Sep 24
by Don

We are well into the college football season and with that comes our annual “away” game trip.  The Gators have been consistently good since I first went to school in ’93 so I have been very fortunate to have many wonderful football Saturdays in the fall.  This year Lori and I went to the UF vs. UT game in Knoxville, TN.  I have a cousin who lives there and her husband was nice enough to provide amazing tickets, so we were there with the quickness.

It was a great weekend on many levels, but here are some of things that I took away from the game:

  1. I am now 5 for 6 in games at Neyland Stadium that I have gone to; it’s like a home away from home.
  2. There is not one piece of flat land in a 25 mile radius of Knoxville. 
  3. The UT “T” is a pretty cool thing to see live.  They also have an announcer who has an incredibly booming voice; “It’s Football Time in Tennessee”. Very Cool.
  4. If you wear Blue then you will be padded down and searched at the gate upon entry.  If you wear Orange or White then you get a smile and a “have a nice time”.  JWB could have been my co-pilot!
  5. Although “Rocky Top” is not the Tennessee fight song, it’s the song most associated with the University.  It is played on every touchdown or big play.  It’s sort of a big deal to Vols fans.  This year it was only played 3 times during the game.
  6. Fulmer is a nice guy, a winning football coach for many years, and has the street that the Stadium sits on named after him.  This game was the beginning of the end of an era.

 

I wonder what odds Vegas is giving on Fulmer lasting to the end of the Year?  It took losing for Mississippi State to get the Zookster fired for the Gators a few years back.  Would losing to Kentucky do it? There needs to be a prop bet on this.

Sep 21
by Don

I just don’t know how they do it.  Since we went to Boston over the Labor Day weekend, I am guessing that Vegas is missing us. 

 

The number of offers that we have been receiving is only slightly out of control.  This is normally a good thing; check that, it’s a great thing.  However, finding the time to go has been nothing short of challenging.  So the offers just keep piling up.

 

The only thing I can say is that getting rated is a nice thing.  Oddly enough, the most aggressive casino has been Planet Hollywood.  I have only played there on maybe 2 occasions.  Yet they have been sending in offers at about a 2 a week clip.  It’s crazy.  I guess in this down economy you do what you need to do to get the crowds to come.

 

Now it’s just about finding some time.  Vegas is calling…

Sep 3
by Don

One of my favorite Vegas stories involves a pretty risk averse friend of ours, LL, who went to Vegas for the first time during a New Year’s that I am sure she will never forget.

 

It’s actually a good tale of the magic that is Vegas.  Basically it goes like this…

 

“The Schinde” loves this slot machine at New York New York, called appropriately $100 or nothing.  Basically you put in a dollar and if you get 777 you win $100.  Anything else gets you nothing.  Easy enough.

 

So we find ourselves all kinda grouped around this machine watching one dollar after the next go in with no pay out.  Schnide is hypnotized by this machine and swears that it will pay out, it always does.  MDF’s wife was about to play since it was her turn, but was looking for a dollar.  While she is doing that, LL is on the phone with her mom telling her how much fun she is having even though she has not gambled one bit and we are on day 3 of the trip. 

 

I think it was Lori who convinced LL to put a dollar into the machine and give it a spin.  LL begrudgingly gives in and pulls out one of her hard earned dollars, puts it in the machine and pulls the lever.  And wouldn’t you know it, the tumblers on the machine read 777.

 

Now we are all freaking out to various degrees and the look on LL’s face was priceless.  She was still on the phone with her mom and was telling her how she won!  Total pandemonium.

 

So of course LL promptly hits the cash out button, grabs the winning ticket, cashes out, and never plays another thing while we are there.

 

Going home we were all doing the financial math in our heads, the obligatory “up or down” as one tends to do while leaving Vegas.  I think that LL was the only one who went home up, and by $99 at that!