Gambling Opponents Take Sledgehammer to a Slot Machine

The slot machine stunt — which, sure enough, resulted in a pile of glass, wood and news reports —Road Roller SRRC204 manufacturers and exporters came just three weeks before voters decide Proposal No. 1, which would authorize table games like roulette, whose tables presumably would be more difficult to demolish.Not to mention more expensive: a decent roulette table will set a buyer back $800, while the unlucky slot machine attacked on Tuesday, a 2006 Triple Red Hot 7s, was a mere $345.Mr. Blankenhorn said he had bought the machine from a collector in Pennsylvania but neglected to tell him its fate. "I didn't have the heart to tell him that we were going to hurt it," he said.

Jim Shearer worked for the Cardinals the past 40 football seasons, yet the only places his given name showed up with any regularity was on paychecks and in yearly media guides.Otherwise, he was known as "The Machine," or, more commonly, just "Machine."That's what everyone in the organization, and in the NFL, called him.Machine, an assistant athletic trainer,Road Roller SRRC206 manufacturers and exporters retired last week. The Seahawks game, the 797th one he worked in 40 seasons, was his last.Machine gave his notice last week, telling President Michael Bidwill and head athletic trainer Tom Reed that he was done, tired of the grind.Just like that. Here one day, gone the next.

"It's definitely different," safety Rashad Johnson said on Monday. "When I walked in today and saw someone else holding down his station, taping up guys, it was definitely a different feel."The timing of Machine's retirement prompted speculation about the reasons. Had he been forced out? Was there a disagreement?Nope, he told those close to him. Forty years of early mornings and late nights, well, enough was enough.The NFL is not only tough on players and coaches, it's hard on those who work behind the scenes, including athletic trainers.It's a good living, but the hours are crazy. A player needs treatment at 6 a.m.? An athletic trainer has to be there. A coach wants his staff to work the Senior Bowl after the season? The whole training staff goes, too.What's really amazing is that someone did it for 40 years with one team.