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Pastimes : CNBC -- critique. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas M. who wrote (9670)	2/12/2002 9:47:36 AM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 17683

Caveat emptor? "At Global Crossing, an ambitious telecom start-up, chief executive Gary Winnick sold $734 million worth of stock in the years before the firm filed for bankruptcy. The stock once sold for $60 a share; today it sells for 6 cents." boston.com

To: Thomas M. who wrote (9670)	2/13/2002 6:34:59 PM
From: Yogizuna	Respond to of 17683

I was wondering what happened to Gary myself. He used to write for a sports web site as I recall.... Market valuations of many companies are still way out of balance, unless the valuation levels are discounting an amazing recovery in the growth of profits on down the line. At this point that seems highly unlikely, but only the fullness of time knows for sure.

To: Thomas M. who wrote (9670)	2/21/2002 9:26:28 PM
From: Gary M. Reed	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 17683

Tom, Thanks for the kind words. I'm still here, albeit in lurk mode. Working on getting my trading biz jumpstarted again. In one of the dumbest moves (hindsight is always 20/20) I've ever made, I thought I could trade, scout baseball AND run a hotel (something I had no experience doing) at the same time, and moved to San Diego last year to do the latter. Long story-made-short, the hotel endeavor was a success, albeit at a high price. Increased revs and EBITDA 45-47% in a Calif. market that as a whole, was down 10%, but in the process, put my trading clients "on hold" (big mistake) as the hotel renovations proved to be more time consuming than I had anticipated. Also, had a disgruntled employee break into my apartment and arson it in late May, losing everything in the process. A week later, I received a death threat through the mail, which the FBI told me was likely from the same (now ex-) employee, although they never could pin it down on this person. Meanwhile, as I was going 80-100 hours a week turning the hotel around, my trading clients grew restless and hence were in the process of letting brokers evaporate their trading capital. A couple of Merrill brokers were the biggest "butchers" of all, convincing these clients to load up on Tyco and (I swear I'm not making this up) Enron. In a couple of instances, four years of my hard work (example: I was up 230% in calendar year 2000) was evaporated in seven months of clueless recs from Merrill hacks. After completing the hotel turnaround, I decided I "had my fill" of the hotel biz, and moved to Sarasota, Florida last September to focus on scouting baseball and to rebuild the trading biz, though albeit I'm rebuilding it from scratch. I mostly lurk on SI now, if for no other reason than that it would feel strange trying to assert my thoughts while I have so little trading capital behind me. 2001 wasn't a total write-off for me, though...one of the first guys I ever scouted and wrote-up as an up-and-comer, an undrafted free agent in the Phillies' system two years ago, got called up in August to make his first major league start, in Philly. Early in his career, none of the other big-name scouting services ever gave this guy a chance to make it to the Bigs...but I was convinced he'd make it from the first time I saw him two years ago, and wrote him up several times on my website. Well, the day he got called up, his parents phoned me in San Diego and asked me to be their guest at his debut start in Philly. I've experienced a lot of cool things over the past 39 years, but sitting with his parents at his debut and 'hanging out' with him and his parents afterward was the biggest honor and thrill of my life. If there are any Phillies "phans" out there, you guys are in for a big treat with what Brandon Duckworth is going to provide your team this year...he is THAT good. Again, thanks for the kind words, and I'll try to be more active on SI. Gary floridastateleague.com