Harrah's Cherokee Casion

Normally, I just recommend books in this section of the board. However, today I have to throw my full weight behind Harrah's Cherokee Resort & Casino.

I love going to Las Vegas or Atlantic City because I like to gamble. Specifically, I like to shoot craps and the interaction with all of the other players. My wife planned a trip to this casino this weekend so we could see a show Saturday night and I was floored by what a nice place it was. My expectations were low because I have been to the shit hole casinos on riverboats and I expected it to be like that. It was closer to a Las Vegas casino than one of the riverboat dumps.

It was my first experience in a casino with really great video gambling games. I always looked at video gambling as slot machines and man was I wrong. There are video table gaming machines with a small tv screen in front of you and a large plasma screen tv with an animated dealer looking at you and it talks. They have both blackjack and craps. There is no humanoid dealer at the craps table. The animation is incredibly lifelike. The female blackjack dealers are beautiful and have perfectly sculpted breast implants. It's unbelieveable.

My biggest criticism would be food selection, but they are working on improving that. The drive is also difficult as it is a narrow road for about 8 miles as you drive through a Smokey Mountain pass.

Cleveland always talked about getting a casino. I never like the idea as I was scared they would end up with one of the riverboat dumps. If Cleveland could do a casino on Lake Erie like the one in North Carolina, they should do it. It isn't going to solve the overall economic problem in Cleveland, but it would be a nice place for the locals to spend some time and money if they did it right. If a beautiful casino can be built like Cherokee in the middle of nowhere, Cleveland could do just as good with one on the Burke Airport site. Great music acts, boxing, etc could be part of the lakefront.

BYU Independent

This story has interested me since I saw it reported. I'm not sure what BYU is doing. Three outcomes seem possible.

First, BYU is committing suicide as it relates to their football program. Being independent has been killing Notre Dame for over a decade now and has turned them into a solid 6-6 team against the weakest schedules they have ever played. It's much more for ND, but not being in a conference is not helping at all. I'm not sure if BYU takes this direction long term if it will come to any good for them. In fact, I predict disaster if this direction is taken for any more than four years.

Second, they see the future and know there is another division of college football about to happen and they don't think they can compete at the BCS level. In my brilliant scenario I posted about a new division in college football, I had BYU as one of the top 40 teams of the past 40 years (I think). If not, they should at least be considered in the mix. BYU could be waiting out the conference shake ups and make a move to a division just below the BCS level. BYU has a long history of good football. I don't see this as a possibility, but everything is up in the air. Maybe BYU doesn't agree with my assessment of their ability to compete at the BCS level.

Third, BYU wants to get into a BCS conference, but isn't quite sure how to do it yet or which one to jump to. They do know the ship they are on is taking on water fast and they will need to get off sooner rather than later. This move buys them some time and keeps their national exposure up with an ESPN contract. BYU is dictating the terms of their move with this decision. I like the move for BYU as long as it is temporary. I don't think anyone knows what the outcome of the conference shake up is going to be over the next few year. BYU has the name and is keeping their name in front of everyone with the ESPN deal. It is also a very conservative school so they are not going to make changes without really putting some thought into it, but they know changes are coming. Whatever decision BYU makes they will have to live with it for the next 40 years...maybe they don't see a reason to jump into something they aren't certain they are ready for.

On the surface, this move by BYU may not seem like a big dea, but it is. Here is a name program in college football making an unusual move during a period when everyone is positioning themselves for the future. This is a bigger move than Colorado going to the PAC10. Just because their move is unusual, doesn't make it wrong. This unique direction may be what schools like Nebraska and Colorado wish they would have done five years from now. It says a lot about the future of college football and upcoming change. Hold on, a lot of changes will be coming this off season and over the next three years. College football is changing rapidly.

In no way should UofA do what BYU is doing.

Marketing Idea

Guest Coach Experience (Men's Soccer)
Join two-time National Head Coach of the Year Jay Vidovich as the men's soccer guest coach for the Virginia Tech game on Friday, October 1. Take advantage of this great opportunity for you and a guest to get an up-close and personal look at Wake Forest soccer!

I received the above marketing e-mail from Wake Forest. It is something one can bid on. Marketing college athletics should be so easy and we do such a bad job of it. They have a link that allows you to submit your bid electronically. They get people to PAY to do these things. This couldn't have taken an intern more than 30 minutes to put together.

Step 1: Tell the soccer coach a strange guy and probably his young son will be in the lockerroom and on the field during warm-ups and maybe during the game. Tell coach why.
Step 2: Set up basic program to track bids. Web page that allows the information to flow to an Excel spreadsheet when someone presses ENTER.
Step 3: Write a paragraph with a basic design (see above) and send it out to all athletic donors and season ticket holders via e-mail.
Step 4: On day of bid close, call the person with the highest bid, get their money and tell them where/when to show up for the game. Give them a couple of cheap t-shirts when they get to the game or give them an autographed soccer ball.

Ok, that may take 60 minutes.

Is the MAC the same as Pluto

We love to debate this so I have a good analogy. Will the MAC suffer the same fate as Pluto. Growing up, Pluto was a planet damn it and we all knew it. After looking at it for a while, scientists have had second thoughts about Pluto being a planet. In fact, it is no longer a planet for the reasons outlined in the link.

Maybe we need to look at the MAC and other non-bcs schools and ask ourselves if they are really D-1A conferences or not. If they aren't, what are they? If they are, why? Is the MAC a Dwarf D-1A conference like Pluto is a Dwarf Planet? I don't know why everyone gets so upset at these questions. Questions are part of being human and are at the core of learning...UofA is a learning institution. Being a Dwarf Conference is a heck of a lot better than being an asteroid (I-AA). We need to decide what we are and where we need to be. If it is a new division of football, then so be it.....something between D-1A and I-AA.

Pluto is still going around the Sun even though it is not called a planet. Pluto still has a ton of fans. There is even a Pluto fan club. The MAC will still have college football if it is no longer a D-1A conference. There might even be more fans if the NCAA did it right. Pluto probably has more fans today than it did when it was a planet.

Deacons At A Glance

I mentioned one time I get a publication from Wake Forest called Gold Rush. You can't find this on line. It is about Wake athletics.

I'll type a bit of information from it about Wake soccer since some of you are going to the game. Below is typed word for word.

Deacons at a glance
2009 record 17-4-3 (5-2-1 in ACC)

Coach: Jay Vidovich (225-87-31 in 16 years at WF)

Key returnees: Anthony Arena (So., D/MF), Akira Fitzgerald (Sr., GK), Andy Lubahn (So., MF)

Key losses: Corben Bone, Austin da Luz, Ike Opara, Zach Schilawski

Outlook: Four members of the Deacons earned All-ACC recognition last year, and all four of them are now in MLS. Yet the National Soccer Coaches Association of America picked WF No. 3 nationally in its preseason poll. That's a testament to the program, the system and the talent depth that has set a benchmark for years. Vidovich said the group showed energy and ambition in its early practices, but if they stay steady and just grow, they figure to be among the elites in college soccer again.