Reflections From Las Vegas
So I’m at McCarran Airport in Las Vegas wrapping up an exciting weekend of basketball. In a handful of spots I’ve traveled to, I’ve found that the quality and quantity of the entertainment options available at a given city’s airport are inversely proportional to the quality and quantity of those offered in that city proper.
In Vegas, you know the deal, even if you’ve never been – there are dozens of possibilities in addition to the countless gaming opportunities, whether you’re looking for music, magicians or stand-up comedians. It’s also a safe assumption that there are topless variations on all of these.
In cities like Kansas City or Detroit, where you have to look hard for a good weekend out, the airports offer massive televisions, plenty of bars, free wireless and so on and so forth.
At McCarran, the wireless connectivity is spotty at best and there’s nary a sports bar, at least not within easy walking distance of my gate. These two things, I’ve found, are just about as good as it gets when it comes to time-killing at the airport, no matter where you are…unless there’s a tv on a Sony kiosk 20 feet from you rotating between music videos on loop of Shakira’s “Wherever, Whenever” and Celine Dion’s “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” in a white pantsuit. Score!
Apart from that, the weekend was great. People follow sports for many reasons, but one of the more common reasons is out of escapism. People go to Las Vegas for the exact same reason (amongst others), so when you combine the two, it’s really an incredible sight to behold. There’s something very amusing about watching otherwise rational fans scream bloody murder for a player from an underdog team losing by 20 points to foul a player from the favored team with 30 seconds left just so the favorite can get a chance to cover at the stripe.
Judging by all the congestion in the casinos, sportsbooks and lines for buffets, you’d have absolutely no idea the country’s in a recession. Amounts of money equal to the GDP’s of several countries being thrown around daily were the norm until recent times, but with the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament taking place, all the cash seemed to have resurfaced for at least one weekend. Go figure. I can only imagine what things were like before the economy tanked faster than Arinze Onuaku’s free throw percentage.
Speaking of AO, the thing I was most impressed with in the second round game was how Onuaku, Rick Jackson and Kristof Ongenaet totally locked up the paint. Against the Sun Devils, SU gave up just 8 points in the paint. The Lumberjacks scored 27 in the lane in the first round, but a lot of those points came while SU snoozed in the second half. Not that it can’t be written off, but we all know how disinterested the ‘Cuse can get when it has a big lead against a no-name opponent. Either way, the inside performance means a lot from a confidence standpoint because the back of the zone will have to be at its best against Blake Griffin and company Friday night.
