The singular, A-number-1, positively, absolutely most important time in a young man's life is upon us.  For that reason, I can't blog for awhile.

My fantasy football draft is this Wednesday, September 3rd.  Blogging will resume on Thursday.  Other than rib night tonight, nothing else matters. 

Not the kids first day of school tomorrow (not including (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Son Mitten who started two weeks ago).  Not the 20 hour commercial for Jerry's kids.  Not my work.  Not even My-Sugar-Na (well, except maybe later tonight!) will come between me and drafting 18 professional football players on Wednesday.  18 men whom I will treat better than my own children, until one gets hurt or a better one comes along.  And if they behave really well and produce above my expectations, those 18 men will consume the Christmas Season.

Accompanying me to the draft Wednesday will be charts, graphs and printouts from on-line sources (inlcuding the one in which I bought a $27 subscription).  Some hope Devine Intervention gets them a good draft.  I prefer mind-numming preparation.  My-Sugar-Na doesn't really mind.  It means she gets the remote control for a few days.

With any luck, My-Sugar-Na will reintroduce me to all four children on Monday, December 29th.  God Bless the people who invented Fantasy Football.

Long version (with photos), see next post. 

Short version, see below...

Thursday - Grayline Downtown loop.  Cool.  Lombardi's.  Where's toppings?  Great crust.  First pizza place in USA.  Gray's Papaya.  Read long version.  Grayline Night Loop.  Way, way cool.  Double decker. Lights. Brooklyn Bridge.  Peep show on walk back to Penn Station?  Nope.  My-Sugar-Na was along.

Friday - Raw windy rainy yukky day.  Statue of Liberty. Not exciting.  Ellis Island. Very interesting.  Too Long.  Tired.  Sore.  Cold.  Wet.  Hungry.  Gray's Papaya.  Read long version.  Dave & Busters is adult Chuck E. Cheese.  Meh.

Saturday - Nice day.  Missed train from Central Islip.  Only 2 hours in Manhattan.  Run, My-Sugar-Na.  Run.  Labor dispute on Grayline bus.  Zip through M&M Store.  Gray's Papaya.  Read long version.  Back to Long Island.  Mr. Uncie's wedding got in the way.  Long ride to boat.  Cold appetizers.  Nice boat ride.  I was Belle of the Ball.  Great time ('xcept for food).  Back to Dave & Busters w/ sorta-sister.  Had foo-foo drink in stem glass.  Stem broke.  Free drink!

Sunday - $70 per couple for Mother's Day brunch?  Back to Manhattan.  My-Sugar-Na.  Shoe blow out.  Payless is there.  New shoes $13.  No tax.  Went to OTB.  Lost $4.  Peed at OTB.  Sopranos tour through NJ worth $44 each.  Pic taken with Vito.  Stood on steps where Christphuh gets shot.  Satriale's torn down.  Will become "Soprano Condominiums".  Had onion rings at Halston's.  Ordered Cookie Dough ice cream at Halston's.  Got vanilla with hint of Oreo.  Sat in Tony's seat at Bada-Bing.  Back to Manhattan.  Top of Empire State Building.  Nice view.  Gotta buy map or audio tour.  Sucks.  But love capitalism.  Carnegie Deli.  One pound Reuben sammich $22.  Finished 3/4 of it.  Back to Long Island.  An hour to pack?

Monday -  Gotta go home.  Last trip on Long Island Railroad.  Bus to LaGuardia.  Plane late.  Will miss connection to Des Moines.  What?  Read long version.  Home at 2:00 PM.  Got dogs from kennel.  $200 for boarding?  Anyone wanna buy a dog or two before July?

Tuesday -  What?  Vacation ended Monday.  Connecting flight to Des Moines the next day.  Why Des Moines?  Read long version.  My-Sugar-Na watching Survivor.  Yawn.  Another Yawn.  Blogging instead.  You're up to date.

This one didn't star the Griswold family, instead we follow the exploits of me and my step-family for the past weekend.  (Side note, this may only be interesting to me and My-Sugar-Na, but if you read this far, my blog hit-o-meter has already registered your visit, and I thank you.)  The actual points I want to make are in bold, the rest is just filler... er, I mean backstory so you understand the context of my comment.

