All trip ratings are on a 1 - 10 scale: 1 the worst, 10 the best, 4 roughly equivalent to watching Jeopardy on t.v. with my mom.
4/9/26
Waking up at 5:30A: 2
Getting bumped up to first class on Alaska: 9.75
Sleeping the whole flight: 8 (Great because I was exhausted but horrible because I got no benefits of first class)
Uber from Las Vegas Airport to Park MGM hotel: 8 (Quick and Easy)
Seeing Rowd near the pool: 9.95
Sitting out w Rowd in the warm sun: 9.95
Hammer arriving at the pool entrance just as I was going inside to find him: 9.95
Sitting out w Rowd and Ham: 9.95
Mike Bongiorno making his entrance shortly after: 9.95
Lunch at Pool area: 8
- Everyone's food looking and smelling good: 8 (it was too early for me to eat anything)
- Me asking for a bottle of water and getting a mega-huge bottle of water when I needed a smaller one to mix a drink: 8
-Park MGM being a Pepsi hotel: 2
- Me then asking the waitress to bring me a plastic cup with a lid (so I could pour the water into it and then mix it, and her actually bring me another FULL CUP of water: 2
- Me then drinking more water than one person should drink in a week: 5
Going to the hockey semi-finals: 7
- Ten minutes before the game when the crowd was super-hyped: 8
- Game itself: 6
- Mike Bongiorno having an incredible-looking double-length hot dog smothered in tater tots and lots of other stuff: 9
- North Dakota not scoring until 1 minute to go: 3
- In-arena hosts for the event plus game presentation: 3
PreGame logos and similar video on ice: 8
DJ Bojo and Katie Marie trying to hype the fans before each period: 2
All of the in-arena events such as "Rink Race" being terrible: 2 (Rink Race was technically not really even a race)
PA Announcer having a very nasally voice and sounding like Roz from Monster's Inc: 2
Scoreboards showing Frozen Four logos instead of game info like shots or penalties: 2
Ice saying NV as in "Las Vegas, NV" instead of just "Las Vegas" which
Looked weird: 2
Was a break from previous Frozen Four tradition: 2
Made the lettering unbalanced: 2
Team logos not being removed or x'd out on the ice following losses: 2
- Drunk Wisconsin fan behind us: 2
- Horrible Men's Rooms/Constant Huge Lines: 1
- One hour intermission between games: 4
- Arena being a Coke Arena and having great bottled Diet Coke: 8
- Hammer having a good-looking but not-quite-as-incredible double-length hot dog smothered in a bunch of stuff: 8
- Sound of music during intermission getting much louder than it had been during the first game, almost uncomfortably so: 2
- Second game starting out good for the first 10 minutes: 8
- Then second game droning into a conservative defensive struggle: 3
- The game getting tied up in the final period: 8
- It being obvious that the game was headed to overtime: 2
- Us being pretty exhausted and ready to leave the arena: 2
- The overtime going slowly and it becoming obvious it was likely going to a second overtime: 2
- The break between overtime and the second overtime: 1.5
- Denver finally scoring to end the game: 9.5
Mike Bongiorno being ready for bed after the game: 3
Mike B staying at the MGM Grand instead of Park MGM: 2
Him having a shuffleboard table in his suite: 9
Us never going by to play shuffleboard: 2
Drinks and food w Rowd and Hammer at Bet MGM Sportsbook and Bar: 8
Rowd and Hammer having Old Fashioneds: 8 (I mean, we're actually old now so it makes sense)
Burger and Hot Pretzel: 8 (surprisingly good)
Great sleep in the super-dark room: 9
4/10/26
Waking up super-refreshed: 9
Quick workout on a bike at the hotel gym: 6
Hanging out at the pool w everyone: 9
- Catching up on everything from kids to wives to water baseball: 9
-Weather being pretty great: 9
- Lunch by the pool: 8 (looked and smelled good however it was again too early for me to eat anything)
- Dip in the pool: 8
- Short stint in the hot tub w Mike: 8.5
People going back to rest after the pool when I wanted to do more stuff: 4
Us entirely missing the Bruno Mars parade: 3
Note: Mike B did see some of the Bruno Mars parade on his walk back to the MGM Grand, he will have to rate it separately
Note: Bruno Mars did not actually sing at the parade, so retrospect rating about missing the parade: 7
Rowd taking a walk w me to New York New York and surrounding area: 8
- Us seeing a country-rock band "on the Brooklyn Bridge": 7
