The Post Mortem

Don't tell the casino host but the escape plan worked! Right now there is a homeless man playing blackjack using my player's club card. Well, it was either a homeless man or Zach, not that you can tell the difference. And everybody has Vegas stories, so you won�t be inundated with them here. But if you will allow a small indulgence, here are a few of the highlights.

You know you have created a monster when NCAA Jennifer drops a text message on Monday during the conference to announce that Gonzaga line dropped three points and that she was going to fire in. Gonzaga covered and the game went over thanks to foul-fest at the end. (God bless Santa Clara for remaining close enough not to beat the spread, but still have to foul to stay in it.) How can you ever take the under a college game? Even if you win, it is just torture. The Zags were very good to everybody this weekend, as they covered and went over on Sunday, too. Santa Clara, for whatever reason, was the underdog on Sunday but beat St. Mary's. If not for an the Western Kentucky bet, it would have been perfect. Yes, wagering on Gonzaga, Santa Clara and Western Kentucky might be the first step in admitting you have a problem. In fact, that was in the brochure.

• The Comment Monkeys (as coined by head simian Conrad Bain) weren't lying about the Imperial Palace. Not the nicest place on the strip. But when you consider that O�Shea�s is next door selling $1 Miller High Life and the Casino Royale is nearby, you cannot argue with the location. (And the IP poker room is pretty nice, too.) That center strip area is the closest thing to downtown in terms of being able to hop around to a number of casinos in a short block. And funny, never went over to the Caesar�s side, other than to not get allowed into Pure Nightclub because of my Etnies tennis shoes. (Four people will get that joke.) You guys can make all of the jokes, but the Imperial Palace could host the annual Gridiron Apocalypse awards banquet next year.

• The Thomas & Mack Center still rocks. After sitting in half-empty college gyms in California, it is unusual to see a college arena filled to near capacity and selling beers. Here is a New Year�s pledge to attend more college hoops games out in Vegas next year.

• A lot of NFL news happened over the past couple of days. The Dolphins are really close to opening a Pandora�s Box by offering Joey Porter a guaranteed contract. Not only is he not worth it, but the non-guaranteed contract is one of the best things about the NFL. Now look for NFL teams to give $55M to one-year wonders who are implicated in steroid scandals, only to not be able to get out of contract because it is guaranteed.

• Thomas Jones went to the New York Jets. Looks like the Bears want to keep up the trend of Super Bowl losers not making the playoffs the following season. (Yes, Seattle made it this year, but since the Seahawks should have won, it only makes sense for Pittsburgh to be the ones who didn�t make the playoffs.

• Don�t feel bad Angels, you could have signed David Beckham.

AND FINALLY
How is it that the Gerald Henderson hit looks worse in fast motion than it does slowed down? Truth about Duke has a great link to a story where Coach Kryakjmndhfjhsky said that the real victim here is Henderson. Not the guy who might need a root canal and could have suffered a career-ending injury.

"The person who it is most unfortunate for is G. The main thing is for Gerald's reputation. He's not that kind of player. These kids don't have long careers, and you never want an incident to soil or taint someone's reputation."

The rest of the story is great. And hey, does anybody need a Duke Hater shirt for March Madness?