I love NFL Sundays in Vegas! Over the past 3 years, I came to Vegas on a number of occasions to visit Alex, always during the NFL season, as that's when he works out here. He works long days and nights, 7 days a week, and if I wanted to see him at all, I generally would have to run around town with him from sports book to sports book, so I came to appreciate Sundays. For one thing, he usually begins his Sunday with a drive to Primm, NV. For anyone who has driven into Vegas on I-15 from California, you'll recognize Primm as the first sign of civilization past Baker. It's a border town, and what that means in Nevada is CASINOS! Primm isn't really a "town"; it's 3 casinos (one McDonald's for each), a few gas stations, and an outlet mall. It's 40 miles from Vegas, and there ain't much between. And Alex goes there almost every Sunday. In general, I really don't like driving around with Alex when he's working, as he drives like a maniac to try to be the first person to get a number at a sport book. But for Primm, he just sets the cruise control at 80, and we've got 40 miles each way to sit and talk and be with each other. Before I lived here, this would be the only real chance I'd have to hang out with Alex on my visits. Now that I live here, I don't need to hold out for every spare minute he may have. But I do enjoy the drive through the desert, and as yesterday was the first Sunday in the regular season, and as I am an NFL fan, I was very happy to hop in the car at 8:30 and head south to Primm Valley Resort and Casino. When we got to the sports book, I was able to watch numerous big-screens show footage of Brett Favre, my favorite player of all time, while I waited for Alex to place his bets and strike his deals (oh, he's such a smooth talker). A beautiful start to a beautiful day! We then headed back to town and went to the sports book at the Wynn to watch the first halves of all the games (plus a dozen horse races, some baseball, and the Women's US Open of Bowling, but I was only interested in football). Brett threw 2 touchdown passes in the first half of his first game as a New York Jet, woo hoo!! (Figures I would leave NYC when I finally had a reason to be interested in one of their teams.) Miami almost won the game late in the 4th quarter, but the Jets defense stood up to them, and now Brett is 1-0!!!
While Brett Favre is my favorite player, and has been since the mid-90's, my team has always been the Cleveland Browns. Which means I'm doomed to disappointment. And I'm not a real fan, I don't follow the players (though I'm excited about both their starting and secondary quarterbacks), but as I was born and raised outside of Cleveland, I became a football fan with the Browns. The people of Cleveland really love their teams! I was in Cleveland 2 summers ago to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (a highly worthwhile road trip for music fans). The museum is just next to the Browns stadium, and we were there for the first home-game of the pre-season. No big deal, right? Well, the fireworks display to celebrate their win that night was pretty spectacular, and the hotel we stayed in was packed with rowdy fans---you would've thought the Browns had just won a playoff game! Yes, Clevelanders love their teams, and as a Clevelander by birth, I am still, and will always be, a fan of the Browns. I didn't become a fan of the New York teams when I moved to Jersey, nor a Patriots fan when I moved to Boston, nor an Eagles fan in Philly or a Seahawks fan in Seattle. I supported those teams and do consider them among my favorites (though I was really getting sick of the Patriots--thank you, Eli Manning and the Giants for ending their streak!), but I will always root for the Browns, even if they play against Brett Favre. And I was rooting for them yesterday, as they lost miserably to the Dallas Cowboys. Sigh.
But even when my team is losing, I love being in a sports book with tons of people who are really excited about the game, whether they've got money on it or not (they mostly do), whether they're for my team or the enemy. And as I've not lived in Ohio since I was 8, and as the Browns have never been good enough in my lifetime to warrant coverage outside of the Cleveland area, I love the fact that I can actually see a Browns game on a Sunday, and I love the fact that there are people all around me rooting them on! I do love NFL Sundays in Vegas.
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