Both My-Sugar-Na and I turned 40 in March.  However, instead of buying gifts for each other, we wanted to do something different.  We had talked about a trip to Las Vegas or Reno, but between the short time frame after thinking of the idea and the concerns about child care for (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Stepchildren, Grizzly and Sloppy, we weren't able to pull it off.  That's when My-Sugar-Na had a brilliant idea... drive to central-Iowa (home of her ex-husband), and have him babysit his own kids while we blow the April mortgage at the two casinos in the area.  (Side note, that's exactly what happened, too.  Both My-Sugar-Na and I made four trips into a casino, and not once did either of us walk out and say "Well, at least I won something".  That is the last I plan on speaking of gambling losses, however, I've also only typed two paragraphs so far.)

I should have known we were in trouble on Friday afternoon.  My-Sugar-Na and I were going to leave work around 11 or 11:30, pick up a rental car (one that gets better gas mileage than the SUV) drop off the dogs at the boarding kennel, and leave by 12:30.  We would get to Marshalltown, IA around 6:00 PM, in time to get to a bar and watch the Badgers NCAA tournament game.

Great plan.  Lousy execution.

I didn't get free until 11:45, and by the time I got home, the car rental place that promises to pick you up was a half hour late anyway.  My-Sugar-Na decided to take care of the car while I drove to the kennel.  I dropped the dogs off without a hitch, but I didn't get home until about 1:30.  While I am am out, my wife called and said there was a complication with the car because she reserved it with a debit card, and now they needed a note from her mother to let the car go.  By the time we had the rental car loaded with bags and kids, it was about 2:00 (Oops #1).  Suddenly, we were 90 minutes late.  We actually made outstanding time, and got the kids dropped off right around 7:10. 

Marshalltown, is an old, old, old city.  The south side of the city has some new development and homes, but the northern part of the city is in sad shape.  Houses are falling apart.  They haven't been painted since the advent of paint, porches are crumbling, and it just looks like the owners don't care.  When My-Sugar-Na lived in Marshalltown, her house had been built in 1857, but there was only so much that could be done to make it look decent.  She did her best with planting flowers in front, and she did a lot to the inside, but in the end, it was among a sea of sad looking houses.

We had wanted to find a sports bar that served food, but The Stadium Lounge in Marshalltown (where we stopped) only had frozen pizza.  No go.  You would think a sports bar would sell munchies, especially in this huge room with tables and chairs and this huge TV.  I was told "what do you expect in Marshalltown?"  Touche.

By the time we got to the nearest bar to watch the game, Wisconsin was already down about 12 points.  By the time I had my first sip of beer, it was now about a 17 point Davidson lead (Oops #2).  I was also in an NCAA pool in which you draw a name out of a hat, and in order for your team to advance, your team has to cover the point spread.  I picked two teams, and they both played Friday night... needing only a point-spread cover for me to cash  Unfortunatly, they were Stanford (Oops #3) and Villanova (Oops #4).  Needless to say, as soon as My-Sugar-Na and I were done with one drink, it was time to leave.

So we leave after one drink and go to Field's Steakhouse (across the street) for dinner.  My-Sugar-Na orders the Chicken Parmesan.  What she received was a small piece of chicken with very little red sauce, glued to angel hair pasta with more cheese than should be allowed for a non-Italian.  The more she tried to pick around the mass of cheese, the more she was actually gluing the noodles together.  It was, I assure you, hilarous for somebody that had a perfectly prepared sirloin.  I ended up eating much of it so it wouldn't go to waste.  When the waitress came around to check on the meal, My-Sugar-Na told her everything was fine, because she didn't want to make a big deal of it.

Have you noticed that the day hasn't gone particularly well, and we haven't even gotten to the casino, yet?

