Random thoughts flying back home | Page 4 | Syracusefan.com

Random thoughts flying back home

I am bored and need something to keep awake. So here are some thoughts on my weekend and SU football in general.

Vegas is a strange place. So much to do. It is a foodies paradise. I didn’t really take advantage of that this. I did visit the In and Out burger joint close to Allegiant before I left. My burger tasted fresh. The beef was good, the lettuce and tomato were solid. It didn’t change my life and I think a Five Guys or Shake Shack provide about the same high quality burger. It was relatively cheap. Impressed with the drive through layout, which looks to be years ahead of what we are doing in CNY.

The monorail and tram were cool and made me wish we had one in Syracuse.

There were a lot of homeless people around. They all hung out on high traffic corners with traffic lights. They were not aggressive. But some walked around in traffic pretty boldly.

Speaking of traffic lights, the lights in Vegas seemed like they took longer to change than in any city I have ever been to. Orlando has been dethroned. Congrats!

Let’s talk about UNLV fans. They were unusually polite and respectful before the game, and the ones I talked to were also quite confident they were going to win. But they were cool and not confrontational at all.

As mentioned, they were not very loud. Even when they took the lead and almost had the game secured. I talked to a couple after the game and they were impressed with how many fans we brought and had a passionate our fans were.

A couple mentioned the refs and thought they would have won if the refs called it both ways. Not sure they had good memories.

I was impressed with the UNLV offense and think they will win a lot more games this season. Would not be surprised if they win out. Their defense is more suspect but they have a couple studs there and it should be good enough for most of their opponents. They have very good team speed and are well coached.

Sorry to see what happened to Grayson McCall. Hope he makes a full recovery and does not subject himself to more risk.

It will be interesting to see what happens with NC State this week. They got off to a bad start last year as well and eventually settled in and finished strong. Hard to do that with a true QB but we will see.

The warehouse where Battlebots is filmed is on Koval a few blocks south of where I stayed. Cool.

Another hotel with no normal soap but that body wash they keep pushing on me. I don’t like it. Not gonna buy it. I used it but I don’t like it. Did the major hotels all buy stock in body wash? Someone needs to investigate this.

I used Turo for the first time on this road trip. It was a little funky but cheaper than the big car rental places and it was nice to have an alternative. I will do it again. Not a paid endorsement but it worked well for me.

Wish it was easier to walk near the Strip. Getting from MGM to Excalibur, to go from monorail to tram, was not as easy as it should be.

It is easy to walk on Fremont but with the sleazy girls dressed up like showgirls trying to pose for a picture with you and all the NYS Fair midway type folks there and the ever present smell of marijuana in the air, it wasn’t a great experience. Maybe best for people who are partaking in the ganja?

The longest walk I have ever had between gates for connecting flights was at the Minneapolis airport today. It is a good thing there were 3 hours and 45 minutes for me for me to make the journey. Walk walk
Walk. Ride ride ride ride. Go up a
Floor. Go down a floor. Turn 180 degrees. Repeat. The people were all
Minnesota nice though.

From reading posts on the board I see a bunch of people I have never met were at the tailgate and I did not have a chance to meet up with them.

I just want to say I really enjoy meeting people from the board, or seeing people
again I have not seen for years. Want to encourage people to say hi. I only bite when extremely hungry and that is rare with our tailgates. ;)

I also want to apologize to anyone I offended with my in game alternate personality. I have never really met him and can’t really control him but I ask my friends to try and keep him out of fights and out of jail. Props to my peeps for doing that at the UNLV game.

Woke up after the game feeling exhausted with an extremely blown out throat. Very happy I was not in jail and had zero black eyes.

I think this thing is kind of like the catholic gift of tongues except the new language is trash talk.
I agree on the soap comment. I carry a small bar in my shaving bag.
 
The guy directly to my left, as I faced the field? I do not know who that fellow was. I think he saw my nametag and said he was a fan of my posts. and that he was a lurker. But I met a lot of people that day and maybe I am getting him confused with someone else.

