Time for the 2019 NFL season!

Hi everybody! It's almost here - the 2019 NFL regular season! I'm trying to have a muted optimism over the '19 Browns. We won 7.5 games last year - and improved our skill positions on offense and really upgraded our D line. That should translate to 10, 11 wins, right? Not so fast. So many things can go wrong with this team - are we sure the rookie coach was the right choice? Will Odell be a diva? For that matter, is Baker a diva? Who knows.

My prediction: 9-7 and a wild card berth.

Anyway, it's time to get ready for the weekly posts on this blog and the world-famous themed picks. Of course I am doing the SuperContest again this year - was #32 to sign up back in March - and I'm looking forward to get back into the groove I was in during 2017. Not too much pressure there, right?

To reset, here are my career records for the picks on the blog:

Best bets in 2018: 102-110-8  (48.1%)
Career best bets on this blog: 1574-1458-90  (51.9%)

Supercontest in 2018: 42-40-3 (51.2%)
Career Supercontest: 351-309-20  (53.2%)

Need to do better this year!

To get everyone in the mood for NFL football, it's time to watch old clips of the pregame/introduction to games from the 70s and 80s. Let's focus on NBC in the 80s. It's amazing how bad/poor their production was compared to CBS. Everyone knows the NFL today theme - does anyone remember the pregame program from NBC?

Let's compare: Here's CBS's NFL today from 1981; Brent's voice at the beginning still gives me chills and the theme appears at 1:10.

Now we have NFL '81 on NBC with Bryant Gumbel.....stranded by himself with Pete Axhelm coming later. Now it's not their fault they have to preview the Patriots/Colts game......

(and people wonder why the Colts left Baltimore)

NBC did get more dramatic later in the 80s - by adding a montage of "great games, great moments, on NBC". The music here is much better- yes, chill inducing. Two examples:

1. Opening from September 1987

2. Opening from 1988

I loved those montages. They need to bring them back.

Finally, yes, we will have a theme for our picks this year! There was a post on this blog way back when that generated a lot of interest - we are going to expand it this year into 17 weeks. Hint: you will be hungry!

Picks should be posted on Tuesday, since I will be away from the internet for 5 whole days starting on Tuesday - this is thanks to Layup and his wife who couldn't schedule a birthday outing around the NFL season. Hey - if the PGA tour can revamp their schedule around the NFL, can't you schedule a boat trip without missing week 1??

PS  - stay tuned for Leland dressing up in a wonderful outfit on the trip!

Vegas Diary 2019, Part 3

Saturday, March 16

It's the annual free day - Saturday - for the trip. Nothing on the agenda except for dinner that night - except getting the losing parlay in ! Of course, we weren't close to a winner again or even a free dinner for someone. It was a lackluster trip for parlay suspense across the board.

At least we went 4-3 on this

However, sometimes during the free day, ad hoc activities get planned! At about 8:30 am, a call went out for breakfast at the buffet and then a mandatory meeting afterward at the craps table. I'm not sure what happened - but all 7 of us didn't show up at the same time. I can't believe the craps tables were packed at 9:45 am on a Saturday....but maybe I was wrong.

Had my first good roll of the trip - where I started rolling a string of 8's - and only a few people were there to take advantage. After that, nothing....no one seemed to be able to roll and the profits from all my 8's were gone in a flash. No one could roll - frustrating.

Next up, of course, would be UTH. It seems Layup and I always end up on a Saturday late morning/early afternoon at the UTH table near the atrium (with all the natural light) with Gary the dealer. Layup had gotten into the habit of trusting Gary with his sports picks, so there was always conversation about the games coming up (or going on). And boy oh boy, that conversation dragged. The UTH game is hand dealt at the Mirage - and Gary would hold the cards, deal one to the players, and then stop and talk about Kentucky basketball or ask for a score update. I'm sitting there waiting for the second card and Gary is going off about his 3 team parlay last night that missed by the hook or something. After 30 minutes, it got aggravating. After an hour or so - it affected me mentally.

The good thing? The relief dealer came on and gave me quad 5's (which I did not lose, by the way) which floated me through the afternoon.

Ah! One memory that is coming back was the appearance of the "girlfriend" from Wednesday. I think this girlfriend was a 50-something overweight woman (probably from the Midwest) that loved UTH as much as the rest of us. She whistled to herself, sang, and tried to talk to us - but of course, no one wanted to have anything to do with her. So whenever a group of us sat down for UTH session, she usually was there and an icy wind came over the table.