We finally get to Meskwaki Hotel & Casino in Tama, IA (about 15 miles east of Marshalltown) around 9:30 PM.  This isn't a casino planted in an area where an indian once farted (a la Potowatomi in Milwaukee).  This is a resort on reservation land that the Meskwaki tribe has held since the 1850s.  There were more displays and artifacts in the hotel lobby than at all of Potowatomi.  After a little bit of gaming, we went up to our room and it was quite lovely.  The entire set-up at Meskwaki was very nice, it reminded me of a decent (not the mega-opulant) Vegas resort, like the Stardust.

Saturday morning, we hit the casino by 9:00 AM.  The craps table didn't open until 10:00 (which made me wonder why they bothered opening the casino, but I digress).  So I sit down at the Pai Gow Poker table and I hear a PA announcement "The shuttle bus to Marshalltown leaves at 9:30".  There is something wrong when a city as worn down as Marshalltown has a shuttle RETURNING before breakfast.  Seeing how rundown Marshalltown is, and hearing that shuttle announcement has really gotten me to think about what casinos every 50 miles are actually doing to this country.  My-Sugar-Na and I chose to take our discretionary income to a casino (and we didn't really lose the mortgage).  But I am positive that most of the people on that Marshalltown shuttle bus that left the casino at 9:30 AM really couldn't have that much money available to take to a casino.

Among the perks given to us when we signed up for the player's club card was a free buffet during our birthday month.  Since we were both there during our birthday month, it worked out swellfully.  After lunch (and already concerned about how much I had lost) decided to stretch my money by going into the Off-Track-Betting area.  I bought a horse program and a dog program, and sat down with about fifty old men, all smoking cigars and complaining about "that damn #4 in the 7th race at Aqueduct".  It was wonderful.  I was in there about three hours, and although I lost a few bucks, it was fun because it is something you can't do (yet) at Potowatomi.

Leg two of our adventure was the 60-mile ride to Des Moines.  The Prairie Meadows horse track added a casino, and we decided to spread our losses throughout the state.  After checking into our hotel (more on that in the next paragraph) and going to dinner, we drove to Prairie Meadows for some gaming.  After going through the fastest $150 in recorded history at the craps table, I settled into a Pai Gow Poker table and made a little comeback.  After a few hours, we decided to leave.  Losing was getting boring, and there was something about that casino... It was so lifeless.  The place was packed... and quiet.  The room was very partitioned so that all areas seemed small.  The volume on the slot machines was low, and the room was dead.  Hard to explain, but I didn't like it.

We stayed at a Rodeway Inn, which - let me tell you - is no Meskwaki.  It was a bed with a TV and toilet in the room.  Not much more.  Oh, yeah, and the bed was caved in the middle, so whenever one of us rolled over, we ended up rolling back down the slope to the middle of the bed and bumping awake the other.

Sunday, instead of going back to Prairie Meadows as had been the plan, we decided to drive back to Meskwaki before picking up the kids.  I only had a little money in my pocket (as did My-Sugar-Na), however we hadn't reached our weekend bankroll limit, so every intent was that if we needed more money, we would hit the ATM.  We got to Meskwaki with four hours before needing to get her kids, and after a slow start, I was ahead for the session.  Unfortunately, there were two hours to go, so I ended up losing that aheadedness - and the money I had started with.  So I make my way to the ATM, and there is an "out of order" sign on it (the entire ATM network was down).  How in the world can a casino have an ATM that is out of order?  Think of all the potential money that Meskwaki didn't make because those machines couldn't dispense cash to degenerate gamblers like me?  I was going to pull out $300, and based on how my weekend went, I would have lost a chunk of it.  Now multiply that by every withdrawl that didn't happen, and you have a massive potential loss.  You would think that it would almost pay to have an ATM techhie on staff to make sure that any breakdown in the system would be handled immediately.

So I between My-Sugar-Na and I, we had about $40 left with a couple of hours, so I took half and headed back to the OTB.  I lost $4 in those last two hours, and clearly it was to our benefit that the ATMs were down.

