Wow, what a trip! In all the years we’ve been doing this, we’ve never done as well as we did yesterday - we didn’t miss one bet - and we won blackjack!

Ezra and I got in late Wednesday. Mark got in earlier and had arranged to meet a woman from UNLV who had seen him present at a conference some years ago and wanted to interview him. When Ezra and I got to the room at the Flamingo they were just finishing up. She was nice (and somewhat attractive) and there was plenty of talk about her “ulterior motives.”

After she left I gave Mark his “Pugnacious Pedagogues” t-shirt* and he was psyched. I think they really turned out great. Mark returned the favor with cool “East Side Honor Society” T’s for all. 

We rallied and went downstairs for a bit - grabbed one seat at a table at O’Shea’s. We pooled some money and Ezra played for all of us, but the cards were lousy and we didn’t stay long.

Mark and Ezra are both battling what I can only call “intestinal issues” that cause considerable havoc in tight spaces and threatened our friendship at times. I’ve had to venture out into the hallway on occasion, happy to breathe in the stale cigar stench just to get away from the “pollution.” 

Thursday morning we went down to the pool for a while and debated the upcoming presidential election among other things (Mark and I are in the Obama camp; Ezra’s leaning toward McCain - because he’s an idiot).

Then it was out to UNLV for the ritualistic pounding at Feiman Court. We didn’t last long - the promise of bagels awaiting us in the office of Mark’s interviewer probably having something to do with that. It turns out her office was on the complete other side of campus and it took about half a dozen inquires before we found someone who had any idea where her office was. The spread was great, very nice of her to provide, but we all got some idea that something wasn’t quite right about her - maybe it was her story about how she stalked the singer John Mayer.

We did pretty well on the Thursday games. Carolina handled Washington State, but didn’t cover the over. Xavier won an OT thriller over West Virginia. UCLA/Western Kentucky was close enough for Ezra and Mark to cover, but they scored too many for my liking. We also cleaned up backing Louisville over Tennessee.

We went upstairs to regroup for blackjack, but our one hour “power nap” ended lasting until 5am. I suggested we flip the script - go gamble early as if it were the evening. That began what would turn out to be a legendary day. We all sat at O’Shea’s and had a nice long run. Mark and I walked away up. 

We went back to the hotel ready to laze by the pool when we ran into three guys going to play basketball at Sunset Park. We’d been talking about how nice it would be to play together for a change, so we changes our plans and headed out to Sunset Park.

There were nine of us, so we played a series of 3-on-3 games. Ironically, we played like shit and lost all but the first game (I blame the crappy ball they ran to buy at WalMart and the anti-semetic rims). Overall, it was a great time and a beautiful day, so it was worth it. I jammed my left thumb, so I think I’m done with basketball for the rest of the trip. 

I insisted on hitting the buffet for lunch. It was okay, but I ate too much and paid for it later. I fear the intestinal bug may have hit me.

We settled in at the sportsbook and proceeded to hit every single bet we made - and we had a bunch. Davidson trounced Wisconsin and Texas got by Stanford and covered the over (“Points, points, we love points!”)

Then came Memphis. Mark’s a big fan, so significant money was laid on that game. They put on a clinic in the first half against Michigan State and won handily. The only game we had varying bets on was Kansas/Villanova. Those guys teased ‘Nova to +16.5. I teased the other way and got Kansas - 9. KU won by 15 (the last :47 seconds wasn’t televised, so we had to sweat it out watching the clock run down in the upper left hand corner of the tv), but as I said every bet hit - even the 2nd half wagers Ezra insisted on making. Ez and Mark won a lot of money. I won about $125-$150. Vegas is a much nicer place when you win.

We made our annual pilgrimage to Niketown and Cheesecake Factory. Mark promised Memphis t-shirts for everyone if they had them, but their selection - besides not including Memphis - was lousy.

I was still getting over the lingering effects of the buffet, so dinner was somewhat anti-climatic. The conversation is always good though. Last night we resumed a discussion begun at lunch about raising kids (Mark and Elisa are working on it!), kids and religion, “returning to nature,” and travel. We are our own talk radio station!

Dinner was late because the games ended late, so Mark went back up to the room. I had to cash a couple of chips for a friend, then met back up with Ezra at a $15 blackjack table. He was on a roll and generously fed me some seed money to sit and play with him. We continued our winning ways and walked away up another $150. We have established that once Ezra gets his morning coffee, he is the ubermensch!

We’re at the pool now, and I think we’re here to stay until we have to check out and I have to go.