Woo Hoo! My weekend is here--I left work an hour early just to get a head start. Well, that, and it was pretty slow in the casino. I spent an entire hour sitting at a dead Pai Gow table watching SportsCenter on one of the plasma TVs 30 feet away in the Gaudi Bar. And truth be told, I've actually got two weekends this week. I go back on Thursday for one day, then I'm taking some floater/vacation days off for Friday and Saturday when Sticky and Marty come to town. Word around the campfire is that there will be some sort of party-bus/limo type of buffoonery on Friday night, but the details are sketchy.
Anyhow, after I pulled the Eject handle last night, I scurried out before they could change their mind. I got to the roof of the parking garage and dang near instantly froze my ass off. Of course, 3:00 am is probably the coldest time of day, but the wind was howling up there on the fifth floor, chilling me enough that I actually buttoned up my flannel shirt (several of which have now made an appearance for the first time since last February). It reminded me of the three bitterly cold winters I spent in Rexburg Idaho, where no matter which direction you walked, the wind was always in your face. Can't say I miss that place very much.
It was still breezy down at ground level when I got home, making me miss my old condo back in Phoenix with it's fireplace--perfect for nights like this. Hopefully this wind doesn't bring a storm with it though. That's one thing I've learned from all these years living in the desert. If the wind doesn't stop blowing, expect a storm to follow. I'm hoping that the weather doesn't dampen our buffoonery this weekend, that's all.
And speaking of the Windy City, how about them Chicago Bears? Gotta love how they came back and beat the hapless Cardinals. But good teams always find a way to win, and Chicago is a great team this year. And the corollary is true also--bad teams always find a way to lose, and I've been watching the Cardinals choke away games and seasons for years. I was the least surprised person in the casino when the final gun went off. (In fact, I was a season ticket holder for a few years and was present at the last Cardinals game that was featured on Monday Night Football back in 1999--it was the game that ended Steve Young's career). Earlier in the evening, I was in the break room, sharing a table with four or five other dealers and watching the game in the fourth quarter when the Cardinals were up by 13 points. I believe my exact words were Don't worry, I guarantee that Arizona will find a way to blow this game. Mark my words...
Of course, less than an hour later, they proved my point and everyone reminded me that I called it.
Heh.
But Chicago was favored by 13 points, and although they came back and won the game, they didn't come close to covering the spread, much to the chagrin of thousands of gamblers here in Las Vegas. But the sports books were thrilled--they made a killing.
After my god-awful performance this weekend, I was very tempted to go large on Chicago and make it all back at once. But for whatever reason, I forgot about it on Sunday night, having been patting myself on the back all evening for not making the bet against the Raiders that I had planned on doing (if I had, I would've lost, again, because the Raiders covered). Anyhow, when I got up yesterday around noon, I was very tempted to run down to the bank, take out a hundy and go bet it on the Bears, thinking I'd make some extra cash before the weekend. But this time my inherent laziness saved the day. I just didn't want to go down to work twice in one day.
So, when the game kicked off, I was lamenting the fact that I didn't get a bet in, but very soon thereafter I was sooooo glad that I didn't. The Cards jumped all over them right out of the gate, and had I made the bet, I would've been down 33 points at halftime.
Talk about dodging a bullet!
But the Arizona Cardinals, historically being the most inept franchise in the entire NFL, proved once again that they can't be taken seriously as a team. Denny Green is Dead Man Walking as far as coaches go, and my only hope is that Matt Leinart didn't sign a long contract. He's gonna be great some day and deserves to be on a real team.
Anyhow, I just feel especially lucky for *not* betting on them like I'd planned on doing all weekend.
But now the weekend is behind us and we can avoid football talk for a few days. I've got to get a couple of hours of sleep, and then I'm meeting up with one of my readers over at the Orleans. We're then heading over to Hash House A Go-Go for lunch. I can't wait to try it--it's been on my list for a long time.
I'll have a full review later this evening.
Mikey
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