Picking up the kids and most of the drive home was uneventful, until I made a tragic mistake in judgement.  I suggested Cracker Barrel for dinner.  Their Sunday special is the best buttermilk breaded fried chicken breasts in the history of buttermilk breaded fried chicken breasts.  We were getting to Dubuque around 6:30 and decided that it was almost dinner time.  I had assumed that there would be a Cracker Barrel along the highway, and by the time we had gotten downtown, I knew there wouldn't be.  When I suggested a Plan B, My-Sugar-Na demanded Cracker Barrel, as I had got her mouth a-waterin'.  I placed a call to (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Mother, and asked her to find the nearest location, which is on the northeast side of Madison. We all put our hungers on hold for 90 minutes until we get there.

When we arrive at Cracker Barrel, the parking lot is empty... we thought they were closed, and it was only a little past 8:00 PM.  They were open, but My-Sugar-Na made the comment that maybe everybody heard they were out of the buttermilk chicken so everybody went somewhere else.  We walked in and we were the only ones there.  We both ordered the buttermilk chicken without reading the menu, when the waitress said (and you can see this coming, can't you?) "We're out of the chicken.  We were very busy today and we ran out of it hours ago".

I maintain my standard calm, cool, demeanor, and stated that we will need a few minutes to review the menu.  When the waitress walked away, I laughed like a 8-year old that just heard of a titmouse for the first time.  My-Sugar-Na was not happy, as the dinners at both the front and back ends of the trip were ruined.  She told me that she wanted a meatloaf sandwich, and that she was going to the bathroom and I should order it, and if they were out of meatloaf, we were going home (you can see where this is going too, ai'na?)

No meatloaf.  So me and her kids ordered, and told the waitress to start the order immediately, so that it would be too late to actually leave.  We tried to keep a straight face, but as she was walking back to the table, the kids couldn't contain themselves.  It was funnier than the time watching the first American Pie movie, when Alyson Hannigan said "This one time, in band camp, I stuck..." well, watch the movie.

The meals are now ordered and delivered, and I am about halfway through my country fried steak when I notice that it was white in the middle.  It is very unusual for steak to be white, when it occured to me... they snuck a piece of chicken past me!  By this point, we had been there way too long so I just ate it.  I did tell the manager about all of the problems and he did credit my dinner, but for some reason, My-Sugar-Na couldn't stop laughing at me.  I don't get it... why would she be so unsympathetic?

Getting home Sunday night was as uneventful as we had hoped... which is a good thing while travelling.  For the record, my M/$ on the rental car was 8.3 (The SUV barely gets 5 M/$.)  Now that I've blown through one weekend, I have to wait six weeks until my first trip to New York City in early-May.

Good luck, and if these picks win, contact me so I can collect my vig.

Maybe a check into some of the lists (lower right of this page, but conveniently linked in this post) would give us an idea...

Al's Ramblings - This is my favorite Brewers info blog.  The updates are quick and an easy read, and usually the links contained within do the talking.  I like this blog even though I am in complete disagreement about the Brewers rise and fall of last season (Al says that the 24-10 start, or the slide in August are small cross-sections of a season, and the final record is almost always what it deserves to be.  I say that the 24-10 start shows how good the team can be, and the slide in August was a red flag that needed immediate attention.)

Professional Bowlers Association (specifically, the Message Boards) - These can be a lot of fun, like the discussion about the olden days, they can be serious, like discussion of the PBA Experience leagues, or (like 90% of the discussions), they can be a mystifying arguement where everybody will argue and contradict each other.  These are the most entertaining.

Pro Football Weekly - Simply, in my opinion, the best source of football news.  Not much hype, very few puff pieces, just football talk.  Quite a departure from ESPN.com, where they get off on being silly (Side note, great thing ESPN does, though, by publishing an ombudsman.  Too bad they don't pay attention to her.)

Wizard of Odds - Some people think I talk about gambling too much.  But I do it for two reasons; (A) I enjoy it, and (B) so do billions of other people.  Why are casinos going up and expanding faster than anything else?  With that said, if I am going to gamble my precious money, I want to go into a casino armed with as much information as possible.  The Wizard of Odds has more info on any game than any one can hope to digest (you've got to try to read the optimum Final Jeopardy strategy), but spend a couple of hours surfing this site and you are bound to find something to give you an edge the next time you go out to gamble.

