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2.4.21
TECHNOLOGY COULD ADD LAYER OF SAFETY TO LAS VEGAS SHOWS
Triethylene glycerol is a colorless, odorless liquid used in lots of ways, including as a finishing agent for different textiles and as an ingredient in lubricants and wallpaper stripper. But that makes it sound like a dangerous chemical compound. It’s also commonly used to produce the artificial fog prevalent at concerts and Las Vegas production shows. And, by the way, it kills virus particles. The COVID-19 kind. The Grignard Company, based in Rahway, New Jersey, has produced a first-of-its-kind continuous antimicrobial air treatment called Grignard Pure. The company says it kills more than 98% of coronavirus particles in the air, and on January 15, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved an emergency exemption request for the use of Grignard Pure “as an additional tool in limited situations to aid in the fight against COVID-19” for Georgia and Tennessee state governments. Ross Mollison, founder of Las Vegas-based company Spiegelworld and producer of three variety shows on the Strip, is hoping Nevada will also get approval to use the new antiviral product, which could be applied not only to Vegas showrooms and theaters but could also aid the return of meetings, conventions and other events and gatherings crucial to the state’s economy. “It sounds like a miracle hair elixir, but the EPA is saying it works and it’s being tested in Broadway theaters,” Mollison said. “If it gets approval in Nevada, it has enormous applications, from malls to casino floors to places like ours.” –Brock Radke
WEEK IN REVIEW WEEK AHEAD N EWS YO U S H O U L D K N OW A B O U T
Madeleine Franco, founding president of Southern Nevada Parrot Rescue, gets nuzzled by a 19-year-old bare-eyed cockatoo named Molly. (Wade Vandervort/Staff)
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Cover story: Digging deep into Super Bowl betting The Weekly Q&A: Vegas philanthropist Julie Murray The Strip: Comics are keeping the laughs coming Food & Drink: Main St. Provisions and Korean market tips Vegas Inc: A UNLV course on cybersecurity
STORIES FROM LAST WEEK WORST MONTH YET Nevada recorded its deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic in January, but in a promising sign, the death toll in Washoe County was about half of what it was in December. The state's final tally for the month was 1,132, more than a quarter of the 4,278 deaths since the pandemic began.
Dustin Diamond, best known for playing the quirky, nerdy Screech on the hit ’90s sitcom Saved by the Bell, died Monday after a threeweek fight with cancer, according to his representative. He was 44.
BILLIONAIRE IN SPACE Jared Isaacman, who made a fortune in tech and fighter jets, is buying an entire SpaceX flight and plans to take three “everyday” people with him to circle the globe this year, he announced February 1. A health care worker for St. Jude already has been selected for the mission. Anyone donating to St. Jude this month will be entered into a random drawing for seat No. 3. The fourth seat will go to a business owner who uses Shift4 Payments, Isaacman’s credit card processing company.
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“I’m not going to get mine until some more people get theirs. I don’t want it to look like I’m jumping the line just because I donated money. I’m very funny about that. I’m going to get mine though, but I’m going to wait. I’m at the age where I could have gotten mine legally last week. I turned 75. I was going to do it on my birthday, and I thought, 'Nah, don’t do that.' You’ll look like you’re just doing a show.” –Dolly Parton, who donated $1 million toward coronavirus vaccine research, on why she hasn't yet been vaccinated
L A S V E G A S W E E K LY
RAPPER CHARGED WITH MURDER Ricky Hawk, aka Silentó, the Atlanta rapper known for his hit song “Watch Me (Whip/Nae Nae),” was arrested February 1 and charged with murder in the January 21 shooting death of his 34-year-old cousin, Frederick Rooks.
VACCINATIONS FOR KIDS Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said January 29 that he hopes to see some kids starting to get vaccinated for COVID-19 in the next few months. It's a needed step to securing widespread immunity to the virus. Testing is underway for those as young as 12.
Groundhog Club handler A.J. Dereume holds Punxsutawney Phil, the weather-prognosticating groundhog, during the 135th celebration of Groundhog Day on Gobbler's Knob in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on February 2. Phil's handlers said that the groundhog forecast six more weeks of winter during this year's event, which was held without anyone in attendance due to the pandemic. (Barry Reeger/Associated Press)
GARTH BROOKS' ALLEGIANT STADIUM CONCERT MOVED TO JULY The full-fledged arrival of Allegiant Stadium as a Las Vegas entertainment megavenue has been delayed once again. Garth Brooks has rescheduled his Stadium Tour concert for a second time, pushing what was originally planned as the first concert at Allegiant to July 10. All previously purchased tickets will be honored. The show was initially set for August 22, 2020, and sold out 65,000 tickets in just 75 minutes. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the concert was rescheduled to February 27. The current statewide standards and restrictions mandate that gatherings and events can only host a maximum audience of 50 people, but with vaccination efforts continuing, some speculate larger entertainment events could return to Las Vegas in late spring or summer. –Brock Radke
COMMISSION CONSIDERING RENAMING AIRPORT FOR REID The Clark County Commission will consider renaming McCarran International Airport for former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. Commissioner Tick Segerblom proposed the change at the February 2 commission meeting. The matter will return to the commission for more discussion and consideration on February 16. Segerblom said the airport’s namesake, Pat McCarran, another former senator from Nevada, “doesn’t represent the diversity of our community.” The airport was named in 1968 for McCarran, who was an aviation proponent and represented Nevada in the Senate from 1933 until his death in 1954. But he has been criticized in more recent years for a history of virulent racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia. After World War II, McCarran was instrumental in limiting the number of Jewish refugees allowed to enter the U.S., made anti-Semitic remarks and blocked some of President Franklin Roosevelt’s Jewish judicial nominees. He was also the principal sponsor of the McCarran Internal Security Act, which required Communist organizations to register with the federal government and established the Subversive Activities Control Board. The board was integral to the Second Red Scare of the 1950s, in which many Americans were accused of and punished for ties to communism, true or not. –Hillary Davis
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How to help someone with a hoarding disorder BY C. MOON REED
F
or most of us, the concept of hoarding brings to mind one of two things: 1. The 11-season A&E reality show Hoarders, which “features a team of experts working to tackle some of the biggest, most extreme and most challenging hoards in America,” or 2. Friends who remark of their organized collections—vinyl records or Barbie dolls or whatever—“I’m such a hoarder.” The former makes for good television but doesn’t reflect most real-life hoarding issues, and the latter isn’t actually an example of hoarding. “That’s a normal-range behavior,” UNLV psychology professor Stephen Benning says of collecting. “We allow people to be quirky without being diagnosable.” So what exactly is hoarding? According to the American Psychiatric Association, “People with hoarding disorder excessively save items that others may view as worthless. They have persistent difficulty getting rid of or parting with possessions, leading to clutter that disrupts their ability to use their living or work spaces.” It’s normal to save things for their sentimental value. The problem arises when somebody faces so much distress at discarding objects that they accumulate to a point where their house becomes unlivable, Benning says.
CAUSES OF HOARDING
Hoarding was first thought to be a form of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but has been found to be a stand-alone issue. As with many psychological conditions, there’s no single “hoarding gene” or specific childhood experience that causes it. People who hoard tend to have an emotional attachment to their possessions, finding comfort and security in them. They might be worried about wasting resources or losing important information if they throw things out. Hoarding affects up to 6% of the population, and there’s no clear gender divide. But it does get worse with age, as things accumulate over the years.
The challenge of DIY help Unlike just getting more organized, Benning says it’s very difficult to overcome a hoarding disorder without professional help. “People may have spent years or even decades perfecting a behavioral style of avoidance of disposing of this kind of stuff,” Benning says. Inviting a friend to help be a “throwaway buddy” is more likely to ruin the friendship than solve the problem. Because hoarding is now considered an official mental disorder by the medical community, insurance should help cover treatment.
OVERL “FIXING” HOARDING
Benning says solving someone’s hoarding disorder generally requires professional help from a therapist. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help people examine their perceived need to save objects, alter those thoughts and ultimately minimize the distress around discarding possessions. “It is very difficult to change emotions directly, but we can do so indirectly, through people’s thoughts,” Benning says. In addressing the behavioral aspect of hoarding, a therapist will actually go into a client’s home and help him or her deal with the stuff that has already accumulated. A therapist might create a hierarchy of the person’s things. At the bottom are objects most easily discarded, and at the top are those a person holds most dear. The therapist and the client start at the bottom of the ladder and work their way up. Throughout the process, the therapist will help with additional techniques to deal with the stress of discarding, such as progressive muscle relaxation and diaphragmatic breathing. “The behavioral and the cognitive work hand in hand to allow someone to slowly get rid of their stuff, while also helping them to perceive the stuff they have in a different way,” Benning says.
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Helping a loved one If someone you love has a hoarding problem, “you can’t expect to be the one who solves it,” Benning says. And getting frustrated with them can only make things worse. (Unless you’re a professional, you can’t diagnose hoarding anyway.) Benning says it’s better to “start with an open-ended exploration of a person’s experience,” with the goals of forming an empathetic connection,
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trying to understand a person’s mindset and eventually “helping the person start thinking about their own reasons for change, rather than reasons you might want to impose on someone.” It might be tempting to hire a cleaning service to empty out your loved one’s stuff. Don’t. “If you don’t have the buy-in from the person that you’re helping, it will often be perceived more as a betrayal or an interpersonal violation,” Benning warns.
Additional resources ■ The Practice. UNLV’s training clinic provides low-cost mental health services for the community. unlv.edu/thepractice ■ Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things by Gail Steketee and Randy Frost. ■ Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving and Hoarding by David Tolin, Randy Frost and Gail Steketee. ■ Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding and Compulsive Acquiring by Michael A. Tompkins and Tamara L. Hartl.
PANDEMIC HOARDING?
It’s annoying when there’s no toilet paper because some jerk bought it all, thinking it was the end of the world. But according to Benning, that type of hoarding is not hoarding disorder. Instead, Benning calls it a “temporary response to an extreme social stressor.” Empty store shelves actually reflect a “tragedy of the commons,” in which a perceived scarcity becomes a real one when what’s good for the individual is bad for the group at large.
Does money matter? To an extent, wealthy people are less likely to become hoarders. Benning says to imagine two people with the same amount of stuff, one living in a studio apartment and the other in a mansion. The former would have their space “substantially compromised,” while the latter could shove their junk in a spare room, keeping their hoarding tendencies undetected for longer. But no matter the size of the space, a hoarder can eventually overfill it. “We have to be careful in the notion of over-pathologizing people with lower socioeconomic status,” Benning says. “This may be a way in which higher socioeconomic status gives you a buffer against the consequences of the same underlying process.”
