Rap impresario Jay-Z invited bad karma to the party the moment he let "Balco Barry" Bonds attend the opening of the former's Palazzo nightclub. Needless to say, karma was only to happy to accept the invitation. 40/40 Club was dogged with negative buzz from Day One and yesterday what many had long assumed became established fact: 40/40 is toast. It'll become Palazzo's new sportsbook, replacing the sad little booth that sat outside the masoleum in which 40/40 was entombed.

Palazzo's owners, Las Vegas Sands, never seemed 100% thrilled to be in bed with Jay-Z. Heck, unless you had psychic powers, your chances of even finding the 40/40 Club bordered on nil. By not building a proper sportsbook and subsequently pouncing on the 40/40 space when the club faltered, it certainly looks as though Sands brass foresaw this contingency and even lay in wait for it. So what's now a plush sports bar with bad service has the potential (and the pre-existing layout) to become one of the best sportbooks on the Strip.

As for what Jay-Z saw in Sands ... good question. In an ideal world, I'm sure he'd rather have been at the Hard Rock or any of the younger, trendier MGM Mirage properties -- like Mandalay Bay, for starters. Palazzo is many things but "with-it" is not among them. Sedate, yes. Stodgy? Maybe. Hip? Never. Nobody goes to Palazzo to get their freak on.

One local blogger asserts that Jay-Z "will join with his Palazzo partners in their expansion and merchandising licensing opportunities elsewhere globally." But there is no such mention in Palazzo President Rob Goldstein's formal announcement (which Sands didn't bother to post on its corporate Web site). It sounds like more of the same baloney the rapper's peeps have been feeding out lately -- just as $44 million for half of 40/40 somehow turned out to be $40 million for the whole thing.

According to RapWeekly.com, it was a clean break: "Naming rights for the sports bar and lounge are not for sale." So 40/40 becomes Something Else, and Jay-Z and Las Vegas Sands head their separate ways. The rapper is already back to making headlines more conventionally, like today's, "Ne-Yo Upsets Jay-Z By Vomiting Near His Car" (yes, that's a real headline, folks).

Richard Abowitz and Steve Friess have opposite takes on 40/40's demise and they're both worth considering. Abowitz blames a lack of foresight and a muddled product, writing: "Rather than the synergy expected, the mix of a nightclub with a sports bar confused guests." Which doesn't contradict Friess' wrong-location-in-the-wrong-property thesis.

Palazzo spokesman Ron Reese gets points for gamely describing the current sportsbook as "less than ideal," which is probably the nicest thing can be said about it. "Casey in Tulsa" on Friess' blog is much closer to the truth when describing it as a "half-assed basement dwelling ... it looked more like an airport car rental check-in counter than an actual place to place a sports wager and catch a game."

Headline of the Day: One site cuts to the chase with "Vice President MILF." (The photo is actually Overstock.com über-hottie Sabine Ehrenfeld.) Sen. Joseph Biden may have Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin clobbered in the experience department, but has he ever been named Miss Congeniality of 1984? We think not!

Update: I was just being silly there, but GOP strategist Ed Rollins doesn't blush to cite the Miss Congeniality award as a qualification: "And don't assume she can't stand toe-to-toe with Joe Biden. She is a great debater. And she was runner-up for the Miss Alaska title, won Miss Congeniality in that contest and plays the flute." (emphasis added)

Maybe flautist Paulin and sometime-pianist Condoleezza Rice can hit the campaign trail with a program of flute-and-piano sonatas. Anything that elevates the tenor of contemporary politics is OK by me.