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  Peacocks are all show and no go. Sure, they look great and stare at us with that "I'm better'n you" look while fanning out their tail feathers, but they can't fly, have a singing voice that makes them the "tiny tim" of songbirds, and really don't have enough meat on them to satisfy any appetite bigger than that of a dieting supermodel. By comparison, the homely turkey has quite a bit more going for it than the cocky bird from India. This may make the peacock a subpar bird, but qualifies it as the perfect mascot for NBC. Nothing points out this fact more than their choices for the 2008 NBC Heads-Up Poker Championship.



  NBC has issued the first 20 invitations, and the people who made the list were about as much of a shock as when someone sees a swallow in the city of Capistrano. The first round of invitations were sent to Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, Jamie Gold, Jerry Yang, former National Heads-Up champs Ted Forrest (2006) and Paul Wasicka (2007) also found invitations in their mailboxes. Five-time WSOP bracelet winner Phil Ivey made the A list along with Jennifer Harman, Barry Greenstein, Mike Matusow, Howard Lederer, Annie Duke, and Antonio Esfandiari. Actress Shannon Elizabeth even managed to find herself on the guest list. The only nod that was given to the online world was the token pick of Brian "sbrugby" Townsend.



  If you look up and down the list with an objective eye, this is more like the roster for an episode of "Battle of the Network Stars" than it is a Heads-Up Poker Championship. If we are building a list based on current merit instead of name recognition and past glory, Doyle Brunson isn't anywhere near the top twenty. And what about Shannon Elizabeth? To date she has won nothing of note in the sport of poker.



  As curious as the people they included in this championship are the people who are not part of the first 20 invited players. Phil Hellmuth, arguably the best player on the planet, was not on the list. Also conspicuously absent was online sensation and WSOP Europe Main Event winner Annette "Annette_15" Obrestad. She is one of the best stories of the year for the sport of poker, she should have been one of the first names on the list, not a consideration for the second tier of invitees.



  Apparently NBC is more interested in star power than players who can thrive in the current poker environment. What should we expect from the network that decided that resurrecting "Knight Rider" was a good idea?