Or are you talking about the guy who sat next to him? The one who somehow lost his shirt during the overtime? I am not sure who he was either but pretty sure he is on the board. I have never been great at asking people what their handle is.

Glad I didn't offend you. It is not unusual when at a home game, some outsiders come to my section, sit in the row in front of me and leave within the first 5 minutes. I tell myself that they should know a college football game is not a night at the opera or a library but it still makes me feel bad when I drive people away like that.
I'm old enough to remember politically incorrect fandom. You are not able to offend me. I went to basketball games at Manley. I thought you were great and perfect for setting tone. I still believe we shocked them into their first punt with our loudness.
 
In San Diego there’s definitely better local burger places. The Balboa, Rocky’s and The Friendly just to name a few. But I love In N Out. I think it’s way better than Shake Shack or 5 Guys. But I also hate overly greasy burgers. In N Out just always feels fresh. Different strokes.

If you have any LA recommendations I’d love to hear them.
My best chicken sandwich ever was at the Crack Shack in SD. Amazing.
 
In San Diego there’s definitely better local burger places. The Balboa, Rocky’s and The Friendly just to name a few. But I love In N Out. I think it’s way better than Shake Shack or 5 Guys. But I also hate overly greasy burgers. In N Out just always feels fresh. Different strokes.

If you have any LA recommendations I’d love to hear them.
The Win-dow and HiHo are chains in LA and I like Pono Burger in Santa Monica. I can't even remember the last time I went to In N Out just because the lines are so stupidly long. I also don't stand in line an hour for a $5 donut either :)
 
The Win-dow and HiHo are chains in LA and I like Pono Burger in Santa Monica. I can't even remember the last time I went to In N Out just because the lines are so stupidly long. I also don't stand in line an hour for a $5 donut either :)
Very fair. I hate lines too. Luckily we’ve kinda figured out the best times to go. Thanks for all the recommendations!
 
Crack Shack is excellent too.
I think their fries are top 5 for me. I mean they'll give you a heart attack with one service but schmaltz fries are unreal.
 
Very fair. I hate lines too. Luckily we’ve kinda figured out the best times to go. Thanks for all the recommendations!
Yeah living in Burbank for 3 years, there was 1 In N Out and there literally was at least a half hour line anytime you went. I just stopped going then and never started again after coming back to OC lol.
 
So surprising, Tomcat, considering how many opposing coaching staffs always loved the camaraderie you enthusiastically would provide at the top of the dome for them. They had a one man heavy metal concert performance that just has to be missed. Go get em Tom, you’re the Clark Kent/Superman at games - love it!
Ha ha, Tom, my brother and I used the very same analogy while having dinner at the Public House at Luxor the next day !!!
 
Vegas 6:5 BJ still better than 1x or 2x Craps odds on a cruise ship.
Actually it’s not. 6:5 is so bad it brings the house edge to 2% for blackjack. Passline in craps even if no odds were allowed is 1.41%. Dark side is even a tad better. Thats how bad 6:5 is
 
I am bored and need something to keep awake. So here are some thoughts on my weekend and SU football in general.

Vegas is a strange place. So much to do. It is a foodies paradise. I didn’t really take advantage of that this. I did visit the In and Out burger joint close to Allegiant before I left. My burger tasted fresh. The beef was good, the lettuce and tomato were solid. It didn’t change my life and I think a Five Guys or Shake Shack provide about the same high quality burger. It was relatively cheap. Impressed with the drive through layout, which looks to be years ahead of what we are doing in CNY.

The monorail and tram were cool and made me wish we had one in Syracuse.

There were a lot of homeless people around. They all hung out on high traffic corners with traffic lights. They were not aggressive. But some walked around in traffic pretty boldly.

Speaking of traffic lights, the lights in Vegas seemed like they took longer to change than in any city I have ever been to. Orlando has been dethroned. Congrats!

Let’s talk about UNLV fans. They were unusually polite and respectful before the game, and the ones I talked to were also quite confident they were going to win. But they were cool and not confrontational at all.

As mentioned, they were not very loud. Even when they took the lead and almost had the game secured. I talked to a couple after the game and they were impressed with how many fans we brought and had a passionate our fans were.

