MIT.

I can’t believe that there is a movie out about MIT nerds who went to Las Vegas to count cards. And I also can’t believe that it’s the #1 movie in the country. Who knew that it would be popular. I chalk it up to the alluring “winning at gambling” aspect and not that MIT students are sexy or anything. OK, so since the movie was set in the mid-90s when I was a student there, I want to tell my tiny little connection to the MIT blackjack team.

During my first 2 years at MIT, I hung out with a now-defunct fraternity, Delta Pi. This was a strange little fraternity, they had no national organization, but they were a fun bunch of guys. One weekend, I noticed that one of the brothers was concentrating on a deck of cards in the corner. He was trying to cut the deck of cards exactly the same number of cards each time. I watched him for a while and I asked him what the heck was he doing. He mumbled something about blackjack and Las Vegas and I thought he was lying or crazy.

Then, few weeks later, I remember a brief conversation he was having in the hallway with another person about having to “looking the part”. Apparently, he had a whole back story about how he happened to have $50,000 to gamble. I guess maybe he dressed up in expensive suits and watches and said he was some sort of European prince which is hilarious because he, like the rest of us, was an awkward, pimply, nerdy post-pubescent MIT student.

Anyways that’s all I know about the MIT blackjack club, but I guess I have a little claim to fame because I’m only 4 degrees removed from Kevin Spacey which is what I really care about. What a cutie! But I am married and he is perhaps, “playing for the other team”, so I might have to give up on my little fantasy. Is there anything more alluring than playing an MIT math professor?

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