WWTBAM Bored

I took the red-eye back from Las Vegas and arrived back here at about 6 AM. I took a late flight so I could spend more time with my granddaughters. Leanna, the older, lives in Las Vegas now and I flew Brittany down from Denver. Neither have any interest in quizzing so they went out on the town while I played.

It was also good seeing people I hadn't seen for many years as well as meeting BBs who I'd never met in person. There were many BBs who never or hardly ever come here now. One told me his therapist suggested he stop coming here.

Both Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter were there but their only face-off was as members of opposing Celebrity Smartypants teams.

I found out the hard way that I shouldn't play buzzer games against people who are younger than I. I'm way too slow now. I held my own on the pub-trivia-style game though. None of the old-time trivia champs there did fantastically well; some were terrible.

I did better playing blackjack: Brittany played with me, she's still learning, and we more than doubled our table stakes. I knew I wouldn't have time to play poker. The Flamingo doesn't have a poker room. In fact it's probably the smallest casino in town; when the LV economy picks up even more than it has, I expect it to be dust.

The Tropicana is laid-out in a way that meant I had to have a long walk from the conference rooms and elevators to my room to the restaurant/casino area. I must have made at least ten round trips in my four days there. My arthritic legs are screaming at me, especially since the seat on my return flight was as hard as wood. It was a 737-800; the one going out was shorter since it was on a weekday.

I'll go back next year if I can.

Bob Juch wrote:There were many BBs who never or hardly ever come here now. One told me his therapist suggested he stop coming here.

<sigh>

Used to be that coming here was therapeutic, since it was the one place where we could find others that shared our unusual obsession.

It was good to see you Bob, sorry I didn't have a long conversation with you. TCONA was in the Tropicana. I stayed in two other hotels during my trip, and there was a lot of walking regardless of what hotel I was in. I agree that if they ever start razing hotels again to build new ones, Tropicana will be on the list. I got lucky to have been paired with one of the best players there for the quiz bowl tournament, we finished third. We should have won the game we lost but a judge ruled against us for a mispronunciation that even the other team thought we had correct.

goongas wrote:It was good to see you Bob, sorry I didn't have a long conversation with you. TCONA was in the Tropicana. I stayed in two other hotels during my trip, and there was a lot of walking regardless of what hotel I was in. I agree that if they ever start razing hotels again to build new ones, Tropicana will be on the list. I got lucky to have been paired with one of the best players there for the quiz bowl tournament, we finished third. We should have won the game we lost but a judge ruled against us for a mispronunciation that even the other team thought we had correct.

Can you tell I took the red-eye home?

Yes, you was robbed.

It was nice to meet you too, Bob! (I'll presume I'm among those you had the pleasure of meeting.) You are much taller in person than I'd imagined (or am I much shorter?). Glad you had a good time, and no worries, even us whippersnappers have a rough time at those dumb buzzers.

Yes, Goongas' teammates "mispronunciation" left a sour note on that game, but I'm glad y'all walked away with your heads held high. It was an honor to have our behinds soundly handed to us in the round previous.

I just got home. It was good to see everyone. I'm not sure who everyone was, since the name tags were printed too small, but it was a fun weekend. I was in Las Vegas for five days and never made a single bet (except on the after hours Jeopardy games), which is a first for me. I didn't win anything competitively, but I won a drawing for a Cards Against Humanity game, which I've been advised is not suitable for genteel company.

TCONA was staged in conference rooms next to an induction ceremony for the Nevada Boxing Hall Of Fame, so there were a lot of celebrities milling about. I got my picture taken with Evander Holyfield and Leon Spinks. Others reported seeing Sugar Ray Leonard and I think Mike Tyson.

Ken and Brad also faced each other in a special match of Knodgeball. I think Brad won. But there was usually more than one thing going on at any time, and I didn't witness it. Each person's experience will vary somewhat.

I pre-registered for next year's TCONA. I hope to see more of you there next year.

TheConfessor wrote:I just got home. It was good to see everyone. I'm not sure who everyone was, since the name tags were printed too small, but it was a fun weekend. I was in Las Vegas for five days and never made a single bet (except on the after hours Jeopardy games), which is a first for me. I didn't win anything competitively, but I won a drawing for a Cards Against Humanity game, which I've been advised is not suitable for genteel company.

TCONA was staged in conference rooms next to an induction ceremony for the Nevada Boxing Hall Of Fame, so there were a lot of celebrities milling about. I got my picture taken with Evander Holyfield and Leon Spinks. Others reported seeing Sugar Ray Leonard and I think Mike Tyson.

Ken and Brad also faced each other in a special match of Knodgeball. I think Brad won. But there was usually more than one thing going on at any time, and I didn't witness it. Each person's experience will vary somewhat.

I pre-registered for next year's TCONA. I hope to see more of you there next year.

It was good to see you again.

I didn't see the Knodgeball match because I couldn't stand standing for that long.

hanzz wrote:It was nice to meet you too, Bob! (I'll presume I'm among those you had the pleasure of meeting.) You are much taller in person than I'd imagined (or am I much shorter?). Glad you had a good time, and no worries, even us whippersnappers have a rough time at those dumb buzzers.

Yes, Goongas' teammates "mispronunciation" left a sour note on that game, but I'm glad y'all walked away with your heads held high. It was an honor to have our behinds soundly handed to us in the round previous.

It was good to finally meet you. You were shorter than I had imagined.

We got written up in Newsweek: http://www.newsweek.com/answer-me-who-g ... ons-264211

H-Bomb got his full name & a brief profile in the Newsweek article. Way to go, H-Bomb.

I can also answer the article's Q about "dearth of women". And maybe not just for me. I want to be on BAM for the money. I want to be on J! to see if I can even score, but if I was younger & quicker at buzzers it would be for the money. There was no dearth of women at my J! tryout, by the way.


I don't particularly want to be in a contest where even if I win I win, maybe, a beer. I guess this makes me a poor sport? I know I suffer from not knowing answers that people in a lot of contests know because the questions get reused.