I went down to the scene this weekend, my editor was out gambling Saturday night/Sunday morning at the MGM, my publisher had a plane into town last week, and I think my observations and their second-hand observations both fit more in with Whitlock's column. The town was filled with thugs – inconsiderate, arrogant thugs who treated this like a party boat on Havasu, except instead of throwing beads they were throwing punches. I can appreciate Whitlock's feelings and observations, certainly more than I can appreciate Scoop's.
I don't think anyone around here expected this much of that element to show up. In my mind, I have a hard time picturing this same thing happening last year in Houston, for example.
Plus, Scoop is a liar (see a column he wrote for ESPN from Vegas a few years ago that cited Triple-A baseball games on the board at Mandalay Bay, something that's never happened), and he's still working on getting points back for that.