Wally Hall's Bowl Diary: Even during Vegas' slow time, there's never a dull moment

WALLY HALL
ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE

LAS VEGAS -- The Razorbacks fans were arriving in pretty good numbers as we got closer to kickoff time.
Saw investment banker Warren Simpson escorting a beautiful young lady through the MGM. Of course, it was his daughter, Garrett.
Greg Eley, an Arkansas-born Razorbacker who lives in Louisville, Ky., and his kids, Allison and Eliah, were on the prowl for player autographs.
Travel agent Lisa Medlock, a sort of home-grown version of Carrot Top without the profanity, was primed to call the Hogs.
Ran into Quinn Grovey and Chuck Barrett, and they were having a thick deli sandwich to hold them until the buffet opened.
Keith Jackson, Brian Prince, Randy Rainwater and Marcus Elliott finally arrived.
Food and coffee is the only way Vegas is going to make any money off Jackson. He doesn't gamble, but as he said, "I can eat."
Harry King from The Associated Press may have gotten one of the best hotel deals of anyone who made this trip.
King and his buddy, Gabe Rutherford, got in the Golden Nugget for $38 a night and a $25 per day food allowance.
Yes, this is the slow time, probably the only one of the year for Vegas.
Tuesday night our crew went over to Rio's to check out the buffet, which is pegged as All-World because they have all sorts of different foods, but most of us just couldn't go for another buffet.
So Jeff Krupsaw and Bob Holt did the long line thing, while Scott Cain, Robert Yates, Robert Turbeville, Chris Givens and myself opted for Mexican food.
We are batting a thousand. It was not very good.
If there's a good Mexican food restaurant in town, we sure haven't found it and probably won't now.
Turb's brother, Richard, a Little Rock attorney, is here, and he and Givens hooked up with him after dinner and we stayed at the Rio to play a little while.
Rio reminds me of Reno, where the people are just a little friendlier and the pace is a lot less hectic.
Once I was at a seminar in Reno and sat down to play blackjack between sessions when this little old man sat down and started playing $5 a hand.
He introduced himself as Harold Smith, and we chatted between hands for about 30 minutes. I noticed the entire staff was very, very attentive of him.
When he got up to leave, he said, "Used to could gamble all night, and did, but now I can't go more than 30 minutes."
After he was gone I asked the dealer who he was and he answered by asking, "Do you know what casino your are in?"
"Sure," I said, "Harold's."
Yep, the man had owned it, and when he sold it was with the condition he be allowed to live there.
On that same trip, I sat down to play blackjack and this lady with big hair sat down next to me. It was Dottie West.
In Reno, unlike Vegas, no one bothered her. Well, except for the blackjack dealer who flirted with her with outrageous abandon.
She finally told him, "Sonny, just deal. I'm looking for money, not romance."
I did get one little scare on Tuesday when I called to reconfirm my flight to Oklahoma City, where the Hogs play basketball Saturday night.
The agent asked for a local number, and when I asked why she admitted "the pilot issue."
Wouldn't that just be peachy keen if the Delta pilots pulled a slowdown or strike during Christmas?
Of course, it could ruin my Christmas spirit since I fly from Oklahoma City at 6:10 a.m. Christmas Eve to Virginia, where my family has gone for the holidays.
I mentioned that to Dr. Jack VanderSchilden, and he promptly invited me to his house for Christmas if I can't make it to Virginia.
On a humorous note, the day ended great as all the big-screen TVs in every hotel and casino showed the moment in the UALR-Oklahoma State game when the backboard broke.
Pretty good publicity because it pointed out the Trojans lost by only 10 to the Cowboys.

This article was published on Thursday, December 21, 2000

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