Las Vegas Casino Death Watch - Just that... fans of "Old Vegas" won't be able to get enough of this.  Do a complete read.

Cheapo Vegas (and the related Cheapo Reno) - Even if you have only been to Las Vegas or Reno once or twice, it is fun reading these reviews of hotels, casinos and restaurants.

Big Soccer (specifically MISL and Indoor Forum) - For better or worse, the Milwaukee Wave and the MISL are hurting for media attention, and the best way to read up on the teams, players and the league are through the keyboards of othe fans.

Our Sports Central (specifically the Soccer portion) - Our Sports Central focuses on minor league sports, and links easily to the leagues and their websites, as well as linking to any and all related newspaper articles.  This comes in handy when the Wave plays a game out of town.  We might get a few sentences in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, but this site handily links me to the opposing team's more complete game article.

Czabe.com - Steve Czaban has a morning show on Fox Sports Radio, does a 30-minute sports segment on the Bob and Brian show on 102.9 "The Hog", writes a weekly column on OnMilwaukee.com and has a daily sports blog which is a nice five-minute way to start each morning.

UniWatch - C'mon, what do you expect?  The subtitle for this site is "The obsessive study of athletics aesthetics".  For a small fee, you can join the club as someone who "Get's It".  I "Get It".

The Amazing Race Sucks - Actually, I quite enjoy the show.  So much so, that there are three sets of required reading each week.  First is the interview with that week's Philiminated contestants.  Then during the week, a "regular" contributor posts a comical (often hilarious) review of the previous show.  Then before the next show, a very thoughtful discussion of the racer's edits... and trying to gleen clues as to who might be elminated next.

The Baby Name Wizard - Great fun to type in name after name after name after name after name to see the rise in fall in poularity (try William, Mortimer, Dakota and Conner.)

The Transport Company - Why-oh-why am I fascinated with busses?  Trust me, I ain't a green freak.  I believe it was because my parents would send me on bus trips around town to get rid of me (and I had to walk to the bus stop, barefoot, uphill - both ways).  That got me used to them to the point where, if possible, I would take the bus to the next door neighbor's house to borrow a cup of sugar.  But really, who can resist looking at photos of busses over the last 40 years?  It is like a window to the past.  Quick, without cheating... where was this picture taken?  This one is a gold mine.  I am getting giddy just looking at the photos!

Game Show Convention Center - Game show news!  Granted, a recent site revamp made it more clumsy than it used to be, where where else can you learn that 1 vs. 100 is coming back soon, or that Regis Philbin has been signed on to host Million Dollar Password?

Industrious clock - More accurate than your watch, I assure you.

Adomiable Penguin Fungo - How far can you hit the penguin?  Keep trying.  My record is about 325.

Roadside Peek - This is along the lines as reading about old Vegas or old busses.  When I first found this site, I spent hours looking at old road signs of bowling alleys, motels, restaurants, gas stations, etc.

Keep checking the side links, as I add more as I find them.

The Milwaukee Wave played a game which was broadcast live on Fox Soccer Channel on Friday, December 7th.  Only 2,690 fans thought enough about the Wave to show up.

The Wave really must have papered the house with free tickets in the Bradley Center era.  I am sure that some of the large attendance figures had a large paid gate, but I was at so many of those 15,000+ attendance games where there were hundreds of people in line exchanging vouchers for tickets a half hour before game time.  But with a crowd in the five digits, the game was a blast.  Fans cheering loudly, getting into the action, booing the usually poor officiating, etc.  Ten thousand may have gotten in free, but we had a great time. 

On one hand, when the Wave drew 7,000 with regularity (understanding that many were freebies), there was decent coverage in the Milwaukee Journal and Milwaukee Sentinel - oftentimes with a color game photo on the front page.  All of the TV stations used the Bradley Center video feed, and home game video was on the sportscasts during the evening news.  Having 40 to 44 games helped as well... if a schedule is too short (or too long of a gap in between games) it is hard to gather momentum.  But playing two games a week - and almost always having a home game every weekend - kept the Wave in the public eye.  I think that is a word-of-mouth that the Wave relied on.  (You can get a free ticket voucher and not use it, or you can get a freebie and because the team was in the public conscious, you decide to go to the game).

