She trounced men at age 9,
and she's not through yet

     Maybe you heard about the 9-year-old girl who was recruited by Warren Buffett to play table tennis. Seventeen million Americans play table tennis but this guy picks a tiny girl named Ariel Hsing. You can see her in action on the sports page of the Wall Street Journal of May 2. Buffett liked Ariel so much the first time he met her and saw her play that he invited her to the Berkeshire Hathaway annual meeting. Can you see all those multi-millionaires standing around waiting for an opportunity to hammer this kid? Would anyone be surprised to see the guys win. Of course not. "She's a killer," said Buffett, probably to himself, "and I knew right away she had the potential to be great." Oh oh, Do you see a huge upset coming? Host wants to see this tiny girl take out a bunch of rich guys who think they're terrific table tennis warriors. So Buffett probably neglected to tell his troops that Ariel was the under 10 US girls champion--and you can guess what happened. She just about ran them out of the room. Two years later Buffett invited Ariel and her family to the Berkshire annual meeting, which drew 30,000. Ariel offered to play for three hours on Sunday, and to take on as many so-called athletes as she could--playing each in a game to three. Once again, a rout. But hey, she's 11 now and not afraid of anyone. The next year Buffett offered a premium box of See's candy to anyone who beat her. Ariel, says the Journal, was afraid she might cost Buffett a stack of chocolate. As it worked out, hardly anyone could score a single point. Are you really surprised? Ariel is in high school now, and at 16 is the top player in the US under-18, and no. 2 overall. A little more than three weeks ago she won a place on the US Olympic table tennis team. The little girl playing against men has matured. Can you imagine how tough she'll be at 21?

If you liked John's writing,
you'll love his new E-Book

      When I started my Web site in 2000, I did it to keep in touch with all the friends I'd made in more than 45 years in the casino business. But you'll see some changes soon, maybe even before the end of May. And because most of you out there are still my friends, I owe you an explanation. If you read www.romeromarketing.com regularly, you know I began the site as any casino marketer would--writing about my various marketing specialties. Great fun, too. I've worked for at least 30 major casinos in the last 11 years and wouldn't trade that for anything. But now I'll ease slowly into a new profession. You'll find the same in-your-face humor you've seen many times in my writing; I'll probably keep the monthly Quotemasters; I'll still champion the need for "sense breaks" in headline writing, and I'll roar at anyone I think is bothering my friends. But you'll see an author emerge to tell stories that are just as odd and humorous as anything I ever wrote or spoke about in casino marketing. Most of you know I wrote two small press hardcover best-sellers on casino marketing in the 90s, and if I can kick down the door to that career again I'd do it in half a second. So when I noted the sudden rise of E-books last year that's exactly what I did. Consequently, my first E-Book will be published in May by Abbott Press. It's named Las Vegas, The Untold Stories. What? Did you think I'd write my first one about five guys in a garage band? Of course, most of the stories in this book are about Las Vegas in the 50s, 60s and 70s, and you'll like them. But you don't hold my Las Vegas book like you would a paperback. Instead, you read it through a Kindle, a Nook or an Apple iPad. My best advice--get one. My Webmaster, Ken Dubrovin, will be at work on a new presentation soon and I guarantee it will be just as glorious as last week's sketches. And practice calling me Mr. Author from now on.

Stand back!
Quotemasters
running wild

     "There comes a time in the affairs of man when he must take the bull by the tail and face the situation."

     "Business? It's quite simple. It's other people's money."

     "Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before."

     "It doesn't matter whether you are a man or a woman. What matters is your grasp of the problems and the need for action."

     "Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence."

News archive.

Tip of the week archive.

Quote of the month archive.