'Beat Boston' will continue even after contest's namesake is attacked

The show will go on.

Although he was the victim of a brutally violent attack on the Strip outside the Riviera on Friday night, professional gambler Alan Boston plans to continue participating in the college basketball betting contest in which he is competing against handicapper Brent Crow.

A win-Nguyen situation for Henderson poker pro

ROBINSONVILLE, Miss. -- Baby, he's the greatest.

Henderson resident Scotty Nguyen -- whose signature phrases range from "all-in, baby" to "Michelob, baby" to just about anything else "baby" -- outlasted a field of 327 players to win the Gold Strike World Poker Open late Monday night, the latest stop on the lucrative made-for-TV World Poker Tour.

After collecting the event's top prize of $969,421, Nguyen (pronounced "win") called his victory the second most significant in his career as a poker pro, behind only his 1998 World Series of Poker championship event title at Binion's in downtown Las Vegas.

Excuse the Interjection: Instant replay

Is the use of instant replay necessary in the NFL?

Columnist Ron Kantowski's take: Necessary? No. Can it be a good thing? In theory, yes. But the NFL had better call Pythagoras after last weekend's games. I guess Troy Polamalu's knee formed a right triangle that when squared was equal to the sum of Peyton Manning's underthrown passes. Or whatever logic was applied to rule that pass incomplete when it was obviously intercepted.

Excuse the Interjection: Winter Olympics

Should we refer to the site of the Winter Olympics as "Turin" or "Torino"?

Columnist Jeff Haney's take: Until the time comes when we say "Deutschland" instead of Germany, "Venezia" instead of Venice and "Eire" instead of Ireland in everyday conversation, it's Turin. That's the American word for the city.