Who’s your team?

Which NFL team is your favorite?  Or NBA or MLB favorite team?  For me, the St. Louis Rams have always been my favorite.  Ever since my flag football days as a youth, when my team was the Rams, I’ve been a Rams fan.  Back then, the team was based out of Los Angeles.  The players I remember were Roman Gabriel, John Cappalletti, Hacksaw Reynolds and Merlin Olsen.  There were many more memorable players over the years.

There were many ups and downs over the 30 plus years now that I’ve been following the Rams.  They made it to the Super Bowl in the 70’s, only to lose to the Pittsburgh Steelers.  In the 90’s, they were doing so badly for several years that I contemplated choosing a new “favorite team.”  My reasoning was that they were no longer the true Rams since they moved to St. Louis.  But I remained faithful and I was rewarded the next year when Kurt Warner took the team to Super Bowl victory.

The last couple of years have been dour.  I think they only won 2 games last year, and this year they are winless.  I believe that teams go through cycles.  It wasn’t that long ago when the 49ers dominated the NFL.  Lately, they haven’t been as successful (although they look like they may cycle into winning form with their new coach, Mike Singltary).  I will remain loyal to my Rams.  Maybe they’ll do better in a few years.  Right now, that’s how long it looks like it’s going to take to get better.

My favorite MLB team is the Dodgers.  They went through some lean years after their glory years in the 80’s with Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Ron Cey and Bill Russell.  They won an emotional World Series in the early 90’s with Kirk Gibson.  But until last year, they haven’t been doing so well.  They’re back in the NLCS this year after sweeping the St. Louis Cardinals.  I have something to cheer about this October!!

Curiously, my favorite NBA team is not the LA Lakers.  You would have thought that all my favorite professional teams would be from LA, but it didn’t work out that way.  My favorite NBA team is the Philadelphia 76ers.  The reason for this is because I loved to watch Dr. J in my youth.  Ever since then, I’ve remained a Sixers fan.  We had some good years when Allen Iverson was a Sixer.  Alas, we are in a down cycle right now.

So there you have it – my favorite professional teams.  Overall, I can’t complain.  They’ve all had good years over time and that’s all I can ask for.

Viva Las Vegas!

I visited Las Vegas again from 09/18/09 to 09/21/09.  It was a quick visit mainly to check out the UNLV vs Hawaii football game.  There were 10 of us from Hawaii who went up.  We met with a friend who lives in Las Vegas and another friend who drove up from San Diego.

Although we went up to watch the game, there was plenty of time to gamble and shop as well!  I left Hawaii on Friday afternoon with a friend.  We arrived late Friday night and met up with everyone at the California Hotel in downtown Las Vegas.  We stayed in downtown all night (actually early morning).  I did well gambling wise, so it was a good start to my vacation.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping during the day.  We went to buy beef jerky from a shop in downtown Las Vegas.  We also made a Trader Joe’s run and bought some other stuff to bring home.  We all met at the California Hotel for a tailgate party before the game.  We had Hawaiian food and Hawaiian entertainment, then caught the bus to the game.  It was a great game.  Hawaii had their chances to win, but ended up losing by 1 point.  Oh well, at least they made the spread!  I put some money on Hawaii, so I was already up headed back to the casinos.  We ended up going to the Orleans Hotel after the game.  We gambled a bit, but we went back to our hotel around 3:00 am because we were pretty tired.

On Sunday, we did some major shopping during the day.  We visited a couple of outlet malls.  I bought some gifts for my daughters.  I bet with my friend who lives in Vegas on the Rams vs Redskins game.  I’m a Rams fan, but I didn’t have high hopes.  Unexpectedly, the Rams made the spread and I won dinner from my friend.  We ended up at the Red Rock Casino, which is a newer casino in northeast Vegas.  Although the dinner was free, the gambling was a losing proposition.  I ended up losing all the money I made in the first two nights.

I can’t complain, though.  It was a quick, fun vacation.  I broke even gambling.  I got my fill of shopping.  The only thing that would have made the vacation perfect was if the Warriors won the football game.