Does anyone think Brett Favre will not be playing on Thursday September 9th against the Saints? Of course he will!
The NCAA has played “bad ass” this summer cracking down on USC, North Carolina, and South Carolina. I’m fine with this. Keep agents out as much as possible. But I don’t agree with Nick Saban shielding NFL scouts from his Alabama practices. Saban will recruit players on getting them to the NFL. Don’t be a hypocrite Saban!
If Ryan Fitzpatrick is not named the starting quarterback when the Bills season starts then he should be cut. There is no point in keeping him on as a backup. We know who Ryan Fitzpatrick is. He is a journey man quarterback. That’s it. At least let Trent Edwards, Brian Brohm, and Levi Brown battle it out through the season, and maybe one of them can find magic. If not then find a QB in the 2011 NFL Draft.
Speaking of Trent Edwards how bad did he look in the preseason game? Did anyone look good for that matter? It was an awful display. C.J. Spiller had a 12 yard run. Ok. David Nelson caught a TD pass. Alright. But other than that OH MY GOD did the Bills look bad. And I’m sorry I don’t want to hear the excuse “well it was just a preseason game, and the first one at that.” No! That’s a terrible excuse. Every other NFL team has looked NORMAL so far this preseason. Donovan McNabb looked like a good QB for the Redskins. Jimmy Clausen made a few nice throws for Carolina. Andre Johnson caught another TD for the Texans. This Bills team is just awful. The players, the coaches, the organization, everyone. Chan Gailey looked like a bumbling Mr.Magoo with his glasses far down his nose. What coach looks like that? We just aren’t normal. The over/under at all the Vegas Strip Sports books for the Bills wins was 5. Anyone who takes the over is an idiot! This team will be lucky to win 4 games!
Alright speaking of Vegas Strip, here are some sports thoughts on my experience in Vegas. For one thing anytime I told someone whether it’d be a bartender, cab driver, or just any random person that I was from Buffalo they would give me a look of disappointment. When the talk of the Bills came up, no matter what age group it was, Wide Right from Super Bowl XXV was one of the first topics of conversation. Followed by how great Jim Kelly, and Bruce Smith were. One guy I talked to mentioned he was a Raiders fan, back from the days when they were the Los Angeles Raiders. I told him we fans in Buffalo are terrified that the Bills will one day move to Toronto or Los Angeles. He said the Los Angeles does not deserve the Bills. He said he remembered going to a half filled LA Colosseum when the Raiders were good. He said they should either move the Jaguars or Chargers to LA, or give LA an expansion team. I agreed. LA is the 2nd biggest market in the U.S. they should have a NFL team. Just not the Bills.
The sports books in Las Vegas are amazing. Caesars Palace, and MGM Grand had really nice ones. New York New York, and Paris had smaller cozier ones. But by far the best one was the Hilton Sports Book. Prior to my trip to Vegas I exchanged emails with the top Vegas Insider for ESPN.com Chad Milliman. He told me the Hilton Sports Book was the best and he could not have been more right. It’s twice the size of Caesars or any other sports book. Huge big screens all around, plenty of betting windows, comfortable seats, and desks with little personal televisions with all the games on. Now there was barely anybody there because it was baseball season. By the way I won 6 out of 8 games betting on baseball which made me very happy. I don’t even really like baseball haha! But I sat watched games, got free drinks with me just giving a nice tip here and there, and could watch whatever games I wanted to watch. Now I can only imagine what the Hilton Sports Book, or any other sports book would be like during a NFL Sunday, or the NCAA Basketball Tournament. It has to be crazy! If I ever go back to Vegas again someday I should try to go during one of those times just to see what it is like.
The Hilton Sports Book was amazing!
Finally if you are in Las Vegas long enough you are bound to meet a celebrity. Now I went to see comedian Frank Caliendo who works on FOX NFL Sunday, but that does not count because I paid to see his show. But sure enough by the end of my week in Vegas I met a celebrity. Pete Rose. He was signing autographs at a sports memorabilia shop at Caesars Palace. I knew I would have to pay to get his autograph. The cheapest thing available was for him to autograph his book on admitting to bet on baseball for $85. Now look Pete Rose is a living sports legend. Whether you like him or not that is a fact. But I wasn’t going to pay $85 for him to sign his crappy book. For other sports legends sure. Bobby Bowden. I would have cashed out my account for him. Joe Montana who was scheduled to sign there the next week. Yeah I would pay $85 for him to sign a book. But not Pete Rose a man who bet on baseball and lied about it for over a decade.
So as I left the store I took a couple of pictures of Rose. Literally no other customers were in there. Finally, he looked at me and asked my name. I told him my name was Andrew. He asked me where I was from. I said Buffalo. He asked me have I been to Las Vegas before and I said no that it was my first time. We then talked about how nice Vegas is, and that Buffalo is a good city. I asked him about this year’s Cincinnati Reds team and if he thought they had a shot. He said if they can keep up their pitching than they definitely had a shot. This conversation lasted about 2 minutes. Then I said goodbye and “have a nice day Mr. Rose.” He may have been nice to me only to try to get me to sign an autograph. But either way a living sports legend was nice enough to talk to shoot the breeze with me for a couple of minutes. Does this change my opinion on Pete Rose? No I still don’t think he belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame. But he is the all time hits leader, made the All Century Team in 1999, and is one of the greatest baseball players ever. I mean come on he’s Charlie Hustle! So it was pretty cool he talked to me for a couple of minutes. I just wished I had asked him what he was planning on doing the rest of his time in Vegas. Or if he still uses Aqua Velva haha?
Pete Rose turned out to be a very nice guy to talk to.
One last thought on Las Vegas. There are so many different “themed” hotels and casinos everywhere. Want to go to Rome? Then head to Caesars Palace. Feeling France? The go to Paris Las Vegas. New York City is your thing? Then head to New York New York. Egypt? The Mandalay Bay is for you. Want a circus show? Then go to Circus Circus where I stayed. So Vegas has all these themed hotels on the strip. Yet there is always room for more. So here is my idea for a hotel/casino on the Vegas Strip. A 100% sports themed casino/hotel. Think about it. You could design it after the most famous sports buildings of all time. Have a wall of the exact replica of The Green Monster. Have a brick wall around the hotel with ivy on it like the outfield wall at Wrigley Field. Have statues of the most famous athletes ever all around, MJ, Babe, Jackie Robinson, Gretzky, and Ali. Have a huge video screen up so when people drive by they see a game on it, or famous highlights. Have the slot machines all be sports themes. Have a show about sports. Put an arena there for MMA and boxing matches. Guarantee a match every week. Have former athletes come for a fee to sign autographs. Have shops dedicated to one sport. A NHL shop, a NFL shop, a NBA shop, a MLB shop, tennis shop, NCAA shop, etc. Have former athletes who lost all their money, like Scottie Pippen who lost over $120 million, work there. Pay them well, and chances are they’ll give it all back in gambling and what not. Imagine Mike Tyson as a bouncer at the top club at the 100% sports book casino/hotel? That would be awesome! Make your sports book bigger and better than the Hilton Sports Book. So if I go to this hotel, on any given week, I’m guaranteed some type of athletic match, an autograph session from a famous athlete, the best sports book in town, and whatever my favorite team or sport is I know they will have a shop for it. Tell me this would not sell?! Tell me guys would not pay big bucks to stay in the Larry Bird suite, with Larry Bird stuff all around the hotel room suite?! Of course they would. Some billionaire should bank on this idea!
Kofod
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