replies here.  Again, feel free to log in using a gmail account and leave comments and feedback.

Da Bears!!! - Week Three Review

Monday Night Football brought with it the last of the first five Vapor Locks played this season.  T-$ laid 9 units on the Bears, taking the 2.5 points.  He wasn't alone in believing in Da Bears as 10 others choose Chicago as their S/MNF pick.  Their faith was well rewarded with an easy cover.  Tonight also officially marked the largest number of MLLC members in the same place to watch a game (4).

Week Three was a much better week for the MLLC.  After going a collective 11-29-2 last week, Club members rallied to pull off a 26-16 mark this week.  They also improved from -54 units last week to +34.  Who had big weeks?  No one was bigger than the Gladiator who moved from third into first.  Going 3-0 with a Vapor Win allowed him to gain a 12 point lead over his closest competition.  That would be T-$ who also gained a Vapor Win while picking 3 of 3 games correctly this week.  This propelled him from 7th into 2nd.  Uncle PJ made a major move as well going from last to 8th by nailing his lock.  Dom and Spencer didn't fair as well.  Dom went 1-2 but missed his College Vapor.  This dropped him from being in first with 10 points to sixth place with three.  Spencer took home the Golden Sombrero as he ran his consecutive loss streak to 4.  The King has last place all to himself at -24 points.

Look for the official MLLC lines for Week Four to be published midday on Thursday.  Hopefully I will be able to provide a link instead of forcing you to download it - just like the Pick Sheets.

Have a great week!

More Vapor Action

Yesterday's action saw two of the top players in the MLLC play their first Vapors.  As noted earlier, one was propelled into a healthy lead while the other has since fallen all of the way into sixth.  Today's action saw two teams at the bottom hitch their fortunes to the fabled Vapor Lock train.  How did it turn out for them?

Cento decided to place 10 units and his NFL Day Game Vapor Lock on the Dallas Cowboys.  Things were looking bleak (down 21-0) until the Cowboys rallied late to cover the 1 point spread.  Not only did this help my man move from next to last into a tie for eighth, but that 2 point cover puts him in the lead for largest NFL Vapor Cover.

Uncle PJ also went all in this week, placing 11 units on New Orleans to cover their 10 point spread against Minnesota.  Despite being one of the hardest games of the day to watch, DREW BREES and the boys managed to best Teddy Bridgewater's gang by 11.  This Vapor Cover moved Uncle PJ from last into a three-way tie for eighth with the aforementioned Cento and Packy.

The S/MNF picks are interesting.  Two folks took Carolina (-3.5) while one took Pittsburgh (Gator).  Everyone else took Chicago (+2.5) with the exception of the Hitman.  Stay tuned.

You Caught the Vapors

Vapor Lock play got underway this Saturday with both our leader (Dom) and Gladiator throwing down a bonus five spot on Cincinnati and TAMU, respectively.  The Vapor giveth and the Vapor taketh away...

The first Vapor Lock of the season saw TAMU easily cover a 33.5 point spread over a hapless, Eric Dickerson-less SMU squad.  In fact, they covered by 18.5 points, leaving the Gladiator in sole possession of the largest College Vapor spread of the season (that and he was the only one thus far).  Gladiator maximized his unit allocation to gain the full 11 units from his victory, moving him into first place with a total of 17 units.  Our leader heading into the week, did not fair as well.  Dom dropped his first Vapor Lock when Cincinnati failed to cover their 28 point spread against Miami of Ohio.  However, he minimized the damage by having only placed 7 units total on the game.  It is still possible that he could come out on the plus side of the week.  The loss temporarily dropped Dom to fourth place with 3 points.

Major League Lock Club Website is Up!

As of noon on Sunday, September 21, the Major League Lock Club website is live!  Check it out and stay posted for the latest news.  The site can be found at http://mlcc.x10host.com