(Shutterstock/Photo Illustrations)
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5-MINUTE EXPERT
2.4.21
THE GEAR
SURE SHOTS
■ Instant cameras. Polaroid and Fujifilm still make and sell these longtime party favorites, capable of producing developed prints within minutes of shooting. They’re not as versatile as other cameras, though some of the newer models boast enhanced functionality—long exposures, “light painting” and so on—by way of a bluetooth connection with a phone app.
How to put the phone down and pick up a proper camera BY LESLIE VENTURA ith iPhones and Androids in virtually everyone’s pocket, almost anyone can take a decent photo these days. But actually learning the art of photography is something you can’t do on a phone, no matter how good its camera is. If you’ve always wanted to get into photography as a hobby, we’ve covered the basics for you here.
THE BASICS Understanding shutter speed, aperture and ISO are keys to taking good photos. Once you master them, you’ll be well on your way to understanding how your camera works.
■ Shutter speed. Your camera’s shutter speed adjusts how crisp or blurry an image will be. A quicker, shorter shutter speed will freeze the action you’re shooting, capturing fine details that might not even be noticeable to the eye (like water droplets in the rain), whereas a slower, longer speed will create a motion-blur effect when shooting movement. A quicker, shorter shutter speed will also produce a darker image, while a longer, slower shutter speed will produce a lighter image because the sensor is exposed to light longer. To shoot in natural light or daylight, the shutter speed should be quicker/shorter as to not overexpose the photo. Shooting indoors or in dim light, on the other hand, requires a longer/ slower shutter speed to bring in more light to the camera’s sensor.
Each camera displays its shutter settings differently, but the shutter speed is typically found on the camera’s LCD panel or in the viewfinder. Note that this is where reading the display can get confusing: A long shutter speed of one second or longer will often be displayed with quotation marks after the number (1” would indicate a shutter speed of 1 second). A faster shutter speed, like 1/250 second, might be written as 1/250, or as 250 without the quotation marks.
■ Single-Lens Reflex (SLR). The same way some music enthusiasts swear by turntables, many committed photographers prefer the analog look and feel that film cameras provide. There are a number of vintage and used film cameras out there—check eBay and your local camera store—but you can always purchase a new 35mm or medium-format film camera, too, if that’s more your style.
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■ Digital Single-Lens Reflex (DSLR). The DSLR is one of the most common and popular types of camera today, available in models that approximate classic SLRs and newer models that omit the reflex mirror. It offers several benefits for the entry-level or casual photographer, among them multipoint focusing, strong low-light capabilities and long battery life.
■ Lenses. One huge benefit to SLR and DSLR cameras is the ability to swap out different camera lenses for different kinds of images. Lenses can be costly; if you’d like to experiment with a few, try renting them first. B&C Camera (bandccamera.com) offers a rental program.
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YOUR FRIEND, POST-PROCESSING Adobe’s Photoshop and Lightroom photo editing software are widely used by professionals and hobbyists alike. The software’s facility for not just correcting photos but completely transforming them is still largely without peer. In past years, you had to buy the software outright; today, Adobe offers a monthly subscription plan for as low as $10 a month, which should encourage you to experiment. (YouTube is packed with free Photoshop tutorials.) Bonus: A basic Adobe Creative Cloud subscription not only grants use of the desktop apps but the mobile apps, too. You can make your phone photos look SLR-good.
NOW WHAT?
It’s time to practice. A photographer is always perfecting his or her craft, and the best way to practice is by always carrying your camera with you. Shoot what you know, starting with friends and family—they make great models and won’t judge you if the photos don’t come out perfectly. Try playing with different light settings (indoors versus outdoors), and get acquainted with how aperture, shutter speed and ISO all work in tandem. As you get acclimated, you might want to purchase different lenses or a flash to achieve a different style. Whatever you do, remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder— and when you’re a photographer, that beholder is you.
■ Aperture. The easiest way to understand the way a camera works is by thinking of it as a human eye. Similar to the way your pupils dilate and constrict, allowing more or less light in, the aperture in a camera opens and closes, admitting light at varying strengths. The smaller the aperture, the less light enters the lens, creating a darker image. Conversely, the larger the aperture, the more light enters the lens, producing a brighter photo. Just like a pupil that dilates in the dark, the aperture should be greater when shooting in low light. Aperture also affects an image’s depth of field. Not only will a photo appear brighter with a larger aperture, the background will also appear blurred, creating a sharper focus on the subject closest to the lens. A smaller aperture renders less blur in the background, which is great for taking photos of outdoor scenery and architectural landscapes.
■ ISO settings. An acronym for the International Organization for Standardization, the ISO setting doesn’t actually have anything to do with that group. Essentially, ISO changes the brightness of an image: the higher the ISO, the brighter the image; the lower the ISO, the darker, the image. There’s a catch, though. While a higher ISO might yield a brighter photo, it also can increase an image’s graininess. A skilled photographer must master all three settings—the shutter speed, aperture and ISO—as all of these must work in balance with one another to achieve the best image. When adjusting for brightness, it’s better to adjust the aperture and shutter speed before jumping straight to ISO. First, adjust the shutter speed to a longer setting and check for blur. If the image begins to blur but you still need to brighten the image, then adjust the ISO. Additional reporting by Geoff Carter (Shutterstock/Photo Illustrations)
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TO KNOW ABOUT SUPER BOWL BETTING—FROM BACK THEN TO RIGHT NOW Shutterstock
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Kansas City Chiefs (16-2) vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14-5) Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida When: Sunday, February 7, 3:30 p.m. TV: CBS, KLAS-TV Channel 8 Radio: ESPN Radio 1100-AM; Fox Sports 98.9-FM Odds: Chiefs -3 (-120) vs. Buccaneers +3 (Even), over/under: 56 Halftime act: The Weeknd Permitted capacity: 22,000 (7,500 invited health care workers, 14,500 paid-attendance fans) Cheapest secondary-market ticket price at press time: $5,215
1.
The Chiefs are looking to become just the eighth team in the past 45 years (which is as far back as reliable data exists) to win the Super Bowl after coming into the season as the betting favorite, according to sportsoddshistory.com. In January 2020, Kansas City opened at 7-to-1 at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook to win Super Bowl 55.
2. BY CASE KEEFER
The Super Bowl has taken on a life of its own in Las Vegas over the past 55 years, with betting becoming an inescapable part of the “Big Game.” ¶ To celebrate, let’s take a trip through the big numbers, big moments and big bets, and took a look at where this year’s game—with the Kansas City Chiefs installed as 3-point favorites over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers— fits in. ¶ Here are 55 things to know about Super Bowl betting through the years.
The Buccaneers are looking to tie for the biggest opening-odds long shot to ever win the Super Bowl after the SuperBook posted them at 60-to-1. That was, of course, before the free-agent signing of quarterback Tom Brady, which sent their odds way down to 10-to-1. Brady was also involved in both other instances in which 60-to-1 teams prevailed. It was the Patriots’ price ahead of their victory over the Rams in 2002’s Super Bowl 36, the start of the quarterback’s legend. And the 20162017 Philadelphia Eagles were also 60to-1 dogs before eventually upsetting Brady’s Patriots in Super Bowl 52.
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The most recent team to win the Super Bowl as the preseason favorite? Brady’s 2018-2019 Patriots, which opened at 5-to-1 before going on to beat the Rams 13-3 in Super Bowl 53.
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The most memorable victory of that 2019 postseason for Brady and New England was a 37-31 victory at Kansas City in the AFC Championship Game. The Pats were 3-point underdogs, and the over/ under was 56.5 points—exactly like Super Bowl 55’s current odds.
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Including that 2019 game, Brady and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes have faced off four times. Although they’ve split the four meetings straight-up—with Mahomes and Kansas City holding a one-point advantage in combined scoring margin—Brady’s team has gone 3-1 against the spread. That includes a 27-24 Chiefs win as 3.5-point favorites at the Buccaneers earlier this season.
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Both Brady and Mahomes have been historically dominant at beating the betting line throughout their respective careers, with each cashing at around a 59% clip. Brady is 198-135-10 against the spread as a starter; Mahomes is 31-20-2.
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Despite winning the Super Bowl six times, Brady has gone 4-5 against the spread in his nine starts. His Patriots failed to cover in each of their back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005 when they beat the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively, by three points as 7-point favorites.
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Brady’s teams have accounted for a third of the all-time Super Bowl instances in which the point spread has come into play—only six times has a team won but not covered. The most recent: 2009, when the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Arizona Cardinals 27-23 as 7-point favorites.
9.
One thing Brady has never done in the Super Bowl? Scored the first touchdown by rushing it in himself. He’s 27-to-1 to score the first touchdown of Super Bowl 55 at Circa Sports.
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Mahomes scored the first touchdown in last year’s Super Bowl, cashing as a 20-to-1 long shot with a 1-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter against the San Francisco 49ers. The payout isn’t quite as high this year— Circa offers Mahomes at 17-to-1 odds to score the first touchdown.
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Mahomes’ two favorite targets, tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill, opened as co-favorites to score the first touchdown in this year’s game at +675 apiece. Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans, who has scored first in each of his team’s past two games, has the next lowest odds at +975.
(AP Photos)
SUPER BOWL LV
From a betting perspective, William “The Refrigerator” Perry scored arguably the most memorable and influential touchdown in Super Bowl history in 1986. Perry’s 1-yard TD plunge late in the Chicago Bears’ 44-3 victory over the Patriots is considered to have launched the proposition-betting craze. Sportsbooks didn’t typically post odds on particular players scoring touchdowns, but buzz had built surrounding Bears coach Mike Ditka using his 335-pound defensive lineman for goalline carries. Then-Caesars Palace bookmaker (and current Station Casinos executive) Art Manteris looked to capitalize by setting odds on Perry scoring, according to a Yahoo! Sports story. Manteris opened the odds somewhere around 20-to-1, believing Ditka wouldn’t use Perry in a game as big as the Super Bowl after the player hadn’t registered a carry in more than two months. Bettors drove the number all the way down to 2-to-1 ahead of kickoff, setting up a loss of more than $100,000 at Caesars alone when Perry scored in garbage time. It was controversial that Ditka let Perry run in the score instead of Bears legend Walter Payton—who would finish his career without tallying a touchdown—and ex-Chicago quarterback Jim McMahon has alleged the bet could have been the reason. Last year, when asked if Ditka bet on Perry, McMahon told Yahoo! he “wouldn’t put it past him. He likes to gamble, and he was in control of the play-calling,” McMahon said. “I couldn’t confirm or deny, but I wouldn’t doubt it. Let’s just put it that way.”