A couple mentioned the refs and thought they would have won if the refs called it both ways. Not sure they had good memories.

I was impressed with the UNLV offense and think they will win a lot more games this season. Would not be surprised if they win out. Their defense is more suspect but they have a couple studs there and it should be good enough for most of their opponents. They have very good team speed and are well coached.

Sorry to see what happened to Grayson McCall. Hope he makes a full recovery and does not subject himself to more risk.

It will be interesting to see what happens with NC State this week. They got off to a bad start last year as well and eventually settled in and finished strong. Hard to do that with a true QB but we will see.

The warehouse where Battlebots is filmed is on Koval a few blocks south of where I stayed. Cool.

Another hotel with no normal soap but that body wash they keep pushing on me. I don’t like it. Not gonna buy it. I used it but I don’t like it. Did the major hotels all buy stock in body wash? Someone needs to investigate this.

I used Turo for the first time on this road trip. It was a little funky but cheaper than the big car rental places and it was nice to have an alternative. I will do it again. Not a paid endorsement but it worked well for me.

Wish it was easier to walk near the Strip. Getting from MGM to Excalibur, to go from monorail to tram, was not as easy as it should be.

It is easy to walk on Fremont but with the sleazy girls dressed up like showgirls trying to pose for a picture with you and all the NYS Fair midway type folks there and the ever present smell of marijuana in the air, it wasn’t a great experience. Maybe best for people who are partaking in the ganja?

The longest walk I have ever had between gates for connecting flights was at the Minneapolis airport today. It is a good thing there were 3 hours and 45 minutes for me for me to make the journey. Walk walk
Walk. Ride ride ride ride. Go up a
Floor. Go down a floor. Turn 180 degrees. Repeat. The people were all
Minnesota nice though.

From reading posts on the board I see a bunch of people I have never met were at the tailgate and I did not have a chance to meet up with them.

I just want to say I really enjoy meeting people from the board, or seeing people
again I have not seen for years. Want to encourage people to say hi. I only bite when extremely hungry and that is rare with our tailgates. ;)

I also want to apologize to anyone I offended with my in game alternate personality. I have never really met him and can’t really control him but I ask my friends to try and keep him out of fights and out of jail. Props to my peeps for doing that at the UNLV game.

Woke up after the game feeling exhausted with an extremely blown out throat. Very happy I was not in jail and had zero black eyes.

I think this thing is kind of like the catholic gift of tongues except the new language is trash talk.
Thanks for write up. My only disagreement might be on the burger quality of Five Guys lol. Has gone way downhill in my opinion and it’s pretty darn expensive now. Never had Shake Shack
 
Yeah living in Burbank for 3 years, there was 1 In N Out and there literally was at least a half hour line anytime you went. I just stopped going then and never started again after coming back to OC lol.
Too funny. My best friend lives in Burbank so I know exactly what you’re talking about.
 
It’s going to be a law in NY soon and probably elsewhere, for environmental reasons. I hate the body wash also. I have started bringing my own bar of soap on some trips.

Effective Jan. 1, 2025, hotels and motels with 50 rooms or more in New York will no longer be able to provide any small plastic bottles containing a hospitality personal care product. This includes mini shampoos, conditioners, body washes and lotions that are in plastic containers with less than a 12-ounce capacity.
I’m all for it. Imagine how many little plastic bottles have gone into land fills in the last ….. 50 years ?
 
Driving home from Vegas, my wife and I pull off somewhere after crossing into California for some gas and coffee. As much as I hate to do it we drive through McD’s for a breakfast and coffee. I order the steak egg and cheese bagel meal with a large black coffee. She orders the bacon egg and cheese meal with a large coffee. We got a sausage biscuit meal for Winston our French bulldog - photo added as a reference below. Now I haven’t been to McDonalds for a very long time, and I was shocked when the tab came in at over $40. Even Winston was shocked.


7721~3.jpeg
 
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In San Diego there’s definitely better local burger places. The Balboa, Rocky’s and The Friendly just to name a few. But I love In N Out. I think it’s way better than Shake Shack or 5 Guys. But I also hate overly greasy burgers. In N Out just always feels fresh. Different strokes.