Rowd not getting to see the Hobey Baker ceremony due to the super-small room the ceremony was held in: 5 (would have been lower but at least it got us to drinks before dinner sooner)
Drinks before dinner: 8
- Rowd and Hammer again having Old Fashioneds: 8 (same reason per above)
Dinner at the Library: 8
- Look of the Library interior: 9
- Dinner being at 5:45P: 3 (I understand why, I just refuse to admit I'm old enough to eat that early yet)
- Popovers: 9 (Too much Dairy for me, but looked just great)
- Hammer and Rowd's mega-steak: 9 (looked fantastic)
- My steak: 8 (super tender)
- Waiter consistently apologizing to me for almost all the food on the menu containing dairy ingredients: 8
-Hammer ordering a Jive Turkey: 8 (I didn't even know such a thing existed)
- The Baked Alaska dessert: 9.75 (looked absolutely fantastic, particularly the inside having pistachio and raspberry layers)
Comedy Show: 8
- Mike Bongiorno getting us tickets: 9
- Writer's note: It being extremely difficult to find the names of all the secondary participants in this show on the internet: 1.25
- Host of the show: 6 (Though Note: Mike B did not like him at all)
- First comic: 4 (This was the short person)
- Second comic: 8.5
- Headliner - Nate Bargatze: 8.5
- Mike B. grabbing limo after the show: 8.5
Everyone ready for bed after show: 3
Mike Bongiorno bidding us farewell since he had to leave in the early morning: 1.1
Me wandering to the Cosmopolitan and seeing Jonas Blue DJ in a club: 6
Somehow finding my way back, exhausted around 2A: 9.75
Realizing the soda I just purchased was a non-diet Mountain Dew when completely exhausted and parched back in my room: 2
Actual flavor of regular Mountain Dew: 6.5 (regular coke tastes terrible to me now, so I was pretty surprised)
Great sleep in the super-dark room: 9
4/11/26
Waking up super-refreshed: 9
Workout on the eliptical at the hotel gym: 8
Meeting Rowd and Hammer at Tom's for a late breakfast: 8
- Mike Bongiorno not being there: 1.25
- Us all still being there and having another day in Vegas: 9
- Me missing out on Eggs Benedict and similar since I got there way late: 9.975
- A seat opening up for me at the bar: 8
- Hanging out talking and watching sports in the warm outdoor air: 8
- Not being able to get "cute" cards for Su at New York, New York: 3
Getting a Frozen Four hat on the walk home: 8
Rowd trying to place a bet on Denver to win the Finals: 6
- Him getting a special deal such that if he lost his bet he we recoup his losses: 9
- It taking an hour for him to convince his bank that it was him trying to make a legit purchase: 3
Going to the hockey finals: 7
- Music at first being uncomfortably loud again: 2
- Music actually getting turned down around the end of the first period for the remainder of the game: 8
- DJs/Hosts: Again 2 (see above comments, they still applied)
- Game Itself: 7
It being so obvious that Denver was going to score and tie it up: 2
Them actually doing it: 8
It being so obvious that Denver was going to either score and win or it would go another 2 ots: 2
Them actually scoring to prevent the 2 extra ots: 8
Denver winning the National Title every time we go: 5 (I do respect it even though I don't like it)
Us having time to have dinner and drinks before we had to leave: 9
Hammer and Rowd choosing Chinese Food over Eatily: 8 (I love Chinese Food but Eatily also looked really good)
Dinner at LaLa's: 9
- Food quality: 9
- Me getting so excited we ordered an extra dish after already finishing everything else: 9
Having to get ready to leave: 1.5
Saying good bye to Hammer: 1.1
Having to leave Rowd at the airport because there was a tram between our gates: 1.1
Having to leave Las Vegas: 1.1
Getting bumped up to first class again on Alaska: 9.75
Sleeping the whole way: 8 (Great because I was exhausted but horrible because I missed all the benefits of first class again)
Trip Ratings:
R: 9.5
- 10+ For actually driving it to happen
- Score reduced for scheduling it for Frozen Four weekend just days before WrestleMania weekend in the same location
Ham: 10+
- 10 for actually help driving it to happen
- Bonus points for making it everywhere despite an ailing disc in his back
Mike B: 10+
- Bonus points for making the comedy show happen
Z: 5 -- We understand that life gets in the way, but you HAVE to make it next time we do something like this!! Think how much more gambling excitement alone there would have been if you had made it!!