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Prop betting has experienced exponential growth in Las Vegas in the years since Perry’s touchdown, with sportsbooks annually looking to one-up themselves and add more wagers. This year, the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook and William Hill alone have posted more than 1,000 different ways to bet on the game.
14.
Prop betting boomed significantly during the mid-1990s when current SuperBook boss Jay Kornegay ran the Imperial Palace sportsbook. Looking to spice up what had become an annual blowout of a game—with the NFC champion beating the AFC 13 straight times from 1985-1997—Kornegay and his team more than tripled the betting options. They started printing a thick booklet of wagering options that had gamblers flocking to the stadium-seating-style sportsbook to get down action.
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The NFC team not only won 13 straight during its stretch of dominance, but also covered in all but three games in that span—two against-the-spread losses and one push. It’s the main reason why the NFC still edges the AFC 27-25-2 all-time against the spread in Super Bowls. Straight-up, the conferences are tied with 27 victories apiece.
16.
The annual NFC-AFC mismatch hit its peak in 1995, when the San Francisco 49ers were 18.5-point favorites over the San Diego Chargers—the largest Super Bowl line in history. The 49ers already had the spread covered by the early second quarter before cruising to an easy 49-26 victory behind Steve Young and Jerry Rice.
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That 49ers’ win over the Chargers was one of just two times Nevada sportsbooks have lost money on the Super Bowl since the gaming control board began compiling the information in 1991. Still, of the game’s total handle of $69.59 million, sportsbooks lost a relatively small $396,674.
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Nevada sportsbooks’ other—much more substantial—loss occurred in 2008, when the New York Giants shocked the undefeated Patriots as 12-point underdogs. With recreational bettors stocking up on the Giants’ money line to win outright with payouts as high as a 5-to-1, statewide sportsbooks reported a $2.57 million loss.
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What’s believed to be the largest Super Bowl loss in Nevada sportsbook history, especially when adjusting for inflation, isn’t reflected in the gaming control board’s numbers, because it happened way back in Super Bowl 13. In the Steelers’ 35-31 win over the Dallas Cowboys in 1979—known as “Black Sunday” in casino circles—Pittsburgh opened as a 4.5-point favorite, and in the week leading up to the game, bettors pounded the Cowboys, causing the number to drop a point. Then, on game day, the inverse happened, with a flood of Steelers -3.5 money coming in before kickoff. The final score landed right on four points—a doomsday scenario for Las Vegas casinos, which were forced to swallow a multimillion-dollar defeat. Super Bowl spreads have stayed more rigid around key numbers, like 3 and 4, ever since.
PATRICK MAHOMES
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In the 12 years since the last loss, the house has gotten its revenge and then some, with a total Super Bowl profit just short of $105 million. Nevada sportsbooks have averaged a hold of around 7% of the total money wagered in that time.
(AP Photo/Photo Illustrations)
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Even the coin toss works against bettors. It’s annually one of the most wagered-on aspects of the game—“heads” was the most popular bet among more than 1,000 props at William Hill last year, and “tails” came in third. That’s despite both sides being priced at -105 (risking $1.05 to win $1)—some sportsbooks even boost it as high as -115 (risking $1.15 to win $1)—for what’s truly a 50/50 proposition. Perhaps the best Super Bowl betting advice, therefore, would be: If you must bet the coin toss, bet it with your friends at Even money. And for what it’s worth (nothing), tails has hit in two straight years and gone 29-25 all-time in Super Bowls.
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Famed prop bets—like length of the national anthem, the color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach and halftime-act songs performed—aren’t permitted in Nevada sportsbooks. State gaming regulations state that bets can only be booked from statistics found in the box score, or those otherwise successfully petitioned to post.
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Sportsbooks would have won even more in 2014 were it not for a first play that swung hundreds of thousands of dollars in favor of bettors. Broncos center Manny Ramirez snapped the ball over quarterback Peyton Manning’s head to set up a safety, posted as high as 100-to-1 to be the first score of the game and as high as 10-to-1 to occur at any point in the game.
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Another recent memorable betting moment came when the Patriots rallied from 28-3 down to the Falcons in 2017 to win 34-28 in overtime. New England got to as high as 10-to-1 on the in-game betting line in the third quarter, implying nearly a 95 percent chance of an Atlanta victory.
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While in-game betting attracts a microscopic fraction of the betting action compared to more traditional options, its popularity increases each year as more bettors wager from mobile devices instead of in-person. A record amount of in-game bets will almost surely be placed on this year’s Super Bowl.
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Not surprisingly, sportsbooks have experienced their two most successful Super Bowls when underdogs covered. Nevada casinos held a record-high 17% and made $15.4 million in 2005, when the Patriots beat the Eagles 27-24 as 7-point favorites. The hold was a bit less—16.5%—in 2014, when the Seattle Seahawks smashed the Denver Broncos 43-8 as 2-point underdogs, but the gross profit of $19.67 million from that game stands as a record.
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Seattle became the rare defending champion that found bettors doubting it in 2015, when heavy Super Bowl action came in against the Seahawks once again. Seattle nearly provided another financial windfall for the house in a pick’em game against the Patriots, before quarterback Russell Wilson threw an interception to cornerback Malcolm Butler at the goal line in the final seconds. The controversial passing call likely swung multimillion dollars in favor of bettors—quite possibly the biggest single-play change of fortune ever. Nevada sportsbooks made a relatively small $3.2 million profit, with a 2.8% hold, on the Patriots’ 28-24 win.
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Most bettors like to back favorites, and that’s traditionally been a winning strategy in Super Bowls. Favorites have gone 29-232 against the spread—and 36-17 straight-up—in Super Bowl history, including cashes in each of the past two years.
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The Seahawks’ 37-point cover in 2014 was the largest in Super Bowl history and gave bookmakers an easy win in a game where the vast majority of the action had come in on the Broncos.
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Despite a couple of close calls—casinos held only 0.83% of the volume in the Green Bay Packers’ 2011 win over the Steelers and 0.7% of the Eagles’ 2018 upset of the Patriots—it’s entirely possible bettors will never beat bookies overall again. That’s partly because volume is on an upward trajectory, with more than $100 million wagered in seven straight years; generally, the hold increases with the handle. Despite their popularity, many props aren’t conducive to profiting recreational gamblers. The most wagered-on bets annually come on rare events occurring, like a twopoint conversion, safety, special teams touchdown or overtime, with gamblers seeking large payouts on small bets. But those props aren’t paying out highly enough based on their true probability, so they heavily favor the house, which knows its customers are far more likely to bet “yes” for a big return than “no” for a minimal one. Future bets also contribute to the house’s edge; all wagers taken over the year on teams to win the Super Bowl factor into the state’s postgame report. Sportsbooks with fair future prices are few and far between (though they do exist), since most casinos skew the numbers heavily in their favor with theoretical hold percentages sometimes stretching higher than 50%.
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The Chiefs have been particularly detrimental to the house via in-game wagers this postseason. First, in the divisional rounds, bettors loaded up on the Cleveland Browns when Mahomes left the game with a concussion in the third quarter. Without the reigning Super Bowl MVP, the Browns covered all ingame point spreads by cutting their deficit from 22-10 to a 22-17 final score. Then, Kansas City went down 9-0 to Buffalo in the AFC Championship Game, and bettors pounced on the brief opportunity to get the Chiefs as a slight underdog. The Chiefs ultimately came back for a 38-24 victory. Jason Scott, BetMGM’s vice president of trading, described the losses as substantial.
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Never feel bad for the house, though, especially not in this case. Unlike this year’s AFC Championship Game, the NFC Championship Game went down as a significant financial windfall for casinos. The vast majority of the money was on the Packers as 3-point home favorites against the Buccaneers, but Green Bay never led in the game. Tampa Bay held on for a 31-26 victory that far outweighed any Kansas City losses, at least at BetMGM. “Tampa’s win was the best result of the past year on any one event in any proper sport,” Scott said.
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For most of the second half of the current NFL season, Chiefs vs. Packers was the most likely Super Bowl matchup by the betting odds. Kansas City was installed as a 1.5-point favorite over Green Bay on the lookahead lines for the potential matchup.
From an action standpoint, bookmakers prefer Chiefs vs. Buccaneers for one reason—it allows for a more defined point spread and money line. The Chiefs are currently a -170 favorite to win outright on the money line, with the Buccaneers coming back at +150. When the point spread is below 3, the role of the money line is minimized because there’s little difference between it and backing either team on the spread. That won’t be the case this year, when many Buccaneers backers will eschew the point spread and instead angle for the higher payout on them winning outright.
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That’s why bookmakers’ ideal Super Bowl result is often the favorite winning without covering the spread. That will certainly be the case this year, when a Chiefs win by a point or two could make for a record in terms of hold percentage.
But doesn’t that only add up to 53 games, when there have been 54 previous Super Bowls? Yes, but there was no total posted on Super Bowl 1 between the Chiefs and Packers in 1967. It wasn’t until the next year that bookmakers fully adopted over/unders—already popular in European soccer markets—for American football.
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Super Bowl 3 presented one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports, and the betting line matches every bit with the legend. The New York Jets were 18-point underdogs— the second-largest spread ever in the Super Bowl—ahead of their 16-7 victory over the Baltimore Colts in a game before which quarterback Joe Namath had famously guaranteed victory.
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Another double-digit underdog won the next year, in 1970, when the Chiefs beat the Vikings 23-7 as 12-point underdogs. That means the Chiefs have won and covered in both of their past two Super Bowl appearances—separated by 50 years—with their only failure coming in Super Bowl 1 when they lost 35-10 as 14-point underdogs to Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr and the Packers.
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Only two other double-digit underdogs have won the Super Bowl, and once again, they’ve both involved Brady. Along with the Giants ruining the Patriots’ undefeated run in 2012, New England spoiled one of the best seasons in NFL history in 2001. The St. Louis Rams were 16-2 with a +253 point differential and came in as 14-point favorites ahead of New England’s 20-17 victory behind the then-24-year old Brady.
