Some quick thoughts

I've had a busy few days so haven't been able to post, but here's a few things that have been rattling around in my head. I don't have time for my usual excerpt/link/opinion, and these are just more or less observations and other ramblings.
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Vegas Hockey

Last week I went to an exhibition game where the Las Vegas Wranglers handily defeated the Bakersfield Condors, desite the fact that the Condors had much cooler multi-colored uniforms. The Wranglers play in the East Coast Hockey League with my hometown Atlantic City Boardwalk Bullies. Don't ask me how the ECHL has teams on the West Coast, but it does. The Boardwalk Bullies make sense if you know that back in the glory days the Flyers were known as the Broad Street Bullies, but for those who don't know this fact, it just speaks to street crime. Not exactly a great way to reposition the city's image, but what are you going to do. Also, I think the Bullies' logo is a direct rip-off of the Long Beach Ice Dogs, who have the absolute coolest logo I've seen in a while.

Anyway, as far as hockey in Vegas, it is all good. The Orleans arena is a perfect venue for hockey and I can see it becoming a real attraction.

I've got one major beef, though. THEY HAVE TO CHANGE THE GOAL HORN!!! When the home team scores a goal, it really revs up the crowd and probably rattles the opposing goalie when a loud, jarring horn blasts. But the Wranglers' horn sounds like a fog horn. While its understated subtlety might be great when you're waking up on a weekend, it is barely audible and doesn't really do anything. That's about my only complaint, besides the fact that a replcia jersey costs $110, which seems rather steep for a minor league team. I paid $80 Canadian for a Montreal Canadiens jersey a few years ago, and that's about what I'd pay for any sports jersey--$40-$50 bucks, tops.
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Casino Design

The 2003 Casino Design conference, put on by Global Gaming Business, was incredible. Those who attended got a chance to learn a lot about how casinos are designed, planned, and built, and also some great speakers.

Bob Boughner, president of the Borgata in AC, gave a great talk about the new casino and really spoke to its identity. If it was a watch, it would be a Movado.

Here's another great quote. According to Tony Marnell, who built and operated the Rio and whose company, Marnell Corrao Associates, is a giant in casino architecture and construction, with a hand in most major projects, said that "themed resorts are no longer part of gaming."
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Lake Las Vegas

Anyway, the conference was my first trip to Lake Las Vegas, and it was fascinating. With upscale hotels, golf courses, and relatively small casinos, it is a step in a different direction. I noticed one very strange thing about the Hyatt Grand Regency, though: the casino is called "Casino Baraka."

Some of you might wonder why they named a casino after Amiri Baraka, but I have to confess that my first thought was: back, forward, down, forward, low punch.

No, I wasn't flashing back to a confrontation with Amiri Baraka, but I was reliving one of the few fatalities I mastered on Mortal Kombat II--Baraka's alternate fatality, the blade impalement (Baraka impales the victim on the blades that he has instead of hands, and the victim slooowly slides down). His primary fatality, of course, was the clean head swipe. This brought back memories of dozens of quarters wasted on MK II in the mid1990s.

I have absolutely no idea why anyone would name a casino after an obscure MK II character, but it works for me. FLAWLESS VICTORY.
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posted by Dave at 6:05 PM