Cole won’t bet because he’s morally offended — or pretends to be. A wager for personal enrichment would be offensive which is why I stipulated from the outset to give any money received to the USO. I’m too exhausted to deal with this in any great detail, but his moral preening as an excuse not to make a prediction convinces me not at all. We make wagers of one kind or another on serious events every day of our lives. The stock market goes up or down as analysts gamble on how events in Iraq are going. Regulators use cost-benefit analysis which is a means of playing the odds– and lives are cetainly on the line. If his delicate sensibility can’t handle this, somebody get him a fainting couch. But the moral lecturing is simply a pose if you ask me.

For example. He says: “A wager on the backs of human beings. Perhaps Mr. Goldberg would like to bring back slavery, as well.”

Ignoring the almost abject hysteria and truly ham-fisted moral bullying of this rhetorical fluorish, I do have one question for the good doctor. In all of his language studies did he ever come across the latin phrase “non sequitur”? This may be the dumbest, lamest attempt to play the race card I’ve ever encountered. Does this schtick really work in the classroom?

Here’s one reason I think he’s full of it. All day long I received hundreds of emails from Cole fans who insulted me in every imaginable way. I don’t think one of them said the bet was morally offensive. Some said it was lame, of course. But nobody was offended, let alone “nearly immobilized by disgust and grief” the way the morally dainty Doctor claims to be. Funny thing, that. You would think some of these folks who are so sympatico with Cole, who see nothing wrong with calling me an idiot, a monster and a chickenhawk might have taken the time to express the slightest offense. The only explanation I can think of is that since they didn’t need to come up with a strategy to get out of a tight spot it didn’t occur to them. Heck, I even heard from several guys in the military, in Iraq, who offered to contribute money if I lost the bet. They didn’t seem particularly offended.

Lame doc, very, very lame. I’m going to take my victory lap now. I’m done too.