Each of the past two Super Bowls had spreads of less than 3, and it’s no coincidence sportsbooks fell short of setting an all-time handle record without the money line influence. The last time there was a real money line—in 2018—bettors loaded up on the Eagles at around +180 ahead of their 41-33 upset of Brady’s Patriots. It was a big reason bettors risked a state-record $158.58 million that year. Super Bowl 52, played in 2018, was also the last time the “Big Game” went over the total—the combined 75 points blew past the 49-point over/under before the end of the third quarter. That 26-point surplus was the furthest a Super Bowl has ever eclipsed the sportsbooks’ total.
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The next year was the polar opposite. Brady’s Patriots were back, but this time slogged through a 13-3 victory over the Rams in a game with an over/under of 56 points. The 40-point deficit marks the easiest an under has ever cashed in a Super Bowl.
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Over/unders have been more reciprocal than point spreads over the course of Super Bowl history. Overs currently hold a 27-26 edge going into this year’s game.
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Brady’s first Super Bowl is remembered locally for the pair of big bets it cashed for a celebrity. Then recently retired NBA superstar Charles Barkley put $500,000 on the Patriots +14 at Mandalay Bay and added another $50,000 on the money line of more than +600, according to the Action Network. That meant Barkley made out with an $800,000 score.
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Barkley gave $100,000 of it back by betting against Brady in the Super Bowl at Mandalay Bay … 16 years later. Barkley was on the Falcons +2.5 in the 2017 Super Bowl and told ESPN he was “counting my money” when they got out to a 28-3 lead before their improbable collapse.
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BOB STUPAK
Downtown Container Park makes it easy to socially distance from its lawn and take in the action on a three large screens.
Front Yard at Ellis Island features a two-story beer garden with outdoor seating and a loaded food and drink menu.
PT’s Taverns throughout the Vegas Valley will offer food packages and beer buckets of various sizes, including the Big Game Party Pack— wings, pretzel bites, mozzarella sticks, a burger and fries and more.
South Point has an old-school sportsbook vibe, and a great deal—a steamed Vienna beef dog with a Budweiser for $1.25.
(Bob Stupak and Circa Sun File; All others AP Photo)
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Many Las Vegas properties won’t host elaborate Super Bowl viewing parties this year because of the pandemic. But the game will be shown at many establishments throughout the Valley, including these. (Don’t forget your face masks.)
Circa Sports is home to a 78 million-pixel screen that beams across nearly the entire casino floor. It can play 24 sporting events at a time, though all 24 will show Super Bowl 55.
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Former casino owner and Vegas legend Bob Stupak is said to have started the fascination with big names placing big bets. In 1989, Stupak put in what was thought to be the largest wager in sports betting history at the time— $1.05 million on the Cincinnati Bengals +7 against the San Francisco 49ers, at the now-defunct Little Caesar’s Gambling Casino. Cincinnati covered throughout the game, but a late Joe Montana touchdown pass gave San Francisco a 20-16 win.
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What’s likely to wind up as the largest reported wager on this year’s game came in unusually early. On January 29, a bettor in Nevada placed a $2.3 million bet to win $2 million on Tampa Bay +3.5 on BetMGM’s mobile app. (The biggest bets typically come in closer to kickoff, so be on the lookout for more reports leading up to Super Bowl Sunday.) The massive wager was a surprise not only for its timing, but also because there was a question as to how many seven-figure bets would come in locally this year at all. Tourism numbers are way down with the pandemic, of course, and the expansion of sports betting could also limit big bets. Wagering is now available legally in 20 states plus Washington, D.C. “Do the big guys fly in?” BetMGM’s Scott asked. “We’ll find out. They may find a way to bet somewhere else in the country more easily during COVID times.”
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Another professional athlete who doubles as a notorious gambler nabbed his own big score on the Super Bowl a year before Barkley. Golfer Phil Mickelson placed a $20,000 wager on the Baltimore Ravens to win the Super Bowl before the season at 22-to-1 odds. After the Ravens beat the Giants 34-7 as 3-point favorites in the 2001 Super Bowl, Mickelson filled a private jet full of family and friends to come to Las Vegas and share in the winnings.
Despite how it might seem—given all the reports of huge winning tickets—not all six- to seven-figure bets cash. In fact, last year ESPN reported that only one $1 million bet was placed—on the 49ers to win outright at +120. That made for quite the painful loss when the Chiefs erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to win 3120, and the bettor has remained anonymous. Turns out, gamblers like to share news of their wins more than their losses. Who knew?
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Westgate SuperBook has 4,200 square feet of newly renovated high-definition digital screens. Seating is free, on a first-come, first-served basis.
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The presence of “the big guys” placing bets will be a factor in determining whether the state has a chance to set a handle record for the fourth time in six years. The consensus is that it’s a long shot because of the coronavirus—but not entirely impossible.
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It could happen anyway, though, because the betting handle didn’t really drop off during the regular season. Nevada saw a direct benefit in sports betting’s increased visibility, with November setting records for overall football handle in a month with $502 million wagered and net win with $56 million, according to figures released by the Gaming Control Board. “Frankly, it’s been a positive football season for all the bookmakers,” Scott said. “I think we’re all pretty happy with the results.”
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A late-season swoon by both the Chiefs and Buccaneers certainly contributed to sportsbooks’ record-setting November. They were two of the most popularly bet teams all year on a game-by-game basis, but Kansas City went 1-3 against the spread in November, and Tampa Bay went 2-3.
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Before the AFC Championship Game against the Bills, the Chiefs had failed to cover in eight of nine contests. That leaves them with an 8-10 against-the-spread record heading into Super Bowl 55 with a real chance to become the rare champion that’s been unprofitable to bet on throughout the season. It’s been more than 20 years since a team has won the Super Bowl with a losing against-the-spread record.
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Are we in the early stages of a Chiefs dynasty, not unlike the one Brady built with the Patriots? The odds would indicate so. Kansas City is the 5-to-1 favorite to win next year’s Super Bowl at the SuperBook. Tampa Bay is tied for the fifth-lowest odds, at 12to-1.
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Many sportsbooks, including William Hill, have a liability on the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl from a futures perspective because of the high price at which they were available before signing Brady. But that’s not the case everywhere. At BetMGM, the Chiefs are actually a worst-case scenario—and for a unique reason. “There’s been a lot of people taking these parlays across sports, and we’ve had an interesting situation where the Dodgers were favored all year and won, the Lakers were favored or close to it all year and won, and now Kansas City has been the favorite all year—and the most popular team,” Scott said.
(AP Photos)
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THROW A SMALL, SAFE PARTY Our natural desire to gather with friends for the Super Bowl hasn’t changed because of the pandemic. We just have to get creative to do it safely. Here are a few reminders about how to do it responsibly.
■ Per state guidelines, gatherings can’t exceed 10 people, and those people can’t come from more than two households. Don’t be afraid to limit the attendees—your cousin’s girlfriend’s neighbor that you’ve never met doesn’t need to watch the game at your house.
■ Follow health protocols by wearing a mask—and don’t be afraid to ask your guests to keep theirs on— and by maintaining social distancing and frequently washing your hands. There’s also nothing wrong with bringing your own sanitizer.
■ Don’t share from the same chip and dip spread or reach into the same pizza box. ■ In place of high-fives and hugs after scores, try elbow bumps or air fives.
■ Consider hosting a viewing party by video conference. You’ll get to hang out with friends and family members in other places, and if you’re a really good “host,” you could even coordinate pizza delivery for those joining your meetup.
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Tampa Bay Buccaneers What if? It would be easy for the Raiders’ brass to look at the Buccaneers and wonder that, considering Las Vegas was linked heavily to quarterback Tom Brady before his free agency began last March, and ended with him in Tampa Bay. But that would be foolish. The offense was not what ailed the Raiders this season. Plus, the Buccaneers had a set of skill players few teams in the league could match. There’s a reason Brady handpicked them after spending 20 years with the New England Patriots. The Raiders could really learn from the Buccaneers on defense, however. Much like Las Vegas, Tampa Bay was a perennially underperforming stop unit until two seasons ago, when Todd Bowles arrived as defensive coordinator. Bowles modernized the Buccaneers’ defense, going largely to a “positionless” approach that’s starting to sweep through the NFL. The good news for Las Vegas is that new defensive coordinator Gus Bradley used some similar concepts the past two years with the Los Angeles Chargers.
The Raiders might also have some of the necessary personnel to fit Bradley’s new system, particularly at linebacker, if Cory Littleton can rebound from a rough first year in Las Vegas. At his best, he’s top-notch as both an intermediate coverage option and an open-field tackler. The Raiders will need to bulk up their secondary. Bowles empowers lanky and speedy defensive backs like Carlton Davis, Jamel Dean and Sean Murphy-Bunting to be aggressive and win one-on-one matchups with opposing top receivers. Trayvon Mullen is the only Las Vegas cornerback who has shown he might be capable of something similar, but he’s been inconsistent through his first two years. Tampa Bay blitzes frequently, an element neither Bradley nor the Raiders have fully embraced. Bradley’s Chargers ranked last in the league in blitz rate each of the past two seasons. But the Raiders have struggled to bring pressure with their front four, so some tweaks might be necessary. Bowles’ adjustments with the Buccaneers have largely worked, and Bradley would be wise to study them.
(AP Photos)
The wide receiver out of Alabama had drawn comparisons to top Chiefs receiver Tyreek Hill, whom many describe as the fastest player in the league. Ruggs ran even faster than Hill at the combine—a 4.27-second 40-yard dash to best Hill’s 4.29. But Las Vegas rarely got Ruggs into open space during the season the way Kansas City often does for Hill. That can be partially attributed to rookie growing pains, but a lack of creativity also contributed. The Chiefs constantly manufacture ways to get the Hill ball through a wide variety of play designs. The Raiders essentially implanted Ruggs in their offense and hoped his ability would shine through. Gruden’s offense wasn’t the main reason the Raiders missed the postseason this year, but for it to take the next step and become one of the league’s best, he’ll need more creativity. And copying some of the Chiefs’ schemes—rather than just their personnel choices— could be a good step in that direction.
