My Sports Vacation Part 1

I am on vacation in Las Vegas, not for the gambling but for the sports.  It all started with wanting to come down for NASCAR weekend so I could attend my first race.  It has now snowballed into the NASCAR races, seeing the Zags and Dawgs in their basketball conference tournaments, catching a Mariners Spring Training game and finally on the drive home catching the L.A.Kings play at the Staple Center.  I forgot to mention I am doing all this with my 16 year-old daughter. 

Our first thing to do was go to qualifying on Friday, however that got rained out but at least we made it to the speedway.  We attend a Kasey Kahne appearance that night and got to listen to him chat about racing for 45 minutes.  What I learned was that when a driver wrecks the impact can be hard enough to make their eyeballs pop out, who knew.

We had a busy Saturday, starting off at 8:30 to get in line to get game day tickets to the see Gonzaga play in the semi-finals.  This was a 2 hour process but worth it.  We were able to get tickets even if they were standing room only.  Basically it means you play musical chairs and sit where the seats are open and if the ticket holder shows up then the music starts again and you find other seats.  I didn't care I was just happy we had tickets.

By now it is 10:30 and we need to get to the race track.  Since we were just there the day before I knew right where I was going.  The thing with NASCAR is there is never close parking.  We watched our first race, not to many wrecks we did have a car go into the wall right in front of us.  Was amazed how fast those cars can get around the track. 

We enjoyed the race and can't wait for Sunday when the big boys race.  The only problem we had was leaving.  I think we walked an extra 3 miles trying to remember where the car was parked.  I was almost to the point of giving up and telling my daughter to go on with out me.  Then by some stroke of luck we found  our car.  We had no time to spare be cause the Zag's game started in an hour and a half.

We actually got out of the parking lot fast but I think that was because it took us an hour to find the car so most people were already gone.  We hit the freeway and was at the game with 20 minutes to spare.  By time we got a tee-shirt and found some seats we had 3 minutes till tip off.

We got lucky with our seats and found some in the row just behind the Gonazga student section.  Which was fun and we joined right in with their hand waving and chants.  One of my favorites was when the LMU fans started chanting "over rated" and the Zag's students shouted back "your not rated".   You know your having to much fun when our daughter tells you that you are embarrassing her.  So I was a little off with the chants and could not clap in rhythm, I didn't care I was having fun.

The game was very physical with bodies flying all over the floor.  Even though the first half left the Zags up by only one I knew they would blow it open in the second half.  The Zags were playing at a quicker pace which I knew would wear down LMU who doesn't have a deep bench.  The Zags would go onto win by 18 and move onto the finals on Monday.  Which means another early morning and standing in line for game day tickets. 

Of course I will bring my daughter with me to wait in line.  What kind of parent would I be if I left her back at the hotel room sleeping and miss this experience.  In part 2, I will talk about going to the NASCAR race with over 100,000 fans and if I was successful getting tickets to Monday's Zags game.