Layup and I got up from Gary eventually- and headed to the salon for round 2 of baccarat. The session was going choppy until an Asian man sat down at the table next to me. Layup and I were taking turns driving with limited success, so we started to listen to this guy.

"Don't play this hand.."
"No, not banker here"
"Now we go heavy on player"

It was fun to let him take the lead and he did fairly well for us! Of course, I can't help myself and I can't sit out multiple hands - so I started betting banker on each hand and lost any profits that the Asian helped me get.

Wiz and others came in during the session and, of course, Wiz headed to the BJ table - Layup joined him and I eventually got there. It wasn't notable - I lost half my bankroll, as usual....I hate salon blackjack. It was extremely frustrating for Wiz as I have in my notes that he had no double opportunities for 4 shoes in a row. Just a complete grind.

After a rest, it was dinner at Craftsteak at the MGM. We always say we are going to gamble at the MGM before dinner, but we never do. Maybe next time we build in an hour for gambling before any MGM dinner. The dinner itself was great - even though I ate about 10% of my dish.... Don and Mike ordered a very expensive bottle of wine that 5 of the 7 drank - so when the bill came, how do we split it up? While the Purdue engineers were arguing for 5-10 minutes with the Clemson finance analyst on how to split it up, the industrial engineer in me quickly figured out the solution- a proud moment in my Vegas dinner history.

The taxi ride back was - let's just say, awful. We had a driver that wouldn't shut up. Someone brought up strip clubs and food - and we were given a 15 minute lecture/tour of each strip club and the quality of their steak. I have the text messages here where we didn't think it was too bad to start, but everyone agreed with me at the end. Just a painful ride back.

Micah had to leave before dinner, so we had 7 of us looking to gamble back at the Mirage. There was an open $25 blackjack table for 6 of us - so we all sat down (except for Wiz, who disappeared into the salon) for a full table session. It didn't start very well - I wasn't getting cards and all my doubles failed. Layup took his customary position at 3rd base - and about an hour in, had a 14 vs a 3.

"Hit me". He was distracted for some reason - drinks? - and this decision shocked the table

The dealer stopped, and asked him again. Layup said yes - give me a card.

Well, of course you know what happened. A 10 appeared, busting Layup and it would have been the bust card for the dealer.....who then drew to a 19.

To his credit, Layup refunded the bets of everyone at the table based on his bad decision. He got up immediately and joined Wiz in the salon. I'm sure this is just one more anecdote on why he never plays blackjack on the main table. The mood for the rest of us didn't improve, and we split up as some went to bed...and some went to UTH, including me. I think our girlfriend was there and, of course, it was a losing session for me. At about 11 pm, I called it a night.

Sunday, March 17

Most of the group - including Layup - left early (like 6, 7 am) so we all said our goodbyes the night before. I had a later flight - like 11 - and thought I could do some early morning gambling, but I had no energy for it. My diary shows zero gambling activity for me that morning - is that really right? The last message I have is that our whistling girlfriend

The flight back was long, and I wasn't feeling all that well. I still am getting used to understanding how taxing travel is for me during chemo sessions. But it was all worth it for 5 days in Vegas.

Of course, I am looking forward to Vegas 2020 and I fully expect to make it out there. I know there has been some talk about moving locations from the Mirage next year.....and I'm open to that!

Vegas Diary 2019 - Part 2

Thursday, March 14

So I may not have fully described how bad the weather was in Vegas this week. Looking through the text messages, it's clear that on Wednesday that the temperature never broke 60 --- and the winds were consistently at 20 mph. There was no one on the course with us on Wednesday - which helped the pace of play, but the weather wore us all down on the back nine.

And the weather was the main reason why I backed out of the round on Thursday. I was tired after Wednesday - and wanted to save myself for Southern Highlands on Friday - and our tee time was like 8:00 on Thursday morning, when the temperature was projected to be about 40 degrees. The only issue was that Thursday's round was at Royal Links, a course I do love and would have wanted to play - and the breakfast burrito! Although this year, the reviews from the breakfast burrito seemed muted at best - was the recipe changed?

Parlay with 7 favorites? 

