There are the days of Old Vegas. Think Tangiers Hotel, think The Rat Pack, think Moe Greene.
Then there are the days of old Vegas. Think Riviera, think Stardust, think Sahara.
The only one still standing both in the Knockout Bracket and in reality is the Riviera. But, for the sake of nostalgia and to mirror the true NCAA Tournament, I had to throw in a play-in game for the old school icons of the Strip. After all, everyone loves an underdog.
Today we have the Stardust vs Sahara with the winner taking on the number twelve seeded Palazzo. No play in team has ever made a significant run in March and I wouldn’t bet that either of these would do the same. However, there’s no harm in a little throwback, even if it isn’t on a Thursday.
A budget conscious law student, I stayed at both the Stardust Hotel and the Sahara hotel. Today, the camels of the Sahara have been replaced by the couture of the fashionable SLS Hotel. The 59 year run of another Vegas landmark has been overtaken by another boutique hotel purporting to be un-Vegas by becoming the standard for the new Vegas. (See Vegas Knockout: THEhotel Reads No Vacancy. L.V. Strip. September, 9 2014)
The same was supposed to happen to the Stardust but due to the economic crisis, the land remains undeveloped with only these pictures serving as memories of the fun times had.
Today, it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior’s college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it’s like checkin’ into an airport. And if you order room service, you’re lucky if you get it by Thursday.
Today, it’s all gone.
And if anyone cares, between these two, I choose the Stardust to take on, and mostly likely get thrashed by the Italian side in the opening round.
