LAS VEGAS — YAHTZEE!!!
One of my favorite games and also one of the GREAT home run calls by ESPN’s Kenny Mayne. If you don’t know Kenny, or have not heard his Yahtzee call after a home run, Google it.
Did some of my own Googling and found out that a wealthy Canadian couple invented the game around 1950 and called it “The Yacht Game.” But it was Edwin S. Lowe, the bingo guy, that really put the juice behind the game.
Yahtzee is a simple game with five dice that you roll. You also have a scoresheet. Your goal is to create certain combinations, most of which are based on poker hands. And you win by having more points than your opponent. And if you roll a YAHTZEE, which is FIVE of a kind, CALL ME!!!
EATING AT THE AIRPORT!!!
Unless you’re driving in from California, Arizona or Utah, you’re coming into Vegas by plane and landing at Harry Reid International Airport (formerly McCarran Airport). If you’re wondering why the name change, Patrick McCarran, according to the Clark County Commission, was not a very nice person. Allegedly. Anyway, this is about food and where to find it.
Normally, we would not tell you to gorge on airport food, but the Vegas airport is another animal. If you’re in Terminal 1 at the A Gates, lemme recommend Siegel’s Bagelmania. The menu is extensive, and if you’ve never had a bagel with a SCHMEAR, this is the spot.
Still in Terminal 1, but moving to the B Gates, go ahead and hit up the Shake Shack. If you’re not looking for a full meal, lemme recommend the Hot Ones Bacon Cheese Fries. These babies are crispy crinkle cuts, topped with applewood-smoked bacon, cheese sauce and dusted with Aleppo pepper. You can never go wrong when something is DUSTED!
At the C Gates, you can find Popeyes, Burger King, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, and Jamba Juice. But if you’re REALLY hungry and thirsty, check out the Jose Cuervo Tequileria. And lemme direct you to the Tequileria Burger, made of Angus Beef + Monterey Jack + Iceberg + Sweet Pickled Onion + Chipotle Aioli + French Fries + Brioche Bun. And you can add bacon, avocado or huevo if you need it. There are many other options, which we’ll cover down the road, but if you have any airport questions, hit my email below.
WINNERS ONLY!!!
Kicking it off in Qatar where, like the rest of the betting public, we’ll back the USA to beat Iran and move into the Sweet 16! The Stars & Stripes are playing WICKED good defense but have only found the back of the net once. And since Iran can go through with just a draw, we’re gonna drop some cash on a tie as well.
Then we’ll skate on to the ice out in Vancouver, and gonna tap the Canucks over the Capitals. Vancouver has been ripping the net at a very high rate, scoring 26 goals over the last six games, and winning five of them.
Washington has been in a bit of a slump, losing five of the last seven, which is why the home team looks like the play. Also gonna take a taste of OVER 6.5 goals, since the Canucks have gone OVER in 10 of the last 13 games, while the Caps have gone 3-0 to the OVER in their last three road games. Light the red light, baabbbeee!!!
Benjamin Eckstein is a nationally syndicated sportswriter/oddsmaker. His column, America’s Line, with the Ecks & Bacon appetizer, has run in the New York Daily News and over 100 other papers since 1988. You can follow him online at www.americasline.com. He is beloved by most, when he picks winners, and detested by others, when he picks the occasional loser. If you wanna piece of Eck, hit his email... ben@americasline.com.
