Day 1

Live from Las Vegas, here's your report.

Donny Carlock is actually losing at the crap tables. We hear the Las Vegas Sun Review is planning a special section to cover this stunning event.

We've moved the draft headquarters to the Residence Inn. We'll post a phone number tomorrow.

We played the football game today. I don't want to say Scott Lacy is out of shape, but we do hope he'll leave the oxygen tent at the hospital before the draft begins.

The pool scene at the Tropicana is simply, amazing. Ask the guys about "Pinky."

Did the Star Trek Experience today. Two thumbs up.

Steve outdid Taylor and Lacy in an eat-a-thon tonight, but it was declared unfair, since Lacy took us to the only expensive restaurant in town instead of the all-you-can-eat for $5 buffets.

Days 2-4

* No one had the courage to ride the roller coaster at the top of the 109-story Stratsophere. However, Steve Katz and I did tackle the Manhattan Express at the New York, New York casino. I enjoyed it. Steve is looking for his lunch. * We were able to sneak in two touch football games. We squared off into the Barbarino Division team (Lacy, Taylor and Sain) vs. the Horshack Division team (Tuttell, Katz and Brogan). The Horshack team won both games, but the first ended on a controversy. Mike Taylor caught a game-tying touchdown. Iggy complained loudly he caught it just out of bounds. We went to the instant replay (we filmed the entire game) and called upon a neutral judge, the Kotter Division's Don Carlock. He ruled that Taylor had at least one foot in bounds, but it was inconclusive.

The second game Saturday afternoon ended with Ken Sain filling in for Katz on the Horshack team while Brogan's cousin Jeff filled in for Sain on the Barbarino team. Sain beat Lacy deep for the game-winning score.

Oh, did I mention that I showed up in Las Vegas with 75 less pounds than I was carrying in Boston?

That was the big talker in the first part of the convention.

* Donny Carlock did not pay for his daughter's college education during the trip at the craps tables. In fact, he was down for most of the weekend, but rallied on the final day. Brad Falduto, however, spent little time with the rest of us because he was winning big in the casino.

* The Tropicana was a winner as the choice of hotel. It was in the middle of everything and the rate was reasonable. The big-time gamblers, Carlock and Falduto, really liked the casino and promise to return.

* On Monday, Sain, Tuttell, Katz and Brogan made the 30 mile trip to Hoover Dam and took the 30-minute tour inside the dam. Tuttell said outside of kicking Lacy's ass, it was the highlight of his weekend.

* The overall impression of Las Vegas was not good, and it is unlikely we'll return there. Many of us found the place to be a bit phony and the people to be very rude. Strange for a tourist city. We did have a great dinner at a Mexican food restaurant there. Ricardo's. Fantastic.

Casey Brogan will begin planning next year's convention in Anchorage. We did decide that for 2001, we have to return east of the Mississippi, after two straight years west of it. The early favorites are Montreal or Toronto.