2018 started out as an amazing year. I quit my job with AIG on December 15th, 2017 and put in a one months notice to basically help them close down the fiscal year and wrap up any loose ends in January. I was going to start with a new startup company called PURE Insurance in mid January. After my initial conversation with my boss at AIG, he asked me for a couple of things and then stated that he couldn’t have me work anymore since I was going to a competitor. So I basically had a 3 week paid vacation which was amazing. This coincided with Eric’s hot run in the Supercontest. Eric was already coming out with the family for the week after Christmas for us to spend sometime in San Diego and Los Angeles. But he started to carefully mention that if….IF he continues his hot streak, would I be willing to go out to Vegas with him for the last NFL Sunday to potentially hedge his wagers. Well of course I would. I’m being paid not to work, plus in California you can roll over 100% of your unused PTO time and when you leave they have to cash you out. So I had about 45 days of paid PTO that was coming my way and it was burning a hole in my pocket.
So Eric and the family comes out and we have a great time. We are up in Los Angeles taking the kids to all the museums and attractions. I started to notice that Eric was struggling to eat. He was burping a lot and looking so uncomfortable. I remember that we were at this sandwich shack on the beach in Santa Monica where he said he thinks he has an ulcer and needs to get it scoped but there is such a backlog that he can’t get it done until mid January, despite talking to the doctors in November about it. He did seem somewhat concerned, but in the typical Eric style he powered on and didn’t complain or let any of this ruin the trip.
The Sunday that he gets there, he goes 3-2 in the Supercontest, putting him in 8th place overall well within the money. And not just a small prize but close to $100k. But the bigger concern is that the standings are bunching up. If Eric goes 2-3 the next week there is a chance that he doesn’t finish in the money. If he goes 1-4 he definitely will be out of the money. So we plan to head out to Vegas to hedge his wagers, meaning that we are going to try and lock in some level of profit, in case he bombs his picks. So we get to Vegas. Eric wires $25k into the Mirage cage. $5k hedge on each game, plus additional action with our bookie who Eric had to explain what he was doing so that he would increase his per game limit. Trying to discuss with the Mirage cage worker on what we wanted to do was comical. I need to move that money into the sportsbook to place 5 wagers. This took about 15 minutes to figure out and in the end the cashier gave us five $5k chips to take over. Eric looked at me and said to take them because he’s too nervous and doesn’t want to lose them. So I grab them and walk maybe 100 feet over to the sportsbook where Eric places the wagers. The manager comes out and they have a nice conversation and he asks why he was betting so much since they don’t show him as a big gambler in the sportsbook. He explains the Supercontest with the manager saying he’s never heard of it before. What? Outrageous. That’s like a poker pit boss saying that they never heard of the World Series of Poker before. Anyway, they give Eric 5 drink tickets…5! I couldn’t stop laughing. Eric says something snarky about it and the manager apologizes and offers us a couch to sit at during the games on Sunday which we take him up on.
Sunday arrives, Eric is a mess. I send Carol and Janice away for the morning (just trying to keep these two away from Eric). Usually Eric is very animated during games. For the first half he is silent. The games started to turn his way and he started to get more and more animated. By the 4th quarter he was back to himself. Screaming at the TV’s, doing his ref impersinations (Holding Defense number 23, 5 yard penalty 1st down), and drinking up a storm. It all ends with him going 4-1 and finishing in 6th place for $142k. We connect back with Janice and Carol and have a nice dinner with everyone. We celebrate with a group Baccarrat session where we all drink way too much. Eric is on cloud 9.
On Monday evening Eric and I go over to the Westgate to collect. This was just a comical experience. First we basically had a grandmother helping us, who didn’t know what to do. The management team didn’t know what to do either. To complicate things a little more, Eric’s entry was under my name. So I have to fill out all of the tax forms and basically I’m the winner (I take credit for cashing in Supercontest). So finally we get the sportsbook to give us a ticket that we have to get cashed at the main cage. We get to the cage and we get invited to a backroom to decide how we want the money. Fascinating. The general manager meets us and congratulates us. Asks us if we want rooms there..Ha! I wouldn’t stay at that dump. Eric wanted $50k in cash and the rest in a check (check is in my name though). So Eric and I run out of the casino and into a cab with $50k in cash stuffed in our pants hoping nothing happens until we can get to the Mirage and put it in our safe. We gamble a little, and then we all head back to LA so they can fly home.
Two weeks later Eric gets his scope and tests results back and he has stage 4 stomach cancer. I don’t have any thing profound to say on that. It was devastating. Still devastating to this day. I knew something more serious was wrong than just an ulcer. I kept on yelling at him over this time to eat better and slow down. Boy I was completely wrong. The chemo quickly took a toll on him and we cancelled our March trip. More to come on some of the trips while he was sick to close out the week.
Supercontest:
Chargers
Colts
Ravens
Bengals
Saints
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