Madness 2010 - Thursday

Thursday in Vegas was pretty good. My bracket suffered some serious damage, but at least BYU made it out of the first round. We are set up at the Wynn this year. Life is good.

The BYU game went into double overtime.

Everyone was on edge until the win was official.

Victory!

Snacks

Heading to the food court for lunch

***Funny picture removed per spousal request***

Court-side

I wanted to give a public shout out to Joey for giving me my first taste of what it feels like to sit court-side at a basketball game. It's pretty sweet. We watched the Cougars destroy this poor Eastern New Mexico team.

(photos taken with my Blackberry, so the quality isn't very good)

Vegas Christmas

This is a bit late, but here are some photos from Christmas in Las Vegas. I stole most of them from Ashley's blog. Thx Ash!

We watched the BYU Cougars decimate the Beavers in the Maaco Bowl

Cali & Ash's dad rented this little place for the week. It was ok :)

We spent a lot of time at this poker table playing games.

Or sitting here playing Wii. It's been over a decade since I've had Nintendo thumb.

Christmas Eve Family Talent Show

I think 25% of the trip was spent taking pictures, posing people for a pictures, or getting on special outfits for pictures. In this instance, a good hour was spent trying to get the kids to look at the camera. I captured the moment from upstairs.

The Earl Family. I acted as photographer on such occasions. By my count, there must have been 32 of us staying in that house. Thanks Earls for allowing me to share Christmas with you, again!

College Football is for Suckers

Watched most of the BYU game tonight, but after TCU started giving them a frat house style reaming, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m done watching football for the season. Not because I’m a fair-weather fan. No, because college football is RETARDED! It’s an all or nothing contest. A zero sum game. You either have a shot to be the #1 & #2 team, play head to head in a bowl, and determine the overall winner, OR, play some other scrub team in a meaningless bowl, and for what? A big payday for your team? Why would the fans care about that? Is that what they scream from the bleachers? "Go team! Do it for better uniforms next year! Score! We need improved fertilizer for our home field!" A bowl win is just a hollow victory.

College bowls are the stupidest idea in sports: EVER. You don’t see the NFL ending their season with random teams playing each other, and the supposed two “best” teams playing for the title, which are determined by conflicting, biased polls. It’s ridiculous. There are playoffs and eliminations, so all the best teams get a fair shot at the crown. Same with NCAA basketball. Best 64 teams duke it out. Everyone has a legitimate shot. Every game means something. The stakes are HUGE. Fans are cheering for their team to be the best in the US, not simply better than the other scrub team they have been assigned.

So now that BYU has NO CHANCE of playing for the title, why would I waste my time watching them battle it out for a chance to play in the Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl or the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

Suck it college football.