Changing Seasons

"If you don't fight for what you love, don't cry for what you lose..." -via Francesca Welsh-

"Sometimes I forget to consider how badly people can play poker..."
(@Robvegaspoker) robvegaspoker.blogspot.com

"Things are definitely farther than they seem on the map as far as the Strip goes..."
-Swager2- (via Twitter)

"It's about looking for good spots and being smart..." -Brent Hanks-

"Work until your idols become your rivals..."
-via www.facebook.com/pages/Training-Truths-The-Good-The-Bad-The-Ugly/600392829996057-



Good evening everyone.  You should know me well enough by now to know that the title of this post is not referencing the changing of the seasons from winter to spring, which isn't going to happen anytime soon here in the ATX, based on the fact that the wind chill factor is supposed to be NINETEEN DEGREES tomorrow morning when I walk a mile to work...  #brrrrrr  Don't be shocked by the mile walk - I have to be at work before the West Campus bus can get me there, but NINETEEN?!

So yeah, I'm already losing money in other sports.  Basketball and hockey would be the new seasons that I am referencing, since the football season has ended (moment of silence)...  I have a book on the bookshelf beside me called 'Secrets of Professional Sports Betting' - it includes a section titled, 'Don't Gamble For The Action Alone.'  This section basically says that you shouldn't bet a game just because it's on t.v.  Long story short, I found three games on t.v. to bet tonight...  Cal recently tagged Arizona with its first loss of the season in the college hoops world, and the Bears beat Stanford at Palo Alto by seven earlier in the season.  Cal was a three-point favorite at home tonight against the Cardinal, so I bet them (these are $1.00 Bovada bets, unless specified otherwise, as I work my way toward becoming a professional gambler)...  ;)  Final score tonight:  Stanford 80  California 69, naturally...  I'm off to a good start...  Cal was down by as much as eighteen points in the first half.  I have studied so much that I didn't even know that Johnny Dawkins is now the head coach at Stanford.  Being a North Carolina fan growing up (even before they had Michael Jeffrey Jordan in uniform),  I detested Duke.  I'm still not a big Duke fan.  I mean, how can you like a program that's run within the rules and graduates players?  ;)  Anyway, Dawkins is one Blue Devil that I came to respect over time, and I actually wanted my Spurs to draft him with the 10th pick in the 1986 NBA Draft.  I couldn't believe that he lasted until number ten, and I was shocked when the Spurs selected him.  However, injuries cut his NBA career short, but I probably wouldn't have bet against Stanford tonight if I had known that he was at the helm.  Bye bye dollar...  Speaking of the Spurs, I said at the end of last season that I had a hard time believing that we'll win the NBA Championship for quite a while.  Although I'll be rooting for the Spurs in the playoffs like I have for a long time, things are getting tough for San Antonio already, and it's only early February.  I was concerned about my team's age when I posted my belief here at the end of last season, and the Spurs stumbled to a double-overtime win tonight at Washington.  Manu Ginobili didn't even make the "rodeo road trip," and Tony Parker left tonight's game in the second quarter (reported stiffness in his back).  Oh, speaking of the NBA, I have the Clippers (-1) against the Heat right now (the Heat are up by 12 - I can sense that you are shocked).  Speaking of sports betting, I also have the San Jose Sharks (-1 1/2) against the Stars on the ice tonight.  That game is scoreless at the end of the first period.  Oh, one more thing about sports betting in the barely cohesive paragraph:  I found out from my friend 'Palace Station Joey' that the odds set by Las Vegas for a safety being the first score in the Super Bowl were 200 to 1.  For example, a $5.00 bet won $1,000.00...  If we only knew...

Speaking of Las Vegas, here's a photo for you (because I haven't posted one in a while)...

My friend Courtney told me that she's going to be visiting the desert next month, and when I asked where she'll be staying, she replied, "The Aria?"  DIDN'T EVEN KNOW how lucky she is...  :)  Yeah, that's the Aria pictured above, and for those of you who are going to be visiting Las Vegas before I move back, keep letting me know, and I'll keep calling y'all punks...  ;)

I wanted to tell you a short story regarding one of the quotes at the top of this entry...  The one about things seeming closer on the map than they are, in reference to the Strip.  I once heard about a tourist at the airport who was going to be staying at the MGM saying that they would just walk (because you can see it plain as day from the airport, so it must be close)...  :D  Note to Courtney:  DO NOT WALK to the Aria from the airport...  ;)

We'll close tonight with a photo that my friend Marissa shared on facebook.  Now Marissa is a beautiful girl (like all of my female friends) :D, so don't believe the hype when you see this shot, but this one did make me smile...

Have a great day and I'll see you again on Friday...  ;)