I lived to talk about it with my children and even though I'm now sleeping 10 hours a night, during my waking hours I try to explain what it was like to live 13 days in Las Vegas. They don't understand or appreciate the accomplishment, but I try to tell them "it's like scaling Mt. Everest kids!!" I spent seven straight days in the Bellagio without ever stepping outside. Actually, I'm fibbing a bit because on Sunday I did step outside of the Diamond League onto the Grand Patio and saw the sun for the first time since the previous Monday. But I didn't step outside of the Bellagio until Monday when Ryan and I walked to the front of the Bellagio to shoot some promotional video footage in front of the fountains.
But as I reflect on my two weeks in Las Vegas, I have to admit that it was one of the most enjoyable and most productive times of my life. Every show went as well as expected and I think we took care of our customers for all three shows as well as possible. We really went the extra yard to make each event special and treat each customer as if they were our best. The Flamingo certainly didn't help matters by treating some of our customers like garbage, but the Bellagio staff couldn't have been nicer to us or our customers. We will stay there as long as they will have us because I honestly believe that is the finest hotel I've ever hosted an event at. I don't ever want to go anywhere else in Las Vegas.
Not to name drop, but Ryan and I were fortunate to meet a lot of celebrities while we were in Las Vegas. Looking back, I almost forgot some of them until I looked at the camera phone or digital camera. What a week it was. Here were a few sightings:
** On Monday night, our only free night in Las Vegas, Ryan, myself and my brother-in-law got front row seats to see David Copperfield. I think the Bellagio had something to do with that and they even set it up so that Ryan got on stage during Copperfield's act. Ryan played it up well, shook his booty for the audience and handled it well. They didn't make him disappear, but they did make his tie walk, talk and do all kinds of odd things. It was pretty damn cool and a memorable night with the greatest magician of our generation.
** We brought Chris Johnson and Mike Sims-Walker to the Interactive Sports Conference and they posed for pictures with every attendee and did a nice Q&A with Ryan on the stage. Both are kind of quiet, but both handled themselves well with our audience and with the Q&A. Some of CJ's comments got picked up via Twitter and Jim Rome even cited his comments about being on the next cover of Madden Football on his ESPN show. I hope both guys have big years this year.
** That night I spent 6-7 minutes talking with Hall of Famer Tony Dorsett and taking a picture with him. TD was very, very nice and just enjoyed talking with the guests and posing for photos. He enjoyed talking about Lambeau Field, the Cowboys, our buddy Gil Brandt, and even the labor situation. He was very adamant that a 2011 lockout is inevitable as he felt the TV networks gave the owners a very unfair advantage in this dispute. The owners get paid in 2011 by the networks whether there are games or not, so the players are now the ones in a tough position. Kudos to TD, you were great to talk with.
** We had Rich Gannon speak in Las Vegas on Saturday before our main event and he even did a nice intro for Lindy Hinkelman. Rich posed for photos with NFBC members beforehand, was very nice to talk to and then brought his family to a special dinner on Saturday night. I think everyone at that dinner who had a chance to meet him and pose with him for photos realize what a genuinely nice guy he really is. He asked Lindy so many questions that the mild-mannered Lindy was awestruck by how nice he was. He talked with me and Dennis about the Packers for 10 minutes as he does TV pre-season games for the Packers. What a great guy.
** On Sunday for the Diamond League and Ultimate Auction League, we had a beautiful, beautiful room that walked out to the Grand Patio overlooking the pool. It was a beautiful setup. The Diamond League guys had a great setup that I'll discuss on another thread and then the Ultimate League guys came in at 4 pm. Before the draft started, a Bellagio sales manager told me that there was a wedding in the three salons next to us and that it might get a little loud starting at 6 pm.
I broke into a panic and set up a U two halls down just to be sure and I told the Ultimate League members what might be coming in two hours. Fortunately, the Bellagio staff didn't want to tell anyone what was coming, but at 6:00 we looked outside our window and saw Wayne Gretzky out there posing for photographs. Gretzky had been at the Bellagio for four days hosting a Fantasy Camp with 10 other Hall of Famers and this was his last night awards banquet. He was standing right outside our window on the Grand Patio and when one of our facilitators walked outside to say hi, Wayne asked what we were doing in there. Gary, who was wearing a Phillies jersey, told him we were hosting a fantasy baseball draft. Gretzky knew what that was and told him to draft Chase Utley "because he's going to have a big year."
Pretty crazy. The Grand Patio was awesome and when the Ultimate Auction League was done I walked out with a beer to let out a sigh of relief and the full moon was just behind Planet Hollywood, illuminating the Bellagio pool. It was a beautiful sight and a great way to end two weeks in Las Vegas.
There are many, many other stories to talk about (like the first Thursday games of the NCAA Tournament in the Bellagio sportsbook with friends), but this is a good taste of what it was like in LV. Great, great memories, great, great fun with great, great friends, and great, great drafts that Ryan and I both feel honored to have hosted. But now it's family time and I need to make up some lost time with them.
Let's get this week's online drafts finished the way you expect them, let's get the leagues loaded and free agency rolling and then I can sit back and look at the pictures. These memories will definitely last a lifetime!! Thanks all for being part of them.