Just hanging out at the Syracuse airport right now with my buddy Jordan as we are set to fly on the first of three flights today as we make our way to Vegas....we started by driving to Syracuse last night, then fly out of Syracuse this morning and head to Chicago, then Chicago to Los Angeles, and finally L.A. to Vegas....total travel time: 11 hours
Just a quick aside about Syracuse sports news.....they REALLY love lacrosse down here....I guess it helps when Syracuse has such a strong program and won the NCAA championship last season, but I've never seen so much lacrosse news packed into a couple minutes like they did on the local news last night....they even did a pack on the NLL Draft....weird!
This is my third attempt at trying to go to Vegas....I wanted desperately to try and fit Vegas in on my big baseball trip, but I just couldn't find room on the schedule....It wasn't as bad as my first attempt though....I had my tickets bought a few years ago, but the airline I booked with went bankrupt the week before and the trip was toast....
So, barring any problems, I should make it to Vegas by 5:30 pacific time today and get to the hotel by 6, just in time to catch the first quarter of Steelers and Titans at the MGM Grand as I meet up with another friend of mine, Ron, who's just as big of a sports fan as I am....after the game, we can start to explore a little bit more....
Looks like my schedule is already pretty full for the weekend, which is pretty impressive considering I'm usually someone that says and does things at the very last second all the time.....but I managed to book the trip a full two weeks before hand and planned things a couple weeks in advance as well.....a concept that's just so foreign to me....
Tomorrow morning, I have a bunch of interviews tentatively scheduled with different people from the MGM Grand that I'll be posting on the blog on a daily basis throughout the weekend....then Saturday, I participate all day at the World Championships of Fantasy Football at the MGM Grand as well....
I'll be working as a commissioner for one of the drafts on Saturday morning and I'm pencilled in right now to fill in and pick a team for someone that is not able to make it down to Vegas for the draft...not sure if I want that kind of pressure 'cause the WCOFF is not your typical 40-50 dollar pool....buy-ins are in the hundreds or thousands! A little too much for my liking....
Saturday night and Sunday will be the days to finally just relax and unwind....already got the VIP set-up at Pure in Caesars Palace with bottle service, then it's nothing but football on the Sunday at the sportsbook as a bunch of people have already got me to put bets down....and I'll be looking for my fantasy team, Fish Taco, to destroy Dirty's team....
Contrary to popular belief among all of my friends, I doubt I will find myself at a poker table or a craps table throughout the five days....I might do it once or twice, but I figure that poker is poker no matter where you go and I don't really need the "experience" of playing in Vegas....I'd much rather use my free time to explore every part of the city possible....
Even though I'm on the road, I'll be a part of the NFL Preview Show, presented yet again this year by ultimatetours.ca, with Lloydie and Yorkie as I'll be calling in from the MGM Grand tomorrow afternoon, so look for the debut of the show at 5 p.m.....I just hope to find a spot in the casino with not too many slot machines going off.... :-)