Once again it was time for my annual basketball tournament in Las Vegas. On Thursday I drove up with my teammate Jih in the afternoon and arrived in little over four hours. It was a bit strange for both of since this was the first night that we were both going to be away from our girls.
In evening we had our pre-tourney dinner at Tom Colicchio Craftsteak at the MGM. This was my recommendation since I liked it so much a few years ago and glad it didn’t disappoint. I shared a ribeye, and got to taste the porterhouse. We got a bunch of sides and shared them all, but beans and bacon weren’t what I was hoping for.
Back at the hotel I completely crashed on my bed. I never even made it to the shower and ended up sleeping the entire night.
Friday morning while the other guys went to the Oyster Bar for breakfast, Jih and I went for Chicken and Waffles at Bouchon. I don’t think that oysters and panroast is the best thing before a basketball game even if it’s in the evening.
http://youtu.be/ueJ6Sqc7q1g
The weeks leading up to the tournament we were quite nervous of the first team we were playing since they were coming down from the division above us. They actually had some formidable players, and some players that we know from other leagues. While their bigs were doing their things, our guards were dominating their guards and once again we pulled out a first game victory. Joy, Alice and my parents drove up in the afternoon and showed up to the game after their dinner at the bacchanal buffet.
After the game we headed out to District One LV because CJ saw an ad for Lobster Pho. I personally went with a Vietnamese Steak and Eggs. It was the perfect late night food somewhere in the middle between a dinner and breakfast dish (dreakfast?). The lobster pho was their standard pho with a 2/3 pound lobster dropped into the middle of it.
Saturday’s game 2 and 3 ended up being a repeat of the last two years, and we ended up with another 4th place finish.
The only positive was that we found a pretty legit Hawaiian poke place out in the middle of nowhere called Poke Express.
In the evening my parents took Alice back to their hotel room at the Westin, so that Joy and I could have a quick date night. In a total of two hours we went over to the Cosmopolitan for a drink at the Chandelier Bar, followed up by a couple of slices from the secret pizza place, and finally ending with a generous scoop of gelato. It was still a fun trip even though we sucked in the tournament.