Guaranteed loser

Apparently, this was the best decision I made for the trip. At lunch, there was so much complaining from the group about the conditions- especially on the front nine - due to the cold and the wind. I don't know if anyone broke 80 at Royal Links.

Got the parlay in at the Mirage book that morning - no one picked any wacko teams - and then realized we picked 7 favorites. Oh yeah, this will work out fine.

I intended to have the morning be a spa day - I scheduled a massage and wanted to use the hot tub a lot. Got to my massage when the therapist asked about any medical conditions I had. I told her about my cancer - she asked about chemo. I said yes, I was undergoing chemo at the time.....and that was the wrong answer. She said policy is that they can't give massages to any active chemo patients - the massage could activate the chemo and make it more powerful. So - I was escorted back into the spa.

(I asked my oncologist about this later - and he said this is not a worry for normal massages. It could be an issue for deep tissue massage, but for normal massages, this is BS. So I'll take a doctor's note with me for Vegas 2020).

I spent about 90 minutes in the spa, falling asleep in the lawn chairs in between sessions in the hot tub rooting against Seton Hall. Nice to be in a 100 degree hot tub while the others are playing golf in 50 degree temps and 20 mph winds!

Hall of fame of worst UTH bad beats

Got out of the hot tub and went to the UTH table to watch basketball after that relaxing session. About 30 minutes in, I was dealt a pair of red 7's. All in for 4 times!

The flop came - 7 spades, 7 clubs, 9 spades. Flopped a quad! Yes, of course, I screamed with delight.

The river was the 10 and Jack of spades. No, there's no way...….

And of course the dealer had the 8 of spades. My flopped quads lost to a straight flush. Thank God it was only a $15 hand....that was a swing of about $900.

After that - I had to change tables and head to the other side of the casino with..... Gary, the infamous UTH dealer. He's starting to be my nemesis - I just can't beat him, and session 1 with Gary was no different as I suffered a serious loss.

Joined everyone at BLT for lunch after everyone came back from Royal Links, and then there was another afternoon UTH session where Wiz got a tray of drinks dumped on him. That meant it was a good time for a nap for me. After the nap, it was time for the first salon session of the trip - Baccarat! Layup and I went in there before dinner ---- and the luck did not change. There wasn't any sort of runs to get excited about.

I think I was incorrect in the last post and the Lavo dinner was tonight instead of Wednesday - which would make more sense given the golf schedules. There was one last UTH session after dinner - which was finally a profitable one for me - and then an early bed time. Southern Highland awaited in the morning!

Friday, March 15

Most of the day was covered with my favorite golf course and outing - Southern Highlands! After getting the morning parlay in - at least we took 2 underdogs today instead of 7 favorites - it was off to Southern Highlands for the annual trip - this time paid for by Layup! We had two full foursomes for the outing, as Layup's friend Jared joined us from Southern California for the rest of the trip.

Another 3-4 losing parlay

The weather was a little better - not as cold as Thursday or even Wednesday - but we did run into a frost delay. For the 8 of us, we set up some elaborate gambling games - each person in the group had a partner in the other group for a best ball competition --- the gimmick here is that you had no idea what your partner scored on a hole, so you just hoped your partner bogied if you were making an X.

We tried to get some sort of pro-am competition going, with our scores combined with the golfer we picked in the fantasy one-and-done golf league....that didn't work out so well as the computations got to be a little massive. Maybe it was my chemo brain that caused a lot of confusion. Not sure if we will do this again.

Layup, Mike A, Jared and I were in the second group - and before we knew it, we fell behind the group ahead of us. It didn't help that on the first hole, I was the only one to actually complete the hole. Don't worry, my X's came later on the back nine.

Where is my partner aiming?

However, the whole experience was kind of ruined that day by our group caddy. I forget what his name was...but holy crap, was he bad. There was some misreads on the front nine on the greens - which is forgivable. However, both Layup and I were given bad yardages multiple times during the round....we are talking 10-15 yards off. Layup hit a few great shots that should have been right on the pin, but the yardage was off and he flew the green.

The caddy gooched me at least twice, saying great drive as the ball was clearly heading for a fairway bunker. This caddy seemed to not know the course at all and the position of the bunkers - even though he said he was a low single digit handicap and caddied here for a few years.  I stopped talking to him on about the 14th hole; Layup went radio silent shortly after. We came to the 17th - the long par 3 over water - and I think there was confusion on the yardage the caddy gave Layup. He may have given the yardage to the pin, where Layup wanted the yardage to cover the water; Layup hit a nice 4 iron that flew the green by a good 20 yards. Holy crap, I thought someone would be pushed in the lake.

