At Thanksgiving I eat too much and pretend to be interested in the Detroit Lions. On Christmas I always get a new package of socks. On the 4th of July the rest of my family flies up to Louisville while I stay here to work. Not all traditions are good, but they are traditions nonetheless.
So without further ado...
THE OFFICIAL SEMI-ANNUAL BLOGGER-VEGAS PROP BETTING LINES
1. Speaking of tradition, this one's a classic. I have to admit, Otis is on quite a roll here, without a single Bradoween crash. It was a stunning turn of events and devastating to your humble bookmaker. On the other hand, during our last homegame, drunked Otis crawled into bed with an even more drunken TheMark. Therefore the new bet here:
HOW MANY TIMES WILL OTIS FALL OR SNUGGLE? OVER/UNDER 2
2. Bradoween brought its own strange baby. At one point, I ran to the back deck to see TeamScottSmith leap from the top of one tree to the top... or middle after some snapping of twigs... of another. Later the same Smith climbed to the top of a much taller and more dangerous tree.
HOW MANY TREES WILL TEAMSCOTTSMITH CLIMB IN VEGAS? OVER/UNDER 1
3. During our first Vegas gathering, Otis and I shared what can now only be described as a sort of pseudo-hallucinogenic visit to the 5AM bar. It was a weird mixture of the real and false, like watching C-Span on acid. By then we'd both gone about 32 hours without sleep.
WHICH BLOGGER WILL GO ON THE LONGEST SLEEPLESS BENDER? PICK ONE
4. Last night I drove a single mile down the road, to the casa de Blood, and found the master of the house inside. I asked her where BadBlood was, and she pointed to the corner of the room where he sat with 4 dozen Bibles in his left hand. He was flexing and curling with the word of God, and I was puzzled by the serene look on his face. BadBlood was praying nobody would ever find out his awful secret... he can't arm wrestle left handed.
a.) HOW MANY BLOGGERS CAN BEAT BADBLOOD AT LEFT-HANDED ARM WRESTLING? OVER/UNDER 5
b.) POKER GEEK TO BEAT BADBLOOD - 1,000/1 odds
c.) G-ROB TO BEAT BADBLOOD WHILE EATING A TURKEY SANDWITCH - 3/1 odds
5. The first time we invited some very generous pro players to visit our conclave, it was an unmitigated disaster, at least for some of us. The aforementioned bender took place the day AFTER a much longer and more destructive streak and this meeting of the minds happened right in the middle. I remember they had some pitchers of water set out for us, and I remember drinking them ALL DRY. God I was thirsty. This summer, when we played the Aladdin classin, CJ issued a stern warning about the hooliganism, and sobriety was much higher.
NUMBER OF BLOGGERS WHO ARRIVE AT THE WINTER CLASSIC TOTALLY SOBER? OVER/UNDER 35
6. In the Aladdin classic I played uncharacteristically tight. I finally found AA in middle position and pushed. I was called by an earlier raiser who held 66. I was thrilled when Joe Speaker told me he'd folded a 6. Less thrilled when the case 6 appeared on the flop. Last December, at Sam's Town (which, as the crow flies is about 4,000 miles from the strip), I went out 18/30 when I got shortstacked and pushed with a naked ace. Felicia auto-called and won.
FIRST PERSON KNOCKED OUT OF THE WPBT WINTER CLASSIC? G-ROB, NO OTHER ANSWERS ACCEPTED
7. When we flew down to Nassau for the PokerStars WPT event, Al and I spent some serious time in a bottle. At one point, we drank the bar completely OUT of Sothern Comfort. The bartender spent the next 30 minutes rummaging through the Atlantis resort for more. Of course, it's blogger tradition to have SoCo shots and we'll all have a few. So the question is:
WHEN WILL THE FIRST BLOGGER LEARN THAT HIS/HER CURRENT BAR IS OUT OF SoCo? NAME THE SPECIFIC TIME AND DAY
8. While most of our Vegas time will be spent in the card room, there are few things better than a blogger party in the sportsbook. Last December we took over the one at Mandalay Bay (which is quite nice) and sang the Sand Diego Super Chargers song with Al. I won good money there. Plus the Bengals covered the spread against the Pats, which won me a full $100. This time, I'll be in the book somewhere when the Kentucky Wildcats play the Indiana Donkey Felchers on Saturday afternoon.
HOW MANY BLOGGERS JOIN ME THERE? OVER/UNDER 1 (Daddy)
9. Now for the ones that we just need a name to answer.
WHO WILL WIN THE TOURNEY? PICK ONE
WHO WILL LOSE THE MOST MONEY ON STUPID -EV GAMES? PICK ONE
WHO WILL PASS OUT FIRST? PICK SOMEONE WHO ISN'T BG
HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL HIT ADULT ESTABLISHMENTS WITH MR. BLOOD? OVER/UNDER 13
WILL THERE BE ANY DAMN DRAMA WITH SO MANY PEOPLE COMING THIS TIME?
(Hasn't happened yet, but perhaps we've been lucky.)