We really started to hit a consistent stride in 2012 with
our Vegas trips. After deciding on
staying at the Mirage, we had a great core group, after losing Jay/Laura to having kids and lost Micah due to the
wedding ring incident.
These were fun times as we still hadn’t switched fully to UTH and played
a ton of craps. On this trip I think
most of us learned how to play Pai Gow Tiles which was always a fun
transition. Eric was still over in China
so sleep was a concern along with his funny interactions with the Asian
Dealers. Didn’t take him long to realize that not every Asian dealer was from
China. Lee had to remind him that some
of them were from “The Big K”. Also it
seemed like everyone switched over to a credit system with the Mirage,
resulting in a couple of hilarious stories like the walk of shame and Eric’s
debacle at the craps table were he went over his limit and had to give back
money during a roll. On this trip, we
had an amazing trip to downtown. This
started another tradition that Wiz and I have kept up since, but Eric does a
great job recapping the afternoon session downtown. And this is probably the drunkest I’ve seen
him ever.
We meet at the Nugget, see our annual partner
in Dick (who we never saw again after the first 20 minutes), and head to a
completely empty downtown scene. It was weird to see the main area of the
downtown casinos before noon in pure sunlight. It looked like a suburban
shopping plaza on a tuesday mid-day.
Ira decides to jump start the fun in the group by
getting us all a slushie - a flavored frozen alcoholic drink in a
yard-long test tube. There are reports that some of the drinks may have had
extra Everclear in them. (Noooo!)
We are holding our yard tubes walking around the
barren downtime trying to find an empty craps table - and we find one at the
fabulous "Las Vegas Club" casino. We walk up to the empty half table
- the six of us in order (Ira, me, Mike, Wiz, Leland and Layup) plop our money
down. The dealer on our side was at least - at least!- 80 years old. He
valiantly tried to stay with us as we threw our money on the table and starting
making bets, but couldn't. Once we got our chips, it was taking him about 2
minutes between throws to take care of the place bets, come bets, and
keeping the hardways straight. The boxman, of course, knew that this
(we?) was a disaster to happen, so after the required 20 minutes, he was
quickly told to work at the other craps table in the casino - and we never saw
him again.
We played craps for a good 2 hours, storing our
tubes below the table (how none of us spilled a drink, I'll never know), with a
moderate loss for all of us (I'm estimating). Some memories:
- Layup and Wiz having a contest to see who could
finish the drink first; Mike and I wanted no part of that, so we created our
own "B" flight competition for finishing the drink;
- At random times, Ira was convinced that a 9 was
going to be rolled; he suggested to me that we should hop the 9. He put $5 on
the 4-5 hop. I asked him "What about the 3-6?"
He said "No one rolls the 3-6".
So that started a mini competition betweenus the
whole trip; every time a 4-5 was rolled, I paid him $5; when a 3-6 came up, I
received $5. I always got out to an early lead each craps session, but as the
session wore on, the 3-6's disappeared and so did my red chips.
- Great adventures in line setting; the Price is
Right was on the TV near the craps table - the annoucner told us that the
"Showcase Showdown" was coming up!
So I offered the table the over/under on the
winning score - 90.5 was the line.
All the suckers (Layup, Wiz, Ira) took the
under.....and when the second spinner spun a 95, I was the richer one.
(Looking back, a better line would have been 87.5.
I may have to write into Wizard of odds for this one).
- I had Norfolk State +21.5 over Missouri; the
game was on another TV while we were rolling. We caught glances of the game in
the 1st half, when it was close; as the game wore on, and Norfolk stayed close,
we were more and more interested. A new chant was made in support of the
Spartans:
"We don't drink.....We don't
smoke....Norfolk!"
Yes, it was funny after 3/4 of the yard was gone.
After we were done with craps, it was time for
lunch - and what better food than sliders and fried twinkies! I have to say,
the fried twinkie was better than the Fried Oreos of the night before. The
complete meal for $1.98!
The alcohol caught up to me, and I don't exactly
remember how I got back to the Mirage; Mike, Ira and I took a taxi while Layup,
Leland and Wiz split away from us. I asked Mike about the taxi trip and he said
that I was asking about Ira's connection to Wiz. It may have come out as
"So, Ira, how do you know Wiz? Did you hire that ass, or did he become an
ass after working for a while?"
Yes the alcohol did catch up to him. Lee responded to this post by reminding Eric
that he wasn’t even with us during this time as he went to go work out and only
met up with Wiz and I afterwards.
Hilarious.
Heading into Week 7 and things have taken a big turn for the
worse.
Broncos @ Browns -2:
Had this game. Great showing by
the Browns.
Chiefs 42 @ Titans 28 +5.5:
Who is stopping who? Like the
Chiefs in a big shoot out.
Jets 10 @ Pats 24 -7: Pats
own the Jets. I think this will be a
blood bath.
Panthers 17 @ Giants 21 +3:
How many times will I take the Panthers.
I always have one team that I can’t quit each year. This is the Panthers. Ugh. I’m
staying away from this game.
Bengals 21 @ Ravens 31 -6.5:
Ravens are on a roll right now and I’m not getting in the way of this
one. And what a huge coaching difference
here.
Falcons 19 @ Dolphins 20 +2.5:
Would love to the take the fish here, but all this news about Tua is
concerning.
Skins 23 @ Packers 31 -8.5:
Confused as to why this line is dropping from 9.5 to 7!!!!! Skins are done. There is no life.
Eagles 24 @ Raiders 21-3: Loved the Raiders last week after
Gruden was let go. Thought it was a perfect spot. Eagles are good and I think they win
outright.
Lions 14 @ Rams 28 -15: Huge
line, with a really bad team that is still wanting to be competitive. Double revenge game with Stafford and Goff. Think that they will cover this.
Bears 10 @ Bucs 26-12.5: Another huge line which makes me scared,
but what the Bucs are great matches up perfectly against the Bears. Don’t think this will be close.
Texans 16 @ Cardinals 33 -18.5: Not sure what the motivation will
be here for such a huge line. And big match up for them on Thursday night.
Colts 17 @ 49ers 27 -4: Like
the 49ers here with a week off.
Saints 16 @ Seahawks 26 +4.5:
Love Seattle in a must win situation at home.
Best Bets 40-48-1
Ravens
Carolina Under
Chiefs
Patriots
Eagles
49ers
Seahawks
Lions
Texans
Dolphins
Supercontest
11-17-2
Ravens
Chiefs
Eagles
Seahawks
Patriots
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