But all in all, I loved the course (again) and played as decent as possible given my condition. And Wiz and I seemed to win a little bit of money from our partnership.

Dinner that night was at Carbone's at the Aria casino. Great restaurant, great food. I wished I could have enjoyed it more. The alcohol flowed freely - and I learned that the non-alcoholic drinks were made at a separate bar than the other drinks. So while everyone get quick refills on their cocktails, my Arnold Palmers sat at some lonely secondary bar and took 10 minutes to deliver to me. But- the food was excellent and the scenery - holy crap! We sat in the center of the dining room at a table of 8, and all around us were booths of 2 facing us. The booths, of course, were filled with young couple all dressed to the nines and not much was left to the imagination. It was hard to be discreet to point at all the various couples.

We walked around the casino for a while, threatening to gamble there that night - but never did. Lot of tables, lot of room - not sure why we didn't jump in. It was a Friday night, so the limits were a little high, but still...… The casino seemed great and spacious - and talk started about moving the trip to the Aria next year. Who knows? I have no idea how the rooms are - but it could be a good choice just for the casino alone.

We got a taxi back to the Mirage where there was a UTH session and, of course, a Face Up Pai Gow session. I think there was 3 of us at Pai Gow when some drunk idiot (not in our group) spilled his daiquiri all over the table. That was a sign for me to head up for the night. I think there was a side trip with Layup and Jared later that night...…..

Vegas Diary 2019 - Part 1

Hello everyone! Well, it's time to resurrect the F&J blog as football season is right around the corner. In order to prep for the football season - and the world famous themed picks that will continue this year - it's time to do some house cleaning and make sure all the previous loose ends are tied up.

That includes actually writing the Vegas diary from this year! I've been doing most of my writing on Caring Bridge giving updates on my condition, and therefore ignoring this blog.

(For those that may not have it, here is the Caring Bridge link: Eric's fight)

But it's time to have fun on the blog with the diary and the picks! This year's diary will be light, and I EXPECT to have lots of comments/additions from the attendees in the comments. My notes are pretty light, and after 4 months, I can't even read some of them. But we'll make the most of it. So here we go!

Tuesday, March 12

For obvious reasons, I was excited for this trip just to get away from the life of being a cancer patient. Since I had plenty of time on my hand, I was joking that I would spend 2 weeks in Vegas for all the conference tournaments. Instead, I decided to take the morning non-stop on Tuesday from Cincinnati and spend almost 5 full days for this trip - Tuesday through Sunday. Layup would come later on Tuesday, Wiz even later - and then the golfers Don, Mike D and Mike A would come in Wednesday morning. And then we had the expectant return of Micah on Wednesday! So 7 Vegas veterans for the trip.…. and 6 separate 7-way parlays each day!

Tuesday parlay - 5-2

The trip out was tiring. I was (and still am) getting used to being fatigued when I fly - so a 7 am eastern flight out was tough, and I tried to sleep but couldn't on the flight. So I arrived at around 9 am Pacific and was dead tired - with no room ready.

But first - time to sign up for the SuperContest! For the first time, sign ups for the Supercontest started March 1 so I could sign up this trip and not require a separate trip in August. I met the proxy in the dead Westgate Superbook at around 10 am on a Tuesday, and was a zombie. Signed up, waited there for all the parlay picks to come in from the group.....and then entered the first parlay of the trip at the Westgate. I couldn't do it at the Mirage since some of the picks were obscure teams like UMBC and Fairleigh Dickinson - only available at the Westgate. Ah, I love this trip.

Back at the Mirage, with no supervision, the first gambling session was at UTH (of course), and was a complete disaster. It was so bad I had to get up from UTH and play High Card Flush. Layup showed up around lunch time - we had CPK and then I was off to our ready room to shower and nap.

Wiz got in later that afternoon and there was another UTH session that was non-descript - except for the big sports news of the day---- OBJ was traded to the Browns at this time!!! My phone was blowing up for a good 30 minutes - and the pit boss was NOT understanding. I was pissed. I couldn't respond to all the tweets and messages I was getting while playing speed UTH with Wiz and Layup. That was frustrating.

