Well the Tim Brown Q&A event at the Eureka Casino was way more interesting than I thought it would be. I really enjoyed the event. I was not sure what to expect. Like I said my friend Randy is a big Raider Fan and has been for years. Well last night there were some true fanatics that showed up. One just happens to live down the street from Randy. Randy has been to his house and he said it is crazy how much Raider stuff he has. He said there is also a house on one of the golf courses here in town that is just crazy. He said the people had the gravel changed in their yard to black and silverish colors, the furniture in the house was all raider colors and or had Raider Logo. Some people just take it to excess.
We had to stand in line for about 40 minutes before they opened the doors to the ballroom where the event was held. It was interesting watching folks gamble on the slot machines while we waited. You see the casual gambler (this was Jennifer and I) who wants to just see the various things the machine will do, the various free spin options etc. You see the slightly more serious gambler who is betting full credits and hoping to hit that big jackpot and then you see the what I call Zombie gamblers who are usually betting big and just pushing the button as fast as they can, the reels don’t even get a chance to stop and they are spinning again. There was a Zombie gambler on a machine by us and she was up and down on winning she would win $300 lose $200 and then up again. But you could tell she was not having any fun, she was emotionless when she would hit a $300 win and just kept pushing that button.
They finally opened the door and we got in to get some seats. Randy and I grabbed a couple off to the side and I happened to look across the room and saw my friend Chantile and her husband Aaron sitting up in the second row. So I went over to say hello. They had been at a exclusive pre-event and there were two seats available next to them so I got Randy’s attention and we sat there.
So the event had a MC and he asked the majority of questions to Tim. Then towards the end they opened the questions to people in the crowd.
I thought Tim did a great job. He was very articulate and thoughtful in his responses to the questions. I had forgotten that he was born and raised in Dallas. He covered his whole football career from high school thru his time with the Raiders. He shared some interesting stories about his recruitment. He shared a very interesting but sad story about how SMU tried to recruit him when he was a 16 year old Junior. The story was humorous but also sad in how an institution and an alumni (that happened to be his high school principal) almost ruined his career.
He talked a lot about his days at Notre Dame and winning the Heisman trophy. I really enjoyed that part.
The local high school football team was at the event. They had the team come up and get a photo with Tim, I thought that was very cool. The funny thing about Tim and the things he said he regretted the most was that he never won a championship at any level of his career. His high school team was something like 4-54. He had close calls at both Notre Dame and the Raiders but never won the national championship or Super Bowl. Like he said when you are in the Hall of Fame it is hard to be regretful about anything, but he said he sure wished he had won a championship at one of those levels.
He had some interesting insight into the politics and bias in professional football and dealing with that both inside and outside the teams.
As I said I was very impressed with Tim and how he represents himself. All in all in was a much more enjoyable event than I thought it would be and the price was right (free).
After the event Randy and I went out for a Pizza at a local pizza joint. It was very good. Jennifer and I never made it there. We talked about it several times but just never made it there. She would have enjoyed it. The pizza was good.
Well I need to get moving. I am going with a group of folks up to St George to play at a indoor pickleball place and the several of us are going to lunch at Olive Garden afterwards. I am catching a ride with a couple of guys from my neighborhood. Unfortunately that will cut into my college football viewing but sacrifices will be made.
So enough for today.
Commenti