BY CASE KEEFER Success breeds imitation in the NFL. Like clockwork every new season, franchises incorporate ideas and schemes they adopted from the prior season’s best teams, especially those that advanced to the Super Bowl. ¶ The Las Vegas Raiders aren’t immune to the trend. Raiders coach Jon Gruden and his staff will surely be watching Super Bowl 55 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers with a close eye. They’ll be looking not only for reasons the two teams reached the sport’s pinnacle, but also ways they can replicate that success. ¶ What could they learn? Here’s an idea from each team.
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The Raiders already based a lot of this past season’s plan on the Chiefs’ Super Bowl 54-winning ways. “Let’s be honest, the entire league is chasing the Kansas City Chiefs, but we’re in the same division,” Raiders general manager Mike Mayock famously admitted during last year’s NFL Draft. “They keep getting faster and more athletic, more dynamic every time you turn around. Other teams have to do the same.” The Raiders-Chiefs arms race helped push Las Vegas to use three of its top four picks on the offensive side of the ball, despite it being more needy on defense. And from a macro perspective, it worked. Las Vegas maintained an above-average offense for the second straight year and experienced a significant rise in “explosive” plays—completed passes that go for at least 20 yards and runs of at least 10 yards—from 21st to 8th in the NFL, according to sharpfootballstats.com. Still, No. 12 overall pick Henry Ruggs III didn’t quite have the impact some had expected.
The Las Vegas Raiders could learn a lot from the teams playing in this Super Bowl
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Julie Murray, CEO of the Moonridge Group (Steve Marcus/Staff)
THE STATE OF GIVING Moonridge Group CEO Julie Murray on Nevada’s collaborative, generous spirit
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ast March, philanthropy advisers the Moonridge Group teamed with major funding forces like the Elaine P. Wynn and Family Foundation, local restaurants like Honey Salt and nonprofits like the United Way to launch Delivering With Dignity—a direct response to Clark County Commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick’s concern that the spread of the coronavirus could cause some of Southern Nevada’s most vulnerable residents to slip through the cracks. As a direct result, more than 275,000 healthy
BY BROCK RADKE meals have been delivered to individuals and families in 67 ZIP codes, friends and neighbors identified by the program’s 47 nonprofit partners to be in need and at high risk during the pandemic. Moonridge CEO and Principal Julie Murray, whose career achievements also include co-founding Three Square food bank and helping launch Andre Agassi’s charter school, says Delivering With Dignity was originally intended as a shortterm initiative but it could continue through 2022. “We’ll keep it running for however long the need
exists,” she says. That’s just one of the ways Murray’s company has adjusted to COVID-19 conditions and continued connecting powerful community resources to provide strategic assistance. April saw the launch of Hope Means Nevada, a mental health initiative focused on suicide awareness. We caught up with Murray to chat about the state of giving and philanthropy during one of the most challenging times in our community’s history.
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WEEKLY Q&A You’ve been holding twice-annual Philanthropy Leaders Summits in Reno and Las Vegas. How did those unfold in 2020? We had our February event in person [Downtown], and we were scheduled to go in September to Reno. But instead we created a summit that was open to anyone to join virtually. We were a bit shocked because there were a lot of people sending out the announcement that [online educator] Sal Khan was speaking virtually from this summit in Nevada. It was so cool that we ended up breaking down the barriers of people having to fly in for it. We realized if they can join via Zoom, we can reach many more people than we have in the 10 years we’ve been having these events. [This year,] we’re going to combine them and do one virtual summit in September that will be open throughout the country and work to have the keynote be someone of national interest, start at that high level and then move into specific discussions about Southern Nevada and Northern Nevada philanthropy. What was the vibe during that virtual conference, given where we were in terms of the pandemic and understanding its effects on philanthropy? I believe it’s never been more important than it was when we had it in September, because people
felt less connected due to COVID. It was also important to them to continue giving to their charitable causes and make the most impact they could make, even if they had a limited budget. We also learned from a midyear survey of different funders and foundations that they really loosened restrictions during this time. So for example, they might have been giving to a specific program or operation or initiative, but because of the relationship they have with the nonprofit, they left it to the discretion of the executive director to spend the gift where the need was the greatest. We also saw nonprofits collaborate more and funders collaborate more, knowing they needed to if they wanted to survive these very difficult times. We know the philanthropic community in Southern Nevada is generous and very resourceful, but isn’t it also limited because Las Vegas is a relatively young city? Yes. The most recent survey from 2020 says the average American gave $608 per person last year, and here in Nevada it was $446 per person, which [ranked] us 43rd in the nation. We really do feel like it’s a generous community, and since we’re a young community, that sort of multigenerational giving—where grandma and grandpa stepped
Julie Murray, right, and Delivering With Dignity coordinator Melanie Suskind pick up food at Honey Salt (Steve Marcus/Staff)
in for the community so now I do the same—is not as prevalent here. There’s also such a large number of people who are new here, and they’re still thinking of their roots in Omaha or Austin and giving in the cities they [once] lived, because they haven’t felt like Las Vegas is home yet. However, we’ve seen that starting to change more with the sports teams that have come here. It’s interesting that sports have done more to build a sense of community than other things that have occurred in Southern Nevada, and the teams brought the philanthropy with them. The Raiders gave $2.4 million in their first year in Las Vegas, and the Vegas Golden Knights [gave] around $2.7 million last year. Pent-up demand is fueling an expectation that Las Vegas’ economy will recover from the pandemic quickly. Is there a similar expectation in the world of giving? I think so. Right when COVID was really growing and getting worse by the day, we started to poll funders in our state to see what they were looking at giving in 2020 and 2021, and 68% of individuals and family foundations were planning to keep their giving the same or increase it for 2020 and 2021. We would never have envisioned that many of them would increase their giving, and we were worried about corporate giving, because of the obvious cutbacks. But 50% of [corporations polled] said they’d keep it the same or increase. Where we see the biggest setback is volunteerism. So many nonprofits really rely on volunteers, and for much of 2020, people just weren’t going out and giving their time. But we envision that coming back strong in 2021. It seems like the pandemic has created more awareness about certain community needs. Are we seeing a new philanthropy, with regular people giving what they can to help? The most important thing for me to get across is that there’s never been a more important time for philanthropy. COVID-19 has impacted people in ways we probably won’t fully know about for years to come, until more results are known in areas like domestic violence and mental health. The government is going to be so challenged with its budget, so philanthropy is the thing we can do to help get our community turned around and back in the position of being a vibrant, healthy, inspirational place to live. It’s the difference between good and great.
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BINGE THIS WEEK
BLACK STORIES ON HULU The streaming service is observing Black History Month by spotlighting some of the best Black stories in its catalog, including FX’s Atlanta, ABC’s Blackish, Lifetime’s Salt-N-Pepa, OWN’s Queen Sugar and Hulu’s own Bad Hair and Woke. Hulu.
BOARD GAME
PARANORMAL DETECTIVES A body lies on the ground. Investigators attempt to discern the cause of death, not through conventional detective work but by communicating directly with the deceased via tarot cards, talking board writing and the silent manifestations of its ghost. That’s the hook of Lucky Duck Games’ Paranormal Detectives, a Clue-like deduction board game that includes elements of pantomime, lip-reading and even sculpture. It’s great fun for those in a large enough lockdown bubble (touch is required for some spirit writing clues). $40, luckyduckgames.com. –Geoff Carter
TV PODCAST
OFF THE RECORD Music journalist Jordan Runtagh (Rolling Stone, People) delves into the lives of music legends in this new biographical series from iHeartRadio. For the show’s inaugural season, OTR spotlights late, gender-bending icon David Bowie, beginning with the singer’s adolescent, pre-Ziggy Stardust days as David Jones, then venturing into his London years and subsequent shape-shifting roles through the years. Apple. co/36zAvyN. –Leslie Ventura
PRETEND IT’S A CITY There are few things the writer and social commentator Fran Lebowitz likes. In fact, her five-decade-long career has pretty much been defined by the things she hates, centered around her orbit of New York City. This seven-part documentary from Martin Scorsese is an escape into Lebowitz’s singular, prickly mind. Free of the constraints of everybody else’s opinions—Lebowitz is a staunch Luddite and has never owned a computer or a smartphone and doesn’t use the internet—you won’t find a sharper wit cutting through the cultural noise. Netflix. –Genevie Durano
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PHOEBE READS A MYSTERY The host of NPR’s hit show Criminal masters another medium with this podcast: the bedtime story. Phoebe Judge reads from such classic mystery novels as Jane Eyre and Dracula, chapter by suspenseful chapter. thisiscriminal.com/ mystery
Martin Scorsese (left) and Fran Lebowitz in Pretend It’s a City (Netflix/Courtesy)
OUR PICKS FOR THE WEEK AHEAD
VIDEOS BOOK
THE DOCTORS BLACKWELL BY JANICE P. NIMURA The first woman to earn a medical degree in the U.S. was only admitted to medical school as a joke. But Elizabeth Blackwell turned that odd opportunity into a formidable career. Her younger sister Emily followed in her footsteps, and together they founded the first female-staffed hospital. In The Doctors Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women and Women to Medicine, Janice P. Nimura tells their story. The women aren’t facile heroes or simple feminist icons; they’re layered and complicated humans, which makes for a compelling read. –C. Moon Reed
SATISFYING MOLCAJETE If you’ve ever used a molcajete (or any type of mortar and pestle) or even seen one used, maybe before enjoying some tableside guac at your favorite Mexican restaurant, you’re already aware of the inherent satisfaction. But there’s something so soothing, almost tranquilizing, about watching these short videos on TikTok (or YouTube, Snapchat or Instagram). Of course Cheetos Puffs are going to look like delicious, soft sand when they’ve been ground and pounded; to see things end up the way you want these days is nothing short of bliss. There are all sorts of fun non-foods involved, like eggshells, light bulbs, chalk, and a nice, waxy birthday candle number zero. And it turns out water against marble is a whole new ASMR experience. @satisfying.molcajete. –Brock Radke
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LAUGH Stand-up comics keep the laughs coming despite the circumstances BY BROCK RADKE
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L.A. COMEDY CLUB Nightly, 6, 8 & 10 p.m. Strat, 702-383-5210.
