I want to give a public shout out to my brother-in-law, Dennis Miller, for all his help this weekend in Las Vegas. Everyone remembers his name and everyone knows he's not near as funny as the comedian, but he's a helluva good guy and my partner at Lambeau Field during the NFL season and my right hand man in Las Vegas now for the NFBC and NFFC drafts.
Thanks to everyone who treated him like one of the NFBC gang, which he is after hanging with us each of the last eight years. He worked his butt off getting everything set up and the boards put together and leagues organized, etc. It was just me and Dennis running Las Vegas this year and hopefully you felt that a staff of five had everything organized, when it really was just two dumb guys from Wisconsin.
I can count on Dennis to get everything done for me and that allows you folks to count on me to have everything organized and ready to go when the drafts are supposed to start.Dennis knows many of you guys first-hand and I know he would like to thank all of you folks for treating him well.
I'd also like to thank Brady Tinker for being our top auctioneer for the eighth straight year. Brady and I go back to 1997 when we appeared on FoxSportsNet's Fantasy Football Weekly TV show and we talked about doing something like the NFBC years before I ever did this. He has his TV career in Dallas going well, but he always takes time out of his busy schedule to hang with us and run our top events. He's a good, good friend and someone I can count on each March and September.
And also kudos to Rex Weddle and his Las Vegas gang of facilitators. They are top-notch in everything they do and they work hard for a little money, food and drink!!
I would be lost without them in Las Vegas. They make my job easier. Kudos also to the best duo around, Jan and Claire Gustafson, who through eight years of working all of the top auctions and drafts with Brady someone keep up with the math, the bullshit from Brady and the busy schedules I have them on. It's not taken for granted girls and I appreciate our eight years of baseball and football together. The free time to bet on horses are long gone, but they were fun times nonetheless. Now it's all work, work, work for some of us.And finally, a big THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to all of my Las Vegas participants. In every single draft over two weekends, you were all there on time and mostly ahead of time. That makes my life so much easier. We had the badges waiting for you on the tables ahead of time and the facilitators were very good across the board. I think the experience was better for you than in past years. The food and drink must have made things enjoyable, too. But I couldn't be prouder of the participants in Las Vegas. The camaraderie was fantastic, the competitive juices were flowing and the atmosphere was fantastic. You all made this a pure joy to run in Las Vegas.
Here's a Corona to all of you. You made Las Vegas a freakin' BLAST over 12 days (of which I got outside of the hotel twice!!). See ya in September for another two weekends of drafts.