Then on the other hand, when the Wave moved to the US Cellular Arena, there weren't enough seats available to give out excessive free tickets... if you paper the house and then don't have enough seats to match the number of vouchers, that's not a good thing.  I also think that around the same time, the Major Indoor Soccer League and the team started taking a stand against papering the house.  I mean, moving across the streets cuts the average attendance in half?  Many folks in Internetland feel that the Wave took a step backwards because of the feeling that the US Cellular Arena is minor league.

So although I would gather that almost all of the 2,600 in announced attendance was paid (maybe even a similar number as from the BC days?), the lower attendance has become a negative trend that has gathered momentum... less attendance means less coverage from the media.  No more Bradley Center video, so less news highlights.  Soccer reporter Charles Gardner got promoted to Bucks coverage, and he really wasn't replaced.  Therefore, the MJS coverage is rinky-dink. Now the team plays only 30 games, and there is less "buzz" now that they've taken away five home games.  There might be three weeks in between games, and if you don't see them on the news, then it is easy to forget that they exist.

Honestly, I completely forgot that the Wave had a game the previous weekend against La Raza de Monterrey.  I buy my tickets at the door because they are always available, and I can rattle off more Wave historical and trivia stuff than almost anyone else in the city, and I forgot the Wave was playing a Saturday night game.  Talk about a lack of buzz.

Other than the reduction in free tickets, I think a couple of other things may have cut into the attendance:

(1) There is a full casino in town now that wasn't there in 1984 (or 1994, for that matter).  This is a big 8000# elephant in the room.  It is more likely that mommy and daddy will blow the discretionary income (if not the mortgage and car payment, too) at Potowatomi than going to a soccer game with Johnny and his friends.  Nobody wants to admit that they will deny taking the kids to the game so they can go gamble, but there is a reason that the Potowatomi Nation can't build expansions fast enough.

(2) The gawdawful game day presentation supposedly intended to make it an entertainment event.  When a person goes to a Bucks or Marquette game, and it takes 10 minutes to introduce the players because they show a highlight video, and have the cRAP music behind the introductions, you've forgotten about the intros by tip-off because you are there for a Bucks or Marquette game.  But when you see basically the same introduction at a Wave game, suddenly it looks so bush league.  Now throw in the T-shirt tosses into the stands, the constant PA commercials during the game and the music, the entire experience overshadows the game (Side note, I've gotten to accept music during the games.  My newest kick is the unlistentoable racket that is now played.  The ticket buyers are in the 25-50 range - regardless of the ages of the kids.  How about some sound that I can tap my toes to?  You know that stuff; it is called music, complete with words and actual musicians playing actual instruments.)

(3) Ticket prices.  Call it adjusting for inflation or whatever, but when $16 is your cheapest seat for an event that nobody wants to go to....  Years ago while at a Chicago Fire game at Soldier Field, I ran into Peter Wilt (then the Fire GM who previously was the PR guy for the Wave in their heyday).  We talked about not undervaluing the ticket, because of the prestige that a high-ticket price brings.  When the top-level ticket is $50, it gives the impression that it is a high profile event.  Conversely, if a cheap seat is $8, there is less value associated with EVERY ticket.  Whether I agree with that or not is irrelevant.  What is relevant that is if the Wave is getting 2,600 fans, there isn't a lot of perceived value at all and the lowest price tickets need to go down.  A lot.

I must say that it breaks my heart to see this happen.  Again, I am one of the very few that has been to at least one game in each of the 24 seasons, and so many life memories revolve around indoor soccer games.  One of my first dates was at a Wave game (tickets were $4 in 1984... I could afford that).  As I got older, I got to date a player's wife (well, I call it a date, maybe to her it was someone giving her a free meal).  My son and I started going to games in 1993 when he was too young to know what a ball was, but we still got to go to 10-15 games a year together for the past 15 years.  He and I can remember so many things - both great and silly - and the Wave has really bonded us.  I've gone through one wife (and My-Sugar-Na makes #2) and their divergent attitudes about the Wave. 

