In the Orlando Sentinel, columnist Jerry Greene writes that the term "closer"—originally reserved for Mariano Rivera and his ilk in baseball—can now be used to describe anyone who is adept at sealing the deal. Greene uses the term to describe Florida State football coach Bobby Bowden's uncanny ability to snag recruits, and suggests that Enter Sandman should be played as Tiger Woods strolls towards the 18th green on Sundays. But while Greene seems to applaud those closers he's describing, there's one type of closer who has earned the wrath of writers: the blackjack dealer.

Back in 2001, just after he became ESPN's The Sports Guy, Bill Simmons first shared his un-PC theory about blackjack "bullpens."

For instance, this year we started comparing blackjack dealers to baseball pitchers. Have you ever noticed how the pit boss will always send over his most unfriendly, non-American dealer whenever the entire table is winning? It's uncanny. Anyway, within a few hours on Friday, we started calling this dealer the "closer"; by Sunday, it had evolved to the point that we would win a few hands in a row and start making jokes of the "Uh-oh, the pit boss just started warming up Mariano Rivera in the Asian Gaming Room" variety.

Several other writers and bloggers took Simmons's lead and ran with it.

In 2003, Evan 4444 wrote:

The term Mariano Rivera comes from the Boston Sports Guy. He was referring to when you are on a hot streak in Blackjack, and then the pit boss changes dealers, and in steps the meanest looking person in the world. He looks like he was just released from prison. And he shuts you down hard.

Over at The Path Beater, Scott Sarian added:

With deference to ESPN's Bill Simmons, I quickly became nervous when I recognized the Asian Table Dealer getting the call from the bullpen. Simmons' theory is that if a dealer is losing, the pitboss will summon the Asian dealer to put out the fire.

A few others borrow the language as well. Over at Las Vegas Trip Report, Mac writes,"They brought in an Asian dealer from the bullpen and it began to spiral out of control." Bill Zureikat of the Lewis Flyer adds in a column, "The pitbosses are watching you, and they will not let the casino take a loss. They have an entire bullpen of 'closer' dealers that speak little or no english and seem as though they haven't made contact with a human in years."

While it's possible that this very weird (after all, dealers have no influence whatsoever on the way the cards fall) and slightly racist (when it involves Asians) theory has made it into general circulation , it seems certain that Zureikat is a Bill Simmons fan, as he also borrows the old Simmons aphorism, "I'm getting more 13s and 14s than R. Kelly."

SI.com's Arash Markazi seems to have bought into the closer theory of blackjack. He wrote of Team USA's recent trip to Las Vegas:

"C'mon Mike, you're my man, give me a nine," says [LeBron] James to the diminutive dealer. "Don't let me down." For the most part, the dealer doesn't and James ends up buying Mike a drink before he's subbed out by another dealer, Traci, who ends up being the "closer" to the hot table, knocking out [Chris] Paul and a couple of his friends. The only thing missing was the dramatic opening of the bullpen door and the soothing sounds of Enter Sandman as she stepped to the table.

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