It started a number of years ago. A few buddies and I would go to Vegas on the cheap and enjoy the first weekend of college basketball’s glorious tournament. We’d set up shop at the Stardust sportsbook with a wall of TVs showing the first 48 games over the course of 4 days. It was heaven for us hoops junkies. We had to go back every year. Little by little, more friends would come and then friends of friends and then friends of friends of friends, well you get the idea. For those who’ve discovered Vegas for March Madness, you know what I’m talking about, it’s addictive…..its the ultimate sports watching, betting, boozing, laughing, male-bonding experience out there. You find yourself high-fiving total strangers during victories, yelling at the bad coaching, doing bad Dick Vitale impressions (”the kid’s a diaper dandy”), it’s like you’re all part of the same fraternity for one weekend.

Over the years, our accommodations have improved a bit from the early days of driving to the motorlodge at the Stardust to the current days of taking the Southwest flights in and staying at the Monte Carlo….but in the end it’s all about the shared experience. And from my experience, there is no game I have somehow developed an instinct for finding the bad pointspreads for than college basketball at tourney time. And when I do, I load up on the straight bets and ignore the sucker parlays and teasers. If you can’t beat the games straight, bet small and enjoy the games.
If you’re heading to Vegas this year, the first round schedule for 2007 is March 15, 16, 17, and 18th…maybe we’ll high-five during the day or cross paths on the way to the VIP room at night. And if you go by the venerable Stardust, take a good look at the old dog as it will be the last time since it will be imploded this year after serving us gamblers from 1958-2006. If you’re looking for rooms, check out vegasreservations.com or vegas.com.