Finding A Watering Hole In The Desert

My buddy Scott and I were in Vegas for the first weekend of March Madness. We had a blast! We had free use of a house and a Mercedes-Benz C32 AMG, and most important, we had non-stop basketball, betting and beer! What more can you ask for? Well, I'll tell you. We spent 4 days and most of the nights at the Red Rock Casino. This place opened last April after $1 billion of construction. The Red Rock is like a small city; sports book, restaurants, night clubs, movie theaters, bowling lanes, and more!

So, I know what you are wondering. "How did you do?" Well, we did crappy on Thursday and Friday. The basketball gods were not smiling on us. By end-of-day Friday, we were down big. My two day record was 6-15. Too many games, I know. It was looking bleak. Before turning in Friday night, Scott and I discussed pulling a "Costanza", whereby we would bet the opposite of everything we liked. And we were serious.

We slept in a little on Saturday, as we didn't intend on betting on the first game of the day, Xavier vs. Ohio State. Ohio State was favored by 8, and we didn't like the game. When we got to the casino Saturday morning, the Xavier/Ohio State game was nearing halftime, and we sat down to check out the lines for the upcoming games. Out of the blue, without provocation, some drunk guy wearing a Philadelphia Eagles hat comes up to us and announces, "Xavier's coming back. You watch. I've got Xavier and the money line. They're gonna win!" He then proceeds to tell us that he won 7 of 8 bets on Thursday and 6 of 7 bets on Friday. I thought he was full of crap, given his drunken state, but Scott inquired as to what other games the drunkard liked. He exclaimed in convincing fashion that he liked Xavier, Louisville, Vanderbilt, UNLV and Memphis. And as quickly as he appeared, he disappeared into the crowd.

Scott asks, "What do you think?" I reply, "I think this guy is our good luck charm. I'm putting money on Xavier!" At halftime, Xavier was down by 4, and the halftime line was Ohio State -4. So, Ohio State still had to win by 8. We put money down on Xavier.

Xavier should have won, with an opportunity to go up by 4 with about 2 seconds to go, but an errant free throw only put Xavier up by 3, and Ohio State hit a 3 pointer to send the game into OT. Scott and I were convinced we were jinxed. It seemed like destiny for Ohio State to win by more than 8 in OT to screw us. What the hell were we doing betting hard-earned money on games picked by a drunk guy? Well, Xavier held on to lose by only 7. Victory! Well, for us at least. The drunk stood to make 3 times his money, but by betting the money line, he was a big loser. We found out later he bet $400 on Xavier.

We were now 1-0 on the day. We were drinking New Castle beer, and it was dubbed the official beer of "Comeback Saturday". The drunkard that helped us start our day off on the right foot was thereafter known as "The Oracle". With free beer flowing, we plopped money down on The Oracle's other selections, and a few of our own. We even played a 4-game parlay.

Later in the day, we were preparing for the Pitt/VA Commonwealth game. The Oracle reappeared and sat down next to us. He was even more intoxicated than when we first met him. He began repeating himself numerous times, the way drunks often do. Scott and I had settled on playing VA Commonwealth +7, but we asked The Oracle what he thought. "Pitt's gonna kick their ass!" The Oracle was losing his balance, and losing his luster as well. We defiantly played VA Commonwealth +7.

Through the game, The Oracle was watching a boxing match on TV that appeared to be about 20 years old. He was shadowboxing as the two boxers were beating the piss out of each other. "This is a real fight here," he said. "Toe to toe! No dancing around like pussies! Just two guys fighting... old school. Like Jack Dempsey... Jake LaMotta." There was a brief pause. Then, "This is a real fight here. Toe to toe! No dancing around like pussies! Just two guys fighting... old school. Like Jack Dempsey... Jake LaMotta." This went on for about 10 minutes. I turned to The Oracle and said, "It looks like you got a REAL fight there." "Yeah," he replied. "Old school... like Jack Dempsey or Jake LaMotta," I said. The Oracle thought for a moment, then agreed. "Exactly!"

I then got a brief synopsis from The Oracle about how his life is a mess, and he drinks too much.

Leave it to an Eagles fan to ruin a good time. The Oracle stumbled off, never to return.

VA Commonwealth made us sweat out another victory, losing to Pitt by 5 in OT, but it was a victory nonetheless. The only loser we had the whole day was Louisville, but it screwed us twice. Louisville was catching 3, but we got cocky and decided to play the money line. Louisville lost by 3, so we lost the straight bet, and we lost the 4-game parlay, as Louisville was 1 of the 4.

It was a HUGE financial windfall on Saturday, and the good luck carried over into Sunday. We played UNLV and Memphis, as per The Oracle's original calls, and we managed a few more wins, including a 3-game NBA parlay.

The trip started off sour, and we left Vegas with just a little less moolah than we came with, but the trip ended on a positive note. I haven't had that much fun in a long time.