2009 NFR Thoughts

Well, I’ve returned from the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. It was the first time that I’d been to Las Vegas for a period longer than 36 hours. The last Facebook note I wrote generate a whole pile of feedback, so let’s see if I can do it again now.

-I was on board the 7 AM sodbuster out of Minneapolis Wednesday morning, and even after killing as much time as I could in the Vegas airport, I still got to the Excalibur before 10 AM. I dropped my bags at the bell desk and went hunting for some money. Fortunately, a crap table and sports book at Mandalay Bay gladly complied with my request.

-You could certainly tell that Las Vegas likes having the cowboy crowd in town for the rodeo. Country music in the background, tons of hats boots and western wear on the Strip, and even the dealers at the Mandalay were wearing western garb.

-On that note, I briefly thought about bringing out my western blazer (more accurately: the $5 Goodwill pickup that I don’t’ mind getting dirty), and if I would have worn it with the rest of my clothing, I would have fit right in Thursday at South Point. EVERYONE was wearing their western finery. Committee members all had embroidered shirts with the rodeo they were from. The statue of Benny Binion on horseback had lots of garland on it. South Point really bends over backwards to accommodate the NFR crowd.

-This is a sign of the type of crowd the NFR draws. I was in the South Point showroom where they show the rodeo on the closed-circuit feed. During “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the crowd in the showroom stood up and took off their hats. For watching it on the closed-circuit feed!

-Friday was another good day. Mom and Coke had to run out to South Point right away to get something for Allison’s girls, and then we went into the Cowboy Christmas expo at the Mandalay Bay. The three big Cowboy Christmas shows are all huge, full of Western gear to buy, and have a profound lack of menswear and straw hats. However, if bling is what you were looking for, it was there by the Dumpsterful!

-I left the hall before the ladies did, made a quick few bucks at the Luxor, and withdrew to the Excalibur room for a quick nap and shower. The reason for this was that we were actually going to the rodeo! We took the free shuttle over to the Thomas and Mack Center. The ladies went into the building almost as soon as we got there, while I went over and met the South Central crew in the Coors tent. That Coors tent is quite an adventure. Girls dancing on the bar, a full bar, and a mechanical bull with an operator who was quite the character.

-After proper preparation, we all headed inside. The Thomas and Mack Center is normally home to UNLV Runnin’ Rebel basketball, but for this time on the calendar, it’s home to the NFR. This arena is SMALL and is starting to show its age. All 16,975 in the building get jammed into the narrow concourse, which makes the pre-and-post-rodeo traffic jam borderline unbearable. I can see this being a point of emphasis when the next contract between LVE and the PRCA comes up.
-Once you do get to your seats, though, the building’s small size is an advantage. Everyone is right on top of the action. Even where I sat two years ago (three rows from the top in the deep corner), everyone was right there. The only trouble is that if you’re more than halfway up the upper deck, you can’t hear Bob Tallman and Randy Corley do their thing. Both of those guys do a fine job, and I made it a point to walk down there and shake hands with Randy after it was over. Us announcers have to stick together.

-We had a good time at the Sahara on Friday night. $1 High Lifes, $1 Kamikaze shots, and the WSCA crowd can make for a pretty lethal combination.

-Saturday’s trip to the Hoover Dam with the Vargos was really something. Not only being a gawker, this trip went straight to why I spent five years of my life pursuing something. It is America’s big projects (transcontinental railroads, the Interstate Highway System, Hoover Dam, and the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge) that inspired me to go into civil engineering. The tour was every bit as cool as advertised.

-On that note, after wandering through the Mandalay Bay on Wednesday waiting for Mom and Coke to pick me up, I asked myself one simple question: Who thinks of this (stuff)? The theming, the size of the casino, the size of the hotel? The scale of most of the Strip casinos is simply mind-boggling.

-Back to Saturday. I wandered around town the rest of the day, including the all-you-can-eat-prime-rib special at the Circus Circus. I came in about 5:15, but I didn’t get my order taken for the better part of 15-20 minutes. Apparently the kitchen always gets backed up right after the prime rib special backs up. With that said, I didn’t feel the least bit jobbed by the dinner. I highly recommend it.

-Saturday night the WSCA crowd went over to Toby Keith’s I Love This Bar at Harrah’s. At first, I didn’t know what casino the place was located in. Someone in the group said that it was in the MGM Grand, but I was a bit skeptical of that. I asked a pit boss if he’d heard of the place, and he told me that it was up at Harrah’s. Talk about a confusing casino layout! I had NO idea where the place was in the casino, and it took me quite a while to find it once I got there. Once I got there, drinks in a mason jar were interesting.

-For long desert drives, like Interstate 15 between Las Vegas and the LA Basin, I would almost prefer to do it in daylight. At least in daylight there’s something to look at. Coming back after nightfall was a serious drag. I had a very hard time staying awake.

-I did manage to make it back to Vegas with my car and myself in one piece, and I met up with the gang at the Exaclibur lounge. The energy level in there was almost as lackluster as I felt, but somehow the Spences, Vargos, and a couple friends of Cheryl broke out of there and went to go ride the rides atop the Stratosphere. We had a fun trip in the monorail to the Sahara, and then we walked up the Strip to the Stratosphere. And then, in the immortal words of Ricky Skaggs, “…and here’s where things went wrong.”

-Upon arriving at the Stratosphere ticketing desk, we were coldly informed that due to weather conditions, the rides on top of the tower were closed. I knew that this was a pile of horse dung. Yes, immediately after cresting Cajon Pass it was extremely windy, but once I got near the Nevada state line, it was not breezy at all. I know exactly what happened: Things were awfully quiet, and they just decided to close for weather instead. It was a raw deal, and the Spences got some of their money back, but still…

-The Spences went back to their hotel, but the Vargos and I went to the Sahara and started gambling. By the time it was all over, it was well on the far side of 4 AM and neither of us were very tired. What better way to cap the evening (I’ve been awake for 24 hours straight at this point) than cheap steak-and-eggs at Bill’s Gambling Hall? First, Brian felt obliged to drag Cheryl out of bed and join us. She was extremely appreciative, as anyone rousted from a sound sleep at 4 AM would be.

-Somehow I made it back to the Excalibur, and I napped for a couple of hours before I went with Coke and Mom out to Sam’s Town. Shepler’s sets up a big tent outside the casino to push some of their goods. We also found out that the NFR logo merchandise they bought? Well, it must not have been moving to their liking, because all logo gear was 30% off.

-Just as we were leaving town, the weather took a hard turn to the worse. It started to rain on the way to the airport, and the Strip was only visible for a minute or so on climbout due to the low ceiling and heavy rain. I was also really tired, as we hadn’t been in the clouds for 10 minutes before I was out cold, and didn’t wake up until the top of descent into MSP.

-I was 5-1 on the trip at the sports book. My picks were: Wisconsin-Duke over 132.5, Arizona -2 at home to UNLV (loss), Oregon-Oregon State over 62.5 and Beavers +10, Washington +7, and Bama-Florida over 42.

-The NFR is a great time for anyone in the horse business to go. Not only are the prices fair, the whole city embraces the cowboy visitors to the hilt. Sure all the pools except the Nugget are closed, but otherwise if rodeo is your thing, then the NFr is a great time to Viva Las Vegas!

(Jeez, I sound like a damn Chamber of Commerce)

PM