Bret Ernst (Courtesy)
hether you’re on the job or working from home, there’s a lot of pandemic stress surrounding your day-today grind. But if you’re tired of Zoom meetings and finding the motivation to complete the next big project, imagine how tough it might be for the average stand-up comedian to entertain with a 25-foot distance between the stage and a reduced-capacity audience. Wait, never mind. “The good thing is, when you’re a comic and you’re just starting out, you do comedy everywhere. I’ve done it in a bowling alley, from a boxing ring, on a tour bus—all these ridiculous places where you can just put up an open mic,” says Bret Ernst, who also plays Louie LaRusso Jr. (Daniel’s cousin) on hit TV series Cobra Kai. “When you’ve been doing it for so long, you can pretty much handle it anywhere. I’ve done it in a restaurant on a table, with a mic up on the booth. There was a laundromat show in LA for a long time. For me personally, nothing throws me off, because I’ve done every room possible on the way up.” Ernst recently relocated to Las Vegas and locked down the 10 p.m. slot Tuesdays and Wednesdays at L.A. Comedy Club at the Strat, a steady spot for live entertainment since
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THE STRIP
TRACK reopening in early October. The club hosts touring acts nightly at 8 p.m. after Redneck Comedy Magic at 6 p.m., and Butch Bradley and friends takes over at 10 p.m. the rest of the week. Ernst’s youthful appearance belies the fact that he has been doing standup for 24 years, breaking through when he moved to LA and hit the stage at the Comedy Store in 2000. Over the past year, he has traveled wherever the gigs have been, from Florida to California. “I’ve been able to see how different
states have handled it, with all different ideas and mandates everybody is trying to follow,” he says. “The L.A. Comedy Club here does a great job, because they’ve actually moved the stage to the corner to keep the distance.” Ernst was in Austin, Texas, the same week Dave Chappelle and Joe Rogan performed at the legendary Stubb’s Bar-B-Q restaurant. COVID-19 has impacted every comic’s career, but Ernst says it hasn’t changed his approach or preparation, and he says audiences are ready to laugh at the absurdities of the crisis. “When 9/11 happened, I [performed] that night, and we didn’t mention anything about it. It stung that hard,” he says. “This isn’t stinging. The stupid things about this that people are making fun of … everybody is in agreement about that. It’s almost like students making fun of the teacher together.” Other Vegas comedy rooms cur-
rently open include the Laugh Factory at the Tropicana and the Delirious Comedy Club at Downtown Grand. Brad Garrett’s Comedy Club at MGM Grand recently reopened after originally resuming shows in a ballroom space in November and then taking another break when restrictions tightened up around the holidays. “Thankfully, that’s not the case now, and it’s back in that cool, intimate environment,” says Paul Ogata, a Hawaiian native and 15-year comedian who’ll perform at Brad Garrett’s February 4 and 7. “I imagine that [ballroom] space was the opposite of what comedy should be. It should be low ceilings, a sort of conspiratorial, speakeasy feel.” Ogata, who will be back in Vegas to perform at the Strat club later this month, has continued with as many live shows as he can, but unlike Ernst, he has also made the major adjustment of participating in virtual come-
dy via Zoom. Still, Ogata says, “Comedy is alive. It’s art and it’s dynamic, and hiding behind a screen is the antithesis of everything we do. I get it, people need to laugh, and people need to continue to do shows, but it’s not the same. “I like the mystery, the feeling that anything could happen with live comedy. That’s the true magic of it. It’s spontaneous and in the moment, which is why I’ll take any crowd. I’ve done shows for 5,000 people in a huge theater, and for two people on a sinking barge. If it’s live, I’ll do it.”
BRAD GARRETT’S COMEDY CLUB Thursday & Sunday, 8 p.m.; Friday & Saturday, 7 & 10 p.m. MGM Grand, 866-740-7711.
Paul Ogata (Jeremy K. Johnson/Courtesy)
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SCENE Lawn Mower Death Riders (Shahab Zargari/Courtesy)
LIGHT IN DARKNESS
LAWN MOWER DEATH RIDERS Gcrecords.bandcamp.com/album/ here-comes-another-one Facebook.com/LawnMowerDeathRiders Spoti.fi/2YARCvK
Lawn Mower Death Riders mix humor and the macabre BY LESLIE VENTURA
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athan and Ian Stewart founded the Vegas rock band Lawn Mower Death Riders a decade ago as a means of sharing their appreciation for country music and horror movies. Ten years and one pandemic later, the brothers have released their sophomore album, Here Comes Another One, out now on GC Records. “Me and Ian, we used to listen to a lot of punk and metal when we were younger, so some of our weird content comes from the metal side,” says Nathan, who sings and plays mandolin and guitar. “Our love for horror movies definitely comes through, too.” The band name also nods to the brothers’ love of the macabre, as does “deadgrass,” a subgenre coined by Lawn Mower Death Riders to describe their punk-meets-folk sound. (Deadgrass was also the title of the band’s 2015 debut LP.)
The Stewarts, who are joined on the album by bassist Marshall Lytle and drummer Rob Sherwood, say the pandemic has made them more productive than ever before. In addition to the new full-length, “we’ve got an EP that we’re halfway through recording,” Ian says. Also, with shows on pause for the foreseeable future, the band says it has been polishing its social media skills to stay engaged with listeners. Whether they’re posting music or makeshift memes of Guy Fieri and Steven Seagal, LMDR aims to make people laugh during times of existential crisis. Many of the group’s lyrics are about death and dying, Nathan says. One look at the tracklist confirms it: “Force-Feeding Me an Afterlife,” “Co-
matose Conundrum,” “The Ghost of Turd River” … “I like creating stories,” Nathan says. “I try to give you somewhat of a visual—or the opposite, just utter nonsense. It’s easier than writing a book or a movie.” The song “Fistfight With Mommy” features Nathan’s snarky vocals, a bassline reminiscent of Van Morrison’s classic sound and a ferocious mandolin riff. Title aside, it tells a cinematic story with its lush folk-rock instrumentals and vivid lyrics. “The past four years have been really bleak,” Ian says. “Our album has a lot of doom and gloom, but that’s why we try to make it catchy as well. Just because it’s doom and gloom doesn’t mean you can’t tap your foot to it.”
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HORSE Brent Holmes at the Barrick (Lonnie Timmons III/UNLV Creative Services/Courtesy)
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ART BY LESLIE VENTURA
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SENSE
Brent Holmes melds art and humor in an examination of Black identity and Western roots
rent Holmes is dressed like a cowboy. He’s got the cowboy hat, the wornout blazer and a pair of well-loved cowboy boots, mostly hidden under a “You can do really meaningful perforsturdy pair of blue jeans. mance work and laugh at the same time and The Las Vegas artist is at UNLV’s Marjobe silly and be a clown about it,” he says of a rie Barrick Museum of Art, presenting his second, untitled video piece that shows him latest exhibition, Behold a Pale Horse. In it, riding a horse through the desert dressed found objects and videos convey a message as a cowboy, burying himself in sand and, about Black identity, reclamation, isolation eventually, turning into a mermaid. “You and the desert. can still have the same meaning without Leading up to the show, Holmes spent taking it so seriously, because not everymuch of the pandemic exploring Nevada thing is rolling around in blood naked.” landscapes and recording that process. A triptych of found wood and personal “It’s been a long time since the first time I heirlooms anchors the show, telling a story really asked myself, ‘What is this place?’” about Holmes’ family lineage and his admiHolmes says of the Mojave desert and Neration for Nevada. “In these objects, there’s vada’s desolate terrain. “There’s all sorts of a dialogue about environment, about the whatever to unpack about what I’m doing, history of the place you are in and reconthe performative statements. But I know ciling that with your personal history,” he one thing is definitely true— says. “That, in many ways, is BRENT HOLMES: that this is a love letter to this how we form our identity. BEHOLD A PALE HORSE part of the world.” “In our nation, generation Through April 2; Monday, As the title—and Holmes’ after generation of white Wednesday & Friday attire—suggest, Behold a men have installed ideas 10 a.m.-4 p.m. by appointment; free. Pale Horse also focuses on and myths about radical Marjorie Barrick Museum the Southwest’s ranch-land individualism, about their of Art, 702-895-3381. history. Holmes, the son of own superiority, about their Holmes performs at the exhibit February 12 Las Vegas entertainer Clint lack of dependence on others at 11 a.m. Holmes, has spent summers in and their sense of personTexas, where his family owns al freedoms—all of these a ranch and raises cattle. “My falling in line with the classic mother would take me out there every year cowboy trope,” Holmes explains. “And and show me my culture,” he says. “I had when we pull back that veil, they become this very strong connection to my roots in unsettled.” the identity of the cowboy—and this is an In his videos, Holmes juxtaposes neon identity that’s been denied.” and gold leaf with rugged forms of wood Holmes uses his art to reclaim that idenand steel makeshift roulette tables and gitity and send a message to the rest of us: ant, Binion’s-style horseshoes, connecting What do you do when your history has been the past and the present, reconciling ugly erased from all discourse? truths and asking how we move forward. “If you look at historical records, “There’s this conversation about dig‘cowboy’ is a term for a slave that tends to ging,” Holmes says of the metaphor for cattle,” Holmes says. “In the beginning, catperseverance. “I have myself digging under tle ranching was done by enslaved people. the earth. I have myself in hot springs, in Many of these skills were taught by African rivers, at the Salton Sea, at the ocean. … people. The culture and the look and the Where can you go after you’ve dug as deep skill sets are as American as jazz.” as you can? Where can you go after you’re In the 2014 piece “The Yellow Rose of below sea level?” Texas,” a home video of a Holmes family Perhaps you end up a mermaid, as barbecue runs as racially inflammatory Holmes does in his film. Or maybe you turn audio from anti-government cattle rancher that curiosity inward, toward introspecCliven Bundy plays over the film. tion. Whatever the result, Holmes says, Holmes explains that not all of Beyond a “if you want to keep exploring, you have to Pale Horse is meant to be taken as seriously. swim.”
