Las Vegas
Sam Boyd Stadium
August 31, 2002
As soon as you arrive at Las Vegas' airport, you are overwhelmed by the advertising,
which boasts huge names in entertainment at every major casino. The commercial continues
on the top of every taxi and through flyers being handed out to everyone who passes
any street corner on the strip.
Vegas seems to attract different types of people: those who love the rush of a gamble,
those who want to feel important and be treated to reflect this, those who want
to party, those who love entertainment, and the group I fall into, those who go
simply because they can. My roommates and I are all 21 now and the Badgers are playing
UNLV so why not?
It takes about 10 minutes to lose $100 unless you're playing poorly, then you
should cut that time in half. I wanted to play slots, thinking that would extend
the life of my money, but failed, then back to the tables for blackjack, which seemed
to be the best way to continue my entertainment, although definitely not the most
fun way. I like the rush of roulette... you hit and quadruple your winnings, you
lose and it's gone quicker than you would believe is possible, but I soon came
to realize blackjack is the best way to make the most time of my money.
By today, day three since I arrived, I decided to give up gambling. In a way, gambling
is like paying for entertainment, plus there's a chance you might win money
in return, but in another way, gambling is like lighting your money on fire.
Before heading to the Wisconsin-UNLV game, my roommates placed some money on it,
of course betting on Wisconsin to beat the spread, then piled eight of us in a car
and headed out to Sam Boyd Stadium.
Near the end of the game, the stadium's power went out and the stadium went
black. It was bazaar and I've never heard of anything like that happening, considering
there is probably a back-up power source, however they could only manage to get
the back-up emergency lights on, so after a wait they called the game and gave Wisconsin
the victory.
We hitch hiked home only to hear the beginning of rumors: the casinos were going
to lose millions of dollars on the game if Wisconsin won by that margin and if they
waited another two minutes the game would have been official. So, it was said, the
casinos stole a car, crashed it into the main power barrier to cut power in the
stadium with about seven minutes left so the game would not be officially finished,
and hence all bets were off, which is exactly what happened.
I'm not much of a conspiracy theorists; but it is odd how the back-up generators
didn't work and a driver hit probably the only place that would completely black
out the stadium in a stolen car. I've never heard of a game, before or since
losing power and not being able to recover it so the game had to be called. None-the-less,
it added to the atmosphere and story and Wisconsin walked away with a victory...
welcome to Vegas!
Paris Hotel
June 19, 2008
I've been to Vegas a couple times since I last wrote and still no longer gamble,
have found refuge with the entertainment. I've seen a couple Cirque du Soleil
shows and they are incredible. If you're ever in Vegas, go see Ka, that's
the winner in my book.
Venetian Hotel