Looking lousy

On Tuesday night, I caught a part of Bryant Gumbel's newest episode of REAL Sports before going to bed. The story I caught focused on alleged mismanagement of the Jockey Guild by former Guild President L. Wayne Gertmenian:

In the sport of horse racing, a jockey without medical insurance is the equivalent of a NASCAR driver without a seatbelt. Yet for the men and women who ride 1,200-pound thoroughbreds, a helmet is often the only coverage they have. This is problematic in a sport where serious injuries are always possible, but finding fault has been difficult. Jockey Guild members have accused the association's embattled ex-president, Wayne Gertmanian, of mismanaging funds. But Gertmanian has countered that the blame lies elsewhere. Bryant Gumbel investigates this troubling situation, as jockeys struggle to pay their medical bills and gain the representation of their guild's highest office.

Gertmenian is a former member of the Nixon Administration and currently a Professor of Economics at Pepperdine University. In fact, my professor of Economics in 2000 while moving through the MBA program.

An engaging storyteller, he is a fine teacher and expert at involving people he's working with and recognized negotiations expert. If the REAL Sports report is taken at face value, he's also a world-class manipulator.

The segment highlights the involvement of Gertmenian's family members and long-time friends in the Guild, and includes some very unflattering video of the Doctor before a Congressional committee. All of which runs counter to my personal experience with the man, but I'm not in a position to really know at the moment.

I went to bed very perplexed by the entire thing and not certain what to think.