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A Public Fit (Richard Brusky/Courtesy)
SAVING OUR STAGES
The Producers Alliance of Southern Nevada works to ensure that the show goes on
Las Vegas Little Theatre (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)
BY C. MOON REED
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hen the pandemic hit, Las Vegas’ theaters, stages and trade shows were forced to shut down. But unlike, say, restaurants, they weren’t immediately allowed to reopen, nor were they initially included in relief programs. Closures led to an exodus of newly unemployed creatives. “For a while it was every day—there were a couple people on social media just saying goodbye,” says Kate St-Pierre. That cultural catastrophe led to the creation of the Producers Alliance of Southern Nevada (PALS). St-Pierre, artistic director for the Lab LV, is its president. Sarah O’Connell, PALS’ director, producer and VP of communications, says that the theater/production community had spent years “hemming and hawing” over the desire to make an alliance. “Finally, this created the conditions where we took action,” continues O’Connell, who’s also the executive director at Henderson Symphony Orchestra and the founding director of Eat More Art Vegas. For now, the question animating PALS is this: “How do we survive the next six months?” The stated answer on palsnv.org:
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Henderson Symphony Orchestra (Courtesy)
“Create our recovery together.” And what might seem like a facile solution is backed by tangible plans. PALS is an official 501c3 nonprofit organization with more than 40 member arts groups, including film festivals, theater companies, opera companies, symphonies, booking agencies, stage lighting groups and more. It’s open to all local performing arts organizations, production companies, event venues and, O’Connell says, “anyone who’s part of the live-event experience, production ecosystem.” “We lose out on opportunities when we separate the Smith Center from the Strip from the Playhouse or Majestic Rep[ertory],” O’Connell says. “As cultural communities, we understand we’re all colleagues. We can strategize and leverage each other’s strengths for better overall benefit.” The group has four stated goals: fomenting leveraged resources, like cross-promotions and technical trainings; creating public policy, such as working toward recovery grants and promoting local arts to tourists; forming private partnerships, which would promote economic diversity; and seeking out community collaborations, like with arts groups in Northern Nevada. “From our perspective, the arts are not a cause; they are an indus-
try. And we need to be treated as such,” O’Connell says. In 2017, arts and culture created nearly 41,000 jobs in Nevada, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
Since forming in July, PALS has been influential in getting the Office of Economic Diversity to include art in the Pandemic Emergency Technical Support (PETS) grant program. PALS members received more than $300,000 in PETS grants, St-Pierre says. PALS is also helping members navigate the newly released eligibility requirements for the Save Our Stages act. One of the additional tenets of PALS is equality, especially considering the arts are a tool for upward mobility. “We didn’t see anyone creating avenues for a lot of the historically excluded groups,” O’Con-
nell says. “We really worry about resources not getting where they are needed most if we aren’t forging more bridges between underserved communities and these larger infrastructures.” When governments divvy up resources, PALS wants to prevent the arts from being seen as disposable. Rather than cutting the arts, O’Connell says, “What we should be asking is, ‘How are we going to use everything at our disposal—especially our creative workforce—to save our economy and position it to actually come out of this better than we came into it?’”
The Lab LV (Richard Brusky/Courtesy)
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DOWNTOWN COMFORT Main St. Provisions makes itself at home in the Arts District BY GENEVIE DURANO
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t was the search for comfort food— the kind she grew up eating in Louisiana, not heavily sauced or overly heavy—that led restaurateur Kim Owens on a nearly two-year journey to open her first restaurant in Downtown Las Vegas. Owens, a restaurant-industry veteran—she served as regional manager and VP of operations for Del Frisco’s—who has lived in Las Vegas for 21 years, was tuned in to the burgeoning culinary scene happening off the Strip, and was looking for just the right chef to realize her vision. That turned out to be Justin Kingsley Hall, whose culinary bona fides include stints at Comme Ça, Sparrow + Wolf, the Kitchen at Atomic and his own pop-up concept, Slo-Boy. “I was looking for a chef that could take what was in my head and put it on a plate,” Owens says. “I started watching what Justin was doing, and what he was doing at the time was evoking nostalgic memories for people.” Owens hired Hall in March 2019, and after being slowed by construction delays and the pandemic, Main St. Provisions opened as 2020 drew to
Main St. Provisions’ charcoal oven burger, (top right) sundae and (bottom right) venison tataki and rabbit boudin (Christoper DeVargas/Staff)
a close. The restaurant puts a modern spin on comfort food with some global flair. It’s a place for supper with good friends (maybe just a couple for now), while taking in the Arts District, a vibrant urban center with a growing food scene. MSP’s menu selections are driven by sustainable meats and fish and locally grown vegetables. Appetizers invite a slow, lingering entry to the meal: Start with an Idaho Scotch egg
($16)—a soft-boiled egg wrapped with smoked Riverence trout, potato chip crust, trout roe and verbena lemon cream. Keep it going with charcoal roasted quail ($16), stuffed with sausage and served with lemon aioli fried capers and fry bread, and the K.O. BBQ Prawn ($16), a roasted large Skull Island prawn, charred lemon, toast and NOLA beurre blanc. Owens also recommends the rabbit boudin ($26). “It’s a twist on a boudin
sausage from Louisiana,” she explains. “It’s a rabbit and pork blend— mainly rabbit, and it’s got these beautiful, delicate flavors. [Hall] finishes it with a very nice rabbit jus and some crispy potato dumplings. And the potato dumplings are light and airy, but crispy on the outside. It evokes that feeling of comfort, without making you want to take a nap after you’re finished.” Hall is known for incorporating a
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FOOD & DRINK
MAIN ST. PROVISIONS 1214 S. Main St., 702-457-0111. Wednesday-Saturday, 4-10 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.
kiss of smoke into his cooking, which Owens likens to a backyard barbecue. MSP’s meat selections include steak and fries ($36), a charcoal oven burger ($16) and a Heritage ham steak ($26), with sides like harissa carrots ($13), oat milk grits ($12) and braised greens ($11) to balance them out. The dessert selection also harks back to an uncomplicated past, when a banana pie ($9) was the perfect ending to a meal. Or try the sundae
($14), which Owens says riffs on a familiar classic. “It evokes that nostalgia of being a kid and having that McDonald’s sundae that came in that great little plastic cup,” she says. This one is made with plantbased ice creams from Paradise City Creamery, topped with roasted peanuts, molasses fudge and coconut whipped cream. “It’s a healthier version, but it’s still comfort food,” Owens says.
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Owners Dana and Rick Lopez at the Angry Crab Shack (Steve Marcus/Staff)
RAGIN’ CAJUN
Angry Crab Shack spices up the Henderson food scene BY SARA MACNEIL
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fter a delay of almost a year, the Angry Crab Shack recently debuted in the long-vacant former Joe’s Crab Shack space on Sunset Road at Green Valley Parkway. Owners Dana and Rick Lopez signed a franchise agreement to bring the restaurant chain to Henderson back in March, spending their savings just before the coronavirus pandemic began to cripple the restaurant industry. Dana Lopez says when she decided to invest, she had no idea restaurants would be shut down the same month. “My husband retired from the union, and we made the decision to invest in the concept. We pulled out some retirement to get it going, and that happened two weeks later,” she says. Despite the setback, the couple moved forward as planned. And now Dana Lopez, who comes from a family in the restaurant industry, hopes to help provide jobs to some of those who have lost theirs. Overall, she plans to bring on at least 50 employees, including bussers, cooks, servers, dishwashers and managers. “People that stand out for us are the ones
who are unemployed,” she says. Angry Crab Shack specializes in Cajun dishes with Asian spices and homestyle fixings, such as red potatoes, baked beans and corn on the cob. There are soups (the gumbo is a must), salads, bowls and sandwiches, including Louisiana-style po’boys, for lunch and dinner. For those who choose to dine in with their pod, the seafood boil is a great excuse to get your hands messy. Shrimp, crab (snow, king and Dungeness), lobster, crawfish, clams and mussels can be sauced up seven different ways—try the trifecta of Cajun, lemon pepper and garli—and spiced from mild to “ridiculously hot,” then boiled in a bag and eaten on butcher paper-covered tables. (Gloves are provided for ease of cleanup.) That communal style of eating was what initially hooked the Lopezes, who have lived in Henderson for two decades, when they had a meal at an Angry Crab Shack location in Arizona. “What really won me over was when we sat down to eat,” Dana says.
ANGRY CRAB SHACK 4250 E. Sunset Road, 702-998-9095. Friday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
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FOOD & DRINK SWEET CORN ICE CREAM SANDWICHES & HONEY BUTTER POTATO CHIPS Who doesn’t love corn on the cob? Who doesn’t love ice cream sandwiches? The South Korean food company Lotte decided to mix the two into a cornshaped cone vessel that pairs amazingly with anything barbecued … or a delicious bag of honey butter(!) potato chips. Yes— that’s honey and butter—in a potato chip. It truly is love at first bite.
MANDU This Korean dumpling is steam-fried, boiled, pan-fried or deep-fried depending on your preference. Look for it in the frozen aisle of stores like Greenland Supermarket (6850 W. Spring Mountain Road). Filling options include gogi (meat), yachae (vegetables), saewu (shrimp) and kimchi (fermented cabbage).
FIVE TO TRY
KIMCHI & GOCHUJANG There are many varieties of kimchi, the fermented cabbage side dish that’s a staple in Korean cuisine. A little spicy, a little sweet and pleasantly acidic, it livens up everything from ramen and eggs to rice dishes and burgers. Gochujang, meanwhile, is a spicy, fermented chili paste you can use in just about anything. One taste of gochujang’s sweet heat and you’ll be hooked for life.
Expand your palate with these Korean market finds BY LESLIE VENTURA You’ve had Korean barbecue, but that’s not even close to where this delicious and vast cuisine begins and ends. Head to the Korean market and don’t dare leave without the following tasty snacks, desserts and condiments.
CHOCO BOY If you’re a fan of sweets, Choco Boy snacks will transport you back to your childhood with its fun designs. Made to look like mini mushrooms, the chocolate and vanilla biscuits are a delicious treat you won’t want to put down.
(Shutterstock)
CHAPAGETTI Traditional black bean noodles, known as chajangmyun or jajangmyeon, are a family favorite in Korean households. Chapagetti, on the other hand, is that dish’s instant version, which was created by the brand Nongshim in the ’80s. Today, it’s the second-most popular Korean instant noodle on the market.
