NCAA Tourney
March Madness
Dance Card is Full
The Rebels take on Cal looking for first NCAA win since 2008
March 21st, 2013
Going for Broke
Spring Fever
Yes, basketball is in the air, but baseball also gets the Royal treatment
March 14th, 2013
Want to know why this is shaping up to be one of the craziest NCAA tournaments ever—and why I haven’t released a single college basketball selection this month (which is already half over)? Just look back to a few results from March 9 ... Read more »
Going For Broke
Trust me this time (no, seriously): Ohio State is a slam dunk to reach final
March 29th, 2012
With one last opportunity to make something out of this March Madness—and with solid line value in one of the Final Four matchups—it’s time to live up to this column’s name: It’s time to go for broke! Read more »
The Week
When the Running Stopped
March 22nd, 2012
This was to have been the year when Las Vegas’ stage-parent college basketball fans could bask in the more luxurious sort of vicarious living. Dizzy on a rich cocktail of decades-old glory, lingering bitterness about a dynasty denied and wild hopes raised by a Nov. 26 win over North Carolina, UNLV fans thought that—to paraphrase the prescient cover of the Rebels’ 1989-90 media guide—The Big Year Was Here. Again. Read more »
Going For Broke
Moving on to the Sweet 16 after tripping over myself to start the Big Dance
March 22nd, 2012
During last week’s games, as I watched one loser after another roll in from the balcony of the jam-packed LVH Theater, I thought for sure someone who wagered actual cash on my picks would recognize me and do his best John Wilkes Booth impersonation. Fortunately, I made it out alive. Unfortunately, the boss man refused my request to turn this week’s column over to somebody who actually knows what he’s doing. Read more »
Sports
Rebel road-trip dreams deferred
March 15th, 2012
Each spring, a hue and cry goes up across the campuses of our great nation: Albuquerque, baby! At least, that’s how it was supposed to be this year for the Rebellion, the student fan section that successfully distracted UNLV’s basketball opponents all season long with cardboard cutouts of Jimmy Kimmel’s head. Read more »
The Latest Thought
Don’t Try This at Home
For the ultimate March Madness ritual, there’s no place like Vegas
March 8th, 2012
The main action happens during the opening Thursday-Sunday stretch, when 48 games shrink the tourney field from 64 to the Sweet 16. For these four days, the energy generated in a sportsbook makes a Saturday night at Tryst seem like a book-club meeting. Read more »
Character Study
The Prodigal Star
March 31st, 2011
One look and it’s easy to tell that Ed O’Bannon is not your average car salesman. If his 6-foot-8 inch, 225-pound frame doesn’t give away O’Bannon’s former occupation as a hardwood hero, his business card (featuring a photo of him cutting down the net after he led UCLA to the 1995 NCAA title) and office décor (a framed Bruins No. 31 jersey and NBA poster) probably will. Read more »
Going For Broke
UConn has the tools to halt Aztecs’ run
March 24th, 2011
The frenzy in the Palazzo’s hidden man cave proved again there’s no better place to take in the NCAA tournament than Vegas—and in a city known for state-of-the-art sports-viewing venues, Lagasse’s Stadium might top the list. (Where else can you chow on fare from an Emeril Lagasse-inspired menu while lying on a chaise lounge in front of a 9-by-16-foot projection screen—one of more than 100 HDTVs—all with betting windows just steps away?) Read more »
Going For Broke
Glass slipper should fit Belmont perfectly
March 17th, 2011
Devastation of apocalyptic proportions in Japan (which followed recent horrific natural disasters in New Zealand, Chile and Haiti). The U.S. economy still in the tank. Pretty depressing world we’re living in these days. And so we look for distractions, which is why the good Lord created novelists, treadmills, amusement parks, booze, Internet porn … and the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Read more »
