According to the Detroit Tigers Encyclopedia, Navin often seemed to have inside knowledge about certain races probably the result of picking up good info from his employers down at the casino.
But they do need a certain level of knowledge and skill in order to have a proper appreciation of the technical and psychological issues facing the person they are mentoring.
But he also said - and this was probably the most interesting part of his sudden intervention - that he had "certain knowledge about the 11 September" and that "I have many, many information to give to the American people about an existing conspiracy".
The subject matter now is the challenges and risks China faces as it finds its own way, in full knowledge that borrowing from the West and leaning on the State have both reached a certain limit, of realizing that the nation is in uncharted terrain.