But now that the Wave has gotten so irrelevant that I am even forgetting when there is a game... Something has to change, and quickly.

As much as I would hate to turn away readers, if you don't know much about craps, this entry might be hard to understand.  But please, try to follow along.

For years, I've wanted to learn how to play craps at a casino.  Pre-Potowatomi, one of my best friends, I'll call him Pete, would drive to the Chicago riverboats every week for a game.  Pete was pretty cool about it, too.  He would crow about his wins, but he would also tell about his sometimes huge losses.  When I asked him how to play, he would always say that he would show me "the next time we were at a casino".  Invariably, the next time we would be in a casino together, he would start throwing $5 cheques all over the place and I couldn't keep up with him.  I would try to interrupt with a "why did you do that?", but before he could answer, the dice were rolled and he was either collecting or making another bet that I didn't understand.

For our honeymoon in 2005, My-Sugar-Na and I went to Las Vegas and stayed at the Sahara.  One of their perks for joining their player's club was $50 in free table game play.  I found a completely empty craps table (like, at 8:00 in the morning) and asked the croupier to explain the game.  I played for awhile, got a basic idea of the comeout roll and rolling until the point was made or a seven was thrown, but since I was alone, we never got into the prop bets (the hardways, the "Any Seven", etc).  Nor was the "Field", the "Don't Pass" or laying odds discussed.

For reasons I cannot explain, one nondescript day in March of this year I decided to search the internet for a free on-line game (and for rules), so I could learn how to play.  My searching led me to the Wizard of Odds page for craps strategy, and that site had a link to Bodog Online Casino which had a free version of the game for practice.  While playing, something clicked.  I felt comfortable enough to find a slow time to go down to Potowatomi and give it a whirl.  I figured if I could figure out the Pass Line (with free odds), the Come (with free odds) and how to place a 6 and 8, I could play at the table and pick up rest on the fly.

On the next Sunday morning, My-Sugar-Na and I made the trek to Potowatomi.  Needless to say, I was very nervous and a lot intimidated.  There were only 8-10 people on the table, but one guy had a long row of black ($100) cheques in front of him, and about a grand in play on each roll.  I meekly put a $5 cheque on the Pass Line, and craps was rolled.  On my first ever craps bet, I lost.  The next couple of rolls, once a point was established, a seven was rolled before the point, and I lost my money.  Making only the very basic bets at the table minimum, I was out $40 in about 5 minutes.

I walked away and found My-Sugar-Na, and she said that if I had more money and wanted to keep trying, I could.  I went back to the table, and got on a little roll.  In about an hour, I had made back my previous loss (as well as her losses) and we left about $30 ahead.  That got us breakfast at Miss Katie's Diner.

All that little escapade did was pique my interest.  I practiced more on Bodog and others, and made a few more trips to the casino.  In May, I lived at the craps table in both Las Vegas and Reno, and I make (probably too many) visits to Potowatomi each month.  I have made some pretty large wins, and only twice that I can remember did I exceed my bankroll (then kicked myself pretty hard on the drive home).

Since each roll of the dice is an independant event (in other words, dice have no memory.  There is the exact same likelyhood that a seven will be rolled ten consecutive times as there is that a seven will not be rolled ten consecutive times) hot streaks and cold streaks are a matter of luck and timing.  There is no system in craps, just money management.

My money management is that I play the table minimum on the Pass line, and then back up the bet with 3x/4x/5x free odds (regardless of the table limit).  If I am in a bad streak or if my bankroll is declining, I will change to 2x/2.5x/3x odds.  With a house edge of 1.41%, the Pass line bet is one of the very best bets in a casino.  The best bet in a casino are the free odds bet, as they carry 0% house edge.  Once a point is established, I place a Come bet (with the same free odds technique once that point is established) and if one of my points is not a 6 or 8, I will place a bet there at a 1.5% house advantage.  This strategy of playing the odds that least favor the casino is just fine by me. 