If you have any LA recommendations I’d love to hear them.
San Diego has a burger place called Rocky’s and another called the Balboa ?
Hey yo Adriannnneeeeeee!
 
Driving home from Vegas, my wife and I pull off somewhere after crossing into California for some gas and coffee. As much as I hate to do it we drive through McD’s for a breakfast and coffee. I order the steak egg and cheese bagel meal with a large black coffee. She orders the bacon egg and cheese meal with a large coffee. We her a sausage biscuit for Winston our French bulldog - photo added as a reference below. Now I haven’t been to McDonalds for a very long time, and I was shocked when the tab came in at over $40. Even Winston was shocked.


View attachment 245707

What did Winston have at McDonalds?

No complaints about the McDonalds across from Mandalay. The Big Mac was $5.99 I think and solid when I went to go get more beer. 2 Egg McMuffins + 2 Coffees were $10.99 one morning. I almost never eat McDonalds so it usually hits the spot unless you get an awful location most of the time its just a diet coke for me and ice cream for my dog.

Has anyone drank a Busch Lite recently? I had one for the first time in a decade last year and its an amazing light beer super watery 4.1% no nasty taste. Each day I sunk around 20 of them between the pool and room with no hangover and was able to keep going at dinner or the game after. $7.99/12 or $1.05 per for 16oz. Very solid unsung heros of the trip. Modelo Agua Frescas for the lady came in better than expected as well. Lime Cucumber 10/10. Pineapple and Watermelon 7.5/10. Pink passionfruit wasn't great maybe 4/10 and the weak link in the 12 pack.
 
My son had same issue with Enterprise. Spoke to a friend who used to work with them who told us it happens often, mostly if you don’t pay for their insurance coverage. Was advised to get your own pictures with a written sign off when picking up and dropping the car off while keeping your own with dated pictures- inside and out He said most customers sadly end up in being in a hurry picking up and dropping off while the car rental place is also rushing to get cars in and out the doors for revenue including extra charges and get their insurance to lessen the chances of being targeted for any crazy damage charges.
Yup, I take pictures of my car whatever and whenever I rent it from.
 
What did Winston have at McDonalds?

No complaints about the McDonalds across from Mandalay. The Big Mac was $5.99 I think and solid when I went to go get more beer. 2 Egg McMuffins + 2 Coffees were $10.99 one morning. I almost never eat McDonalds so it usually hits the spot unless you get an awful location most of the time its just a diet coke for me and ice cream for my dog.

Has anyone drank a Busch Lite recently? I had one for the first time in a decade last year and its an amazing light beer super watery 4.1% no nasty taste. Each day I sunk around 20 of them between the pool and room with no hangover and was able to keep going at dinner or the game after. $7.99/12 or $1.05 per for 16oz. Very solid unsung heros of the trip. Modelo Agua Frescas for the lady came in better than expected as well. Lime Cucumber 10/10. Pineapple and Watermelon 7.5/10. Pink passionfruit wasn't great maybe 4/10 and the weak link in the 12 pack.
Winston had the sausage and the water from his meal. He’s keto, so he ignored the biscuit. Off the record, I snarfed the extra hash brown for my own account.
 
I think their fries are top 5 for me. I mean they'll give you a heart attack with one service but schmaltz fries are unreal.
Not everyone goes with duck fat fries. Shows a real lack of conviction by them.
 
My son had same issue with Enterprise. Spoke to a friend who used to work with them who told us it happens often, mostly if you don’t pay for their insurance coverage. Was advised to get your own pictures with a written sign off when picking up and dropping the car off while keeping your own with dated pictures- inside and out He said most customers sadly end up in being in a hurry picking up and dropping off while the car rental place is also rushing to get cars in and out the doors for revenue including extra charges and get their insurance to lessen the chances of being targeted for any crazy damage charges.
I use Enterprise often. Have never had that issue. Once on route 95 in Philly, I hit a pot hole. I put on the donut and made to the airport rental center. They changed out my car in about 15 minutes.
 

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