Word: propped
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Hence the Déby dilemma: Prop up an odious but friendly regime, or allow Sudan, via its proxies, to sabotage efforts to stop the killing in Darfur...
...Still, intervening would undercut Sarkozy's efforts to move France beyond Françafrique, its half-century old policy of intervening in former colonies to prop up friendly dictators. Sarkozy had made it clear he wants to end such arrangements and favor greater democracy, events in Chad have left no good option. "I didn't want direct intervention before a precise legal framework" had been outlined, Sarkozy said Tuesday, insisting that the U.N. vote changed the equation. "We're no longer in what was called Françafrique. There are international rules, and I want to conform to them...
Though Manteris now shuns silly prop bets, it didn't take long to get a gambler like him excited about mine. Unfortunately, most of my ideas were illegal, since Vegas has been ruined by lots of laws and regulations over the past few years, none of which seem to have to do with restaurant prices. The law states that you can wager only on statistically verifiable sports events, thus eliminating my bet on whether the first cheerleader shown on television would be prettier than Tom Brady. My second plan, however, seemed promising. While I don't know anything about football...
Which is precisely the point of prop bets. Like any advanced form of capitalism, they twist something simple (like who will do better in the game) into a way to express yourself. My bet allowed me to self-express what a snotty jerk...
...prop bets are based on either luck or sports knowledge. I needed a Super Bowl bet based on my nonfootball expertise, something that would make me feel smart on a day I feel dumb. So I called oddsmaker Art Manteris to see if we could come up with a bet that he would post on all 19 sports books he runs for Station Casinos. Manteris, author of Super Bookie, was responsible for making proposition bets a huge business when, in 1985, he offered 20-to-1 odds at Caesars Palace that an incredibly fat defensive lineman named William (the Refrigerator...