I usually do make one high house edge bet, as on a comeout roll I will make a "Any Craps" at an 11% house edge.  Lemme explain...  On a comeout roll, if a 7 or 11 is rolled, there is an immediate pay off.  However, if a 2, 3 or 12 (called "Craps") is rolled, it is an immediate loss.  The "Any Craps" bet is an insurance policy.  In other words, if I bet $5 on the Pass line and $1 on "Any Craps", if a 7 or 11 is rolled, I win the $5 but lose the $1 (a net win of $4).  But with those same bets, if a 12 is rolled, I lose the $5 on the Pass line but win $7 for the "Any Craps" (a net win of $2).  With this, I only actually lose money when I have bets out there when a point is established and a seven is rolled.

When money is really tight, I will play the table backwards by playing the Don't Pass/Bar and the Don't Come.  The difference is that when playing the "Don'ts", you WANT a seven before the point.  In other words, you will win when everybody else is losing.  This can backfire, as if you are playing backwards, if the table gets really hot and you are sticking to the "Don'ts" the other players WILL harass you as they rake in the money while yours gets taken away.

So to the other craps players, what is your favorite strategy?

It's very simple.  Take the modern helmet from the players and give them a leather helmet to protect from hair pulling and cuts.

What are some of the recent head injuries in pro football?  How about the Miami Dolphins QB Trent Green's recent concussion... Do you think that there was any way on God's Green Earth that Green would have attempted that block if he was wearing a leather helmet?  What about Buffalo Bills lineman Kevin Everett's spinal injury?  Would he have attemted to tackle the ball carrier by leading with his helmet if his head weren't protected?

Simply put, the NFL allows players to wear missles on their heads, and then appears to be surprised when the long range effect of concussions and head injuries were attributed to the deaths of former NFL players.  Leather helmets = safer players.

Of course, if you follow the money, there is no way the NFL can let that happen.  The sport thrives because of the speed and violent nature.  Take away the helmets, and players move a lot slower, they don't hit as hard, and the overall gameplay would suffer.  Gameplay suffers, and you don't have a 30-year waiting list for Packers season tickets, or men forking over $229 for the NFL Sunday Ticket packages on DirecTV, and so on, and so on.

Follow the money some more, and one of the biggest reasons that pro football is so popluar is because it is so condusive to gambling.  Sure, you have the obvious ways to bet (either legally in a Nevada casino, or illegally with an offshore account or with a bookie) by using point spreads, over/under totals and money lines.  Also, just about everybody is in an office pool... also illegal.  Fantasy leagues?  That $100 entry fee you pay, which results in prizes determined by the skill of professional athletes (and is not taxed) isn't legal either.  But betting, pools and fantasy leagues sure are fun.

Despite Norman Chad's point of view on Fantasy Football - and also now espoused by (Sponsor's Name Here)'s Official Father - if you are a fantasy footbal team owner (Side note, I am 4-2, and I've had over 100 points in three of my four wins), or if you do bet on games (I was locked in on Kansas City beating Cincinnati all week, and getting 3-1/2 points was a bonus), or if you have a square in the office pool (6 for the Packers and 8 for Washington won me squat), or even if you are in a 33 pot (I had a BYE this week?  How can my team score 33 points of I didn't have a team?) - don't tell me that watching an otherwise meaningless Titans at Bucaneers game trumps watching the Packers barely hold onto their lead.  Using that particular game as an example, why would anybody outside of Tampa and Nashville watch that game unless there was a little coin action going?  How many fans in, say, Death Valley watched the Rams at Ravens game on their Sunday Ticket package?  Answer... those with some sort of illegal bet on the game.

The NFL and their owners may say that they don't want concussions or spinal cord injuries, but eliminating them would be akin to killing the golden goose.  So those injuries are just a necessary byproduct of making more money than they did last year.  And with every nickel we spend to watch football, we are complicit in this.