TimeOut

It's MADNESS!!!!!

 

Hello PuristS sports fans!

It's that time of the year again....March Madness is here!    What better way to kick it off than to watch games than at sports 'party central': Las Vegas!  There's a lot of fans out here as you see many sporting their favorite team's jersey.  Of course I had my University of Arizona shirt on cheering the Wildcats to their first match of the tournament. 

This time we head to the Aria resort and casino for the weekend.  Checkout the beautiful setup that they have for the high limit players and basketball fans.....

For those that are not into sports, March Madness is the start of the NCAA (college) Division 1 basketball tournament.  68 teams from different conferences compete in a single elimination style playoff.  IMO, this is an exciting sports event since it's a do or die situation to advance and there's always so many upsets that it's so much fun to watch.  Of course it's even better if you have a team playing in the tournament.  The teams play at colleges around the U.S. with the finals this year being played at Raliant Stadium in Houston, Texas on April 4th. 

My Alma Mater, UofA, is seeded number 5 in the West Regional Division and for their first round faces 12th seed Memphis.  Earlier UCLA squeeks by with a 2 point win over Michigan State.  Washington and USC are also in this year so GO Pac-10!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As we're in Vegas, there's plenty of games around.  A special invite only slot tournament with the March Madness theme is going on while the basketball games are going on.

Others are here to win big money, I'm here to cheer on my Wildcats!    They have these huge projector screens all over the large convention room for coverage of all the games.  As I grab a seat at the tables and served a drink, the match up starts.  It's a rough start as Memphis climbs to a early 9-1 score.  Uh-Oh, this is not looking good for my team.

During the commercial breaks, I wander around and checkout the area.  They have a fun mini basketball shoot out game in one corner with a chance to play with a new slot machine that the casino will be debuting in the next few days.  The crowd is a good mix of young and old but definitely a fun bunch of people.

It's always a party when there's an open bar in Vegas! 

Popcorn machine and a Build-Ur-Own Nacho bar for game day......

During the breaks, everyone heads to the basketball setup and attempts to put in a high score.

You can win big money on the slot machines, from 1 penny to $5,000 per pull! 

A couple has a dual at the mini-basketball game.  Each player has 25 seconds to make as many baskets as possible but you gotta be quick as there are basketballs flying everywhere!  The guy gets cocky as he takes the first game, then the lady wins 2 out of 3 rounds to beat her significant other.  Of course he says that he let her win to avoid being embarrassed!

A partial view of the convention room.  In a few minutes this place is gonna be packed with players and their friends cheering them on. 

Let's grab some grub, I'm hungry.......Let's see what we got

Carving station where the chef serves up some tasty BBQ brisket, jumbo all beef hot dogs with all the fixin's.

Hot and cold Italian sub sandwiches, beef Empanadas, Philly Cheese steaks, and a veggie bar.

Can't be game day without some delicious hot wings, the ones here are really good!  can't wait to chow down........

Round two.........

This message has been edited by DRMW on 2011-03-21 02:18:57