My parting thoughts after watching the championships are pretty simple ones: Basketball is awesome no matter where it is played. The men’s and women’s championship games in the Mountain West Conference were both slugfests between teams that left it all on the court. It’s amazing to think that next week, these teams will likely get crushed by a major conference team, but presently that couldn’t be further from people’s thoughts. 
It’s can’t believe how exciting basketball (and sports in general) can be when you get two evenly matched teams in a packed arena full of excited fans.
Basketball in Vegas? Well it is something truly special isn’t it! My thoughts on the pros & cons of this past weekends Mountain West Conference Championships:
Pros:
- Location, location, location - I can’t say it enough, Vegas is AWESOME and it just makes traveling to cover the games that much better. The glitz, the glamour the gambling and ofcourse, the gun ranges make this place a unique location but a very enjoyable one.
- The people/fans - The people in Las Vegas are always fantastic, never in another place do you see people so upbeat and excited and just genuinely optimistic (except ofcourse at the departure terminal of the airport). It sure beats hanging out with angry New Yorkers who are all sitting around criticizing “That new leadoff hitter, Crystal, what a bum”. Let’s also not forget how zealous the fans would be (especially with 80% of them having money on the game!)
- BEER - That’s right, booze is legal at college games in Las Vegas, that means you can liquor up when your team doesn’t cover the spread (due to “appearance concerns” the Nate avoided drinking with a media badge on). Not only can you get some rocky mountain refreshments, but you can also get hard liquor (including a “tequila stand”). Why don’t more schools do this?
- The Songs - Because nothing is cooler than singing “Viva Las Vegas” with a band playing and 20 young ladies shaking their pom poms! I am a huge fan of fight songs and feel they are one of the best things about collegiate sports. There are other aspects however
Cons:
- Traffic - My goodness is traffic terrible in Las Vegas (well, in all fairness, just on the Las Vegas Blvd strip). It certainly gives the grand pooba of bad traffic (LA) a run for its money. During the tournament I was speaking with some locals who told me that Las Vegas averages around 1 million new residents a year, with the road infrastructure to handle traffic in the 1940’s. Now granted that is a little extreme, but the truth is in there. They are adding hotels/condos by the dozens and yet there was no road construction work going on. That could spell disaster by 2010.
- Reeeeeeee-Beeeeels - One thing that I LOVE and HATE about college sports, team chants. Some are really cool (Rock Chalk Jay Hawk, Boomer Sooner & Glory To Dartmouth) and some are extremely obnoxious, like the UNLV’s Rebels chant (other obnoxious ones include UCONN’s “UCONN….HUSKIES….HUSKIES…UCONN”and whatever those weirdos at USC do with their fingers and chanting). Yes we know that your team has a two syllable name and thus allows you to stretch it out into a 50 letter chant, but my lord, EVERY two minutes during the game is just annoying.
Overall the trip was fantastic and certainly worth repeating (as long as I do well on the craps tables!). The true madness begins now and the Sportsblahg is hoping to be on the road as much as we can, keeping you informed and updated about all the side notes of the Madness.
Viva, Viva, Viva Las Vegas…. Out…
Leave a Reply