Dinner that night was the three of us at Heritage ---- and that was interesting. During the trip, I was having trouble eating red meat and had to keep my portions small - or else there would be some issues with vomiting/burping up air. And I had to limit my alcohol. So my order at Heritage that night - Lobster Bisque and chocolate milk while Layup and Wiz are enjoying filets and merlot. Yes, I was a bit jealous.

About 3/4 through the meal, I didn't feel that good and knew I would have to vomit up some air. I eft the restaurant and made a brisk walk to the elevator - and realized I may not make it. I eyed the trash can in the elevator lobby, which was right below the up/down buttons.   Ah - ok, let's make a beeline to the trash can just in case. Well, a family was in front of me and the 7 year old also sprinted to the elevator - so he could push the button to go up. No!!!!! I had to politely push him out of the way of the trash can so I could use it...….thankfully, I didn't need to.

After dinner, there was a disasterous (as usual) craps session, a neutral UTH session and the day ended with a new game for Vegas - Face Up Pai Gow! So now the Mirage has regular Pai Gow (with John as the star dealer there) and Face Up, which has taken over in Cincinnati.

Wednesday, March 13

First golf session of the trip that morning - at Canyon Gate CC, a new course in our rotation But first, I got all the picks for the parlay from the morning travelers.....and one of them included Lamar. I went to the Mirage book to place the parlay - and saw the Lamar game was not listed. I asked about it.

"What conference is that?"

Southland.

"Southwestern?"

No! Southland.

"Is that Division I?"

YES! you idiot!

If you are working in the book on Conference championship week, you better know the Div I conferences. Period. Who are they hiring in the book? So I decided to take a walk across the street to the Venetian where, yes, the Lamar game was listed and I put the parlay in.

Wed parlay - 4-3. Lamar did not come through. 

And before golf - some quick gambling at, you guessed it - Face up Pai Gow.

The weather all week in Vegas was cold - I bundled up as much I as I could on a blustery Sunday where the temperature never broke 65, I think , in the afternoon. I liked the course - driving the ball relatively well helped - but I got tired and faded over the last 3-4 holes. The highlight of the round was on the 11th hole, where Layup hit a ball off the tee left into the pines. He was next to a bush and about 10-15 feet inside the fence line protecting the course from million dollar mansions.

With an awkward stance, he swung - and I'm still not sure how this is physically possible, but the ball went about 85 degrees left. It hit the fence twice - BING BING - and we heard another BANG as the ball hit some house somewhere. Thank God it was about 2 pm and no one seemed to be at home in those houses.

Also - since we didn't know the course, gooches were prevalent. Drives that seemed to be down the middle started taking sloped we didn't know existed and ended up in the rough or worse, hazards. I remember one horrible moment by Layup on my drive on the 13th where my ball landed on the right edge of the fairway and ended up in the penalty area on the left - after Layup said "great drive". I think our gooch score that day was Layup 4, Eric 3.

All in all, a nice course to add in the rotation; the weather ruined it a bit but can't blame the course for that. Food and bar area was very nice as well.

We got back, and I think we saw Micah for the first time - at a usual position at a Pai Gow table with a cigarette in hand. Before dinner, we all joined him (around my nap) at Pai Gow and I think we introduced him to Face Up for the first time. I think ( but not sure) that he prefers the old style Pai Gow better. I have in my notes that Wiz got a straight flush in Pai Gow but misplayed it - Face up! - and ended up pushing instead of having an easy winner. How do you screw up a straight flush??

Dinner that night was Lavo - and, of course, it was great as usual. I passed on the Veal parm and had the pasta carbonara - which was a perfect choice for me. Micah was introduced to the Fried Oreos. There was a bit awkward conversation where I forgot he won the big golf pool last year and he didn't know about my SuperContest adventures in 2017.

Walking back from Lavo to the Mirage, it became clear on how low my energy levels were. I just couldn't keep up a normal walking pace on the strip - and lagged behind the group more and more. That was a little depressing - seeing a bit of deterioration of my stamina - but it could have been the golf that day.

The final session for me was a UTH session with the group, which ended up being the best session of my trip where I more than doubled my money. However, there was a lady at our table that I wrote as our "girlfriend" - she had her arm around Don and hit on Mike D, from my notes. Anyone remember this?