As usual, I want to have a summation entry from my latest roadtrip down to Las Vegas. This was a baseball roadtrip unlike any other I have ever taken and with that came a whole set of emotions and feelings that I have never felt. Suffice it to say, however, I come back from Sin City with mixed emotions. I'm glad I went down, hung out with my friend and saw the baseball game, but I truly feel that Las Vegas was the worst city I have been to for a baseball roadtrip. Worse than even Fresno or San Bernardino.
Maybe it is just because I lack that whole "party-first-ask-questions-later" mentality, but the "Vegas Experience" just really did not appeal to me. The gambling, drinking and nightlife just made me uncomfortable and unsettled. I felt like I was expected to act a certain way all the time, be wild and crazy. I do like a good time as much as the next person, but just not to the level that Las Vegas is. When I was down there and experiencing the sights, conversing with the people, I felt like I was automatically degraded because I wasn't down there solely to get drunk, gamble away my money and run off with hookers. This was a baseball roadtrip and I was down there to see the ballpark and go to the game. The first night we got there, my friend and I did go out and drink and gamble a little, but not to the extreme that the majority of other people were doing. I firmly believe that if there is to be a breakdown of society's social structure, our world would look like Las Vegas. The city is dirty, crowded, hot and predicated on humanity's worst elements: greed, manipulation and vice. Compared to the gems of cities that I have been to since baseball roadtrips started in 2007, Vegas was the worst out of them all.
The whole concept of a transit line running up and down the Strip and connecting the Fremont District is very smart. The line may be incredibly inefficient and unreliable, but the idea is a novel one. Letting city buses that carry that many people intermingle with the gridlock traffic of Las Vegas Boulevard just adds to the headaches. In addition to the slow speeds, the clientele are usually drunken patrons going from one casino to another, so they hardly know any of the procedures of how to respectfully ride public transportation. I can't count how many times we boarded that bus and saw people puking in the seats and getting in drunken arguments with fellow passengers. Maybe in the next few years Las Vegas will invest in a more permanent transit line up-and-down the Strip in maybe the form of light rail or bus rapid transit, like the EmX here in Eugene. This could make the line more time-efficient and allow for the quick on-and-off of all those bad apples who ride it. In addition to the transit, I appreciate the effort to make the Strip pedestrian-friendly. However, there needs to be more continuity in the sidewalks that allow patrons to easily and quickly move from one establishment to another without the constant weaving in-and-out of gimmicky stands and clubs affiliated with all the casinos. The shortest route between two points is a straight line, and Vegas city planners need to remember this with regards to their sidewalk construction.
The casinos are a complete racket. They attract you with grandiose facades of fake re-creations of New York, Paris, Venice and Rome, but inside they confine you to the gaming floor and make it virtually impossible to find a bathroom, food stand or exit, for that matter. All the escalators and moving sidewalks go one way: into the casino. They psychologically force you to play their gaming mechanisms before doing anything else, especially leaving. Combine that with the incredible amount of cigarette smoke, the horrible odds, the expensive table minimums and the lack of windows it makes for a lot of unpleasantness.
There is one good thing I can point out about the casinos. The whole concept of the buffet in Vegas in awesome. We went to the buffet at Circus Circus and the Belaggio, and both were extraordinary, especially the Belaggio. The last day we were there, we went to the Belaggio brunch buffet. For only about twenty-five dollars, we were treated to an all-you-can eat buffet of seafood, Mexican, Italian, Chinese, traditional America, hundreds of types of bread and salad accoutrement's and the widest variety of desserts I have ever seen. We ate so much that I couldn't move for almost fifteen minutes because my stomach was so full.
Then there is the story with this ballpark. Cashman Field and the Las Vegas 51s know who their target audience is and caters only to them. When I went to the ballpark, I literally felt like I was lost by not being bombarded with ringing slot machines, bright neon lights, drunken tourists and aggressive pimps. Being amongst that type of setting almost made me appreciate the park not just for it's baseball, but as a sanctuary. Here was this beacon of normalcy and decency in a city filled with the opposite of that. I give the utmost credit to the 51s organization for recognizing that they are targeting Vegas citizens, who live amongst this bad stuff everyday, and providing a respite and relief haven for their entertainment.
Las Vegas really rubbed me the wrong way, but this baseball roadtrip made me appreciate the life I have here in Eugene and the other 31 cities I had visited on baseball roadtrips prior to Las Vegas. Like I said in the previous blog entry, maybe we need places like Las Vegas to make us be more indebted to our own lives and residences away from there.
This is the last extended baseball roadtrip for the season. In two weeks, however, I will be traveling up to Portland for two days to see the two final games the Beavers will play at PGE Park. This is sure to be a very sad experience and I will make sure to write down what happens in this blog. In addition to the Beavers, the Eugene Emeralds will be wrapping up their inaugural season at PK Park. I will write down some final thoughts on that, as well.
Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)
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