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JUST SAY NO Contrary to popular belief, “no” and “under” props can provide profit and entertainment BY CASE KEEFER
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here are no absolutes when it comes to gambling on the thousands of Super Bowl proposition wagers, but a general rule of thumb is that it’s wiser to bet “no” and “under” on either/or and over/under bets. The house often implements upcharges on the “yes” and “over” sides, because most bettors don’t like to wager on things not happening in the game. They don’t want to wager on things not happening, because it’s usually more fun to root for big plays and wild action. But that shouldn’t be an absolute. It’s quite possible to find “no” and “under” betting options that both hold value and are fun to cheer on. We dug through the 36 pages(!) of props at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook to find six such bets for this year’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Will the game be tied after 0-0? No at -105 (risking $1.05 to win $1) ■ Why it’s a good bet: The over/under on the game is 56.5 points—third highest in Super Bowl history. More points mean more potential score variations. For example, a 7-7 tie is far more statistically probable in a game with 42 projected points than one with 56.5 projected points. Some see two evenly matched teams and assume the game will be close throughout, but it doesn’t usually play out that way. ■ Why it’s fun: Again, points aren’t a detriment to this wager. They’re a benefit. This is a cheaper way than the over/under to cheer for a shootout—albeit one with slightly staggered scoring patterns. Longest field goal made: Under 46.5 yards at -110 ■ Why it’s a good bet: Both the Chiefs’ Andy Reid and the Buccaneers’ Bruce Arians are more aggressive decision-makers than the average NFL coach. They know it’s going to take a lot of points to win a championship, so they aren’t going to settle for long field goals, figuring drives need to end in touchdowns to maximize their teams’ win probability. ■ Why it’s fun: With respect to the Chiefs’ Harrison Butker and the Buccaneers’ Ryan Succop, no one’s tuning into the Super Bowl to watch kicking feats. Offense is more thrilling than special teams.
Chiefs total sacks: Under 1.5 at +120 (risking $1 to win $1.20) ■ Why it’s a good bet: Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady is 43 years old but still gets the ball out quickly—both on completions and incompletions. Brady is clearly wary of taking hits at this point of his career and doesn’t hesitate to throw the ball away in a hurry to avoid a sack. The Buccaneers are third in the NFL in opponent sack rate, with Brady only going down on 3.5% of snaps. ■ Why it’s fun: This is the best way to wager on the one local in this year’s Super Bowl—Buccaneers backup offensive lineman John Molchon. The undrafted rookie free agent was a standout at Faith Lutheran High and Boise State before making the Tampa Bay practice squad this year. It’s unlikely he’ll be active in the Super Bowl, but he’s at least played a role in building the Buccaneers’ offensive line all season. Will Tom Brady throw an interception? No at +140 ■ Why it’s a good bet: The number is inflated after Brady threw three interceptions in the NFC Championship Game at Green Bay. He didn’t commit a turnover in either of Tampa Bay’s other two playoff games and has significantly cut down on interceptions over the second half of the season as he’s become comfortable in his new team’s offense. ■ Why it’s fun: It feels like a foregone conclusion that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will have a big game. Brady, who has been comparatively more erratic this season, will need to match Mahomes’ sharpness to ensure the most competitive game possible. This is a way to bet on him doing so. Antonio Brown receiving yards: Under 53.5 at -110 ■ Why it’s a good bet: This would be a fair price if Brown was 100% healthy, but he’s not. He missed the NFC Championship Game with a meniscus injury, and he’s unlikely to be back at full strength for the Super Bowl. Brown will likely play but in a limited capacity. ■ Why it’s fun: No self-respecting Raiders’ fan can possibly want to see the former All-Pro receiver succeed on the sport’s biggest stage. Brown’s tenure with the Raiders was controversial and disastrous, leading to his release before ever playing a game with the franchise during 2019’s training camp.
(AP/Photo Illustration)
Darrel Williams rushing yards: Under 32.5 at -110 ■ Why it’s a good bet: With Clyde Edwards-Helaire and Le’Veon Bell also getting snaps, the Chiefs’ running back situation is a quagmire. All three will split carries, and there might not be many to go around in the first place. Kansas City has rarely run the ball against strong rushing defenses this season, and Tampa Bay rates No. 1 against the run in the league by Football Outsiders’ DVOA ratings. ■ Why it’s fun: Another pro-Raiders angle, the surest path to victory for this prop would be if the Chiefs were running out the clock with a large lead in the fourth quarter. No fan of the silver and black wants to stomach the archrival Chiefs becoming the first back-to-back Super Bowl winners in 16 years.
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(NHLI via Getty Images)
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PLAYER OF THE WEEKLY: MAX PACIORETTY The Golden Knights played just one game last week due to COVID-19 postponements, making No. 67 an easy choice. He had a hat trick against the Blues—including the game-tying goal tally in the third period—and leads the Golden Knights this season with six goals.
Report THIS WEEK’S VOTE 1. Max Pacioretty 2. Mark Stone 3. Alex Tuch 4. Shea Theodore 5. Alex Martinez As voted by Las Vegas Weekly’s panel, based on games played January 25-31. SEASON STANDINGS 1. Mark Stone (12 points) 2. Max Pacioretty (9 points) 3. Marc-André Fleury/Shea Theodore (7 points) 5. Alex Tuch (4 points) 5 points for 1st place in a week, 4 for 2nd, 3 for 3rd, 2 for 4th, 1 for 5th. UPDATE: The Golden Knights had a most unusual week. An unnamed coach tested positive for COVID-19 before Vegas played January 26 against St. Louis, forcing the staff into quarantine. GM Kelly McCrimmon and the Henderson Silver Knights’ coaches were pressed into duty for the game, a 5-4 shootout loss. That would be the Knights’ final game for more than a week. The NHL postponed their next three games, with three coaches and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo placed into the league’s virus protocol. The Knights are back in action now, returning to practice Wednesday and expected to play February 5 against the Kings. The status of Pietrangelo and the coaches was unknown at press time. –Justin Emerson UPCOMING GAMES February 5 vs. Los Angeles Kings, 7 p.m. February 7 vs. Los Angeles Kings, noon February 9 vs. Anaheim Ducks, 7 p.m. Games air on AT&T SportsNet & 98.9-FM/1340-AM unless otherwise noted. STANLEY CUP ODDS: 6-TO-1 at Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook
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UNLV offers intense cybersecurity education, for those who can hack it
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BY BRYAN HORWATH he faces on the video call represented different races, genders and generations. Many of the three dozen participants on the call January 26 looked to be in their 20s, with others likely encroaching middle age. Regardless of age and background, all were there for an introductory three-and-a-half-hour virtual class on cybersecurity, the first installment in a 40-hour course on the subject that’s part of a new noncredit cybersecurity “boot camp” offered through UNLV’s Continuing Education department. The introductory portion costs $500. The full 400-hour training program, which lasts 10 months and requires passage of the initial course, runs about $15,000. Al Alvaran, 42, who earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UNLV about two decades ago, has worked for Genesis Gaming for the past decade. Genesis is a Texas-based company with an office in Las Vegas. Alvaran helps design tables for casino gambling games and has a baseline digital skill set—including a background in graphic design and programming— for the cybersecurity program. He’s not dissatisfied with his job, but he said he’s intrigued by the potential doors cybersecurity training could open. If nothing else, he said, he will gain some knowledge. He was one of the participants who paid $500 for the introductory course. “This is the way things are going, whether it’s something like this or coding,” Alvaran said. “Cybersecurity is really important today. You see news about all these hacking incidents. What I’ve heard is that there are a lot of openings in that line of work.” From UNLV’s end, the program is meant to help decrease what the university calls a “growing digital skills gap” in Southern Nevada. It also comes at a
time when the state’s unemployment rate is hovering around 9%, still high but much lower than when the figure spiked to an all-time peak of 30.1% in April due to the coronavirus pandemic. There’s long been a push by some community leaders in Southern Nevada to further diversify the region’s tourism-centric economy. Those voices have been louder during the pandemic. “As our community recognizes the need to diversify our economy, we also recognize there’s a digital skills gap in our talent pool, which makes it difficult to attract new businesses,” said Heidi Erpelding-Welch, director of program development at UNLV. “UNLV Continuing Education is working to contribute to solutions that will prepare our workforce for new rewarding careers that are going to
continue to grow in demand. In turn, we hope it will continue to fill those skills gaps.” A person with cybersecurity training could work in-house at a company to help monitor information systems for hacks and security vulnerabilities, or as a contracted specialist to monitor anything from the systems that govern an airplane to the websites of some of the most recognizable brands in the world. “You see breaches in the news all the time,” Alvaran said. “It could be from foreign hackers or anywhere. There was a story about Southwest Gas being hacked recently. Just think, if our power grid were to be hacked, what would we do?” To prevent those types of issues, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is calling for a lot more cybersecurity-trained professionals in the coming years. The growth rate for information security analyst positions during the next decade is expected to be nearly eight times that of the average growth rate for all other occupations, according to the bureau. Cybersecurity training could also lead to other positions in the tech realm, which continues to grow at a rapid rate. In its recently released list of the top 50 jobs in America for 2021, Glassdoor, a company review website, listed 22 tech-related careers. And Cyber Seek, a cybersecurity information website supported by the U.S. Department of Commerce, shows that Nevada has more than 2,700 openings for cybersecurity-related jobs. Alvaran said he plans to take the full course. The next introductory cohort for the program is scheduled to begin in March, according to Erpelding-Welch. “You don’t want to be stagnant these days,” Alvaran said. “Education is important, though I wish it wasn’t so expensive. In today’s world, you have to keep up and keep your brain going.”
Al Alvaran is a student of UNLV’s new cybersecurity boot camp. (Christopher DeVargas/Staff)
2.4.21
VegasInc Notes Vegas PBS welcomed Mary Mazur as the station’s new president and general manager. Mazur, an award-winning television executive with more than 30 years of experience in commercial and public Mazur media, most recently served as the general manager of Arizona PBS. The Neon Museum announced Uri Vaknin as chairman of its board of trustees. Vaknin takes over for outgoing board chairman Mike PeQueen. Other newly elected executives on the museum’s board include Stevi Wara as vice-chair and Curt Carlson as secretary; Carlson previously served as vice-chair. Michael Cunningham, the board’s treasurer since 2018, remains installed in that position. Las Vegas Sands was recognized by global environmental nonprofit CDP on its Climate and Water A Lists. This marks the sixth consecutive year the company has appeared on the Climate
A List, and the third straight on the Water A List. Being named to the Climate A List highlights the company’s work toward cutting emissions, mitigating climate risks and building Integrated Resorts responsibly, while the Water A List designation recognizes accomplishments in promoting water efficiency and conservation. Rick Barron of Signature Homes was appointed as the 2021 Southern Nevada Home Builders Association board president and Stephenie Heagerty of Boral Roofing was named board president of HomeAid Southern Nevada, the association’s charitable arm. Other 2021 appointments for the association include: Brian Kunec of KB Home as vice president; Nicole Bloom of Richmond American Homes as second vice president; Rebecca Merrihew of Red Rock Insulation as associate vice president; Brian Gordon of Applied Analysis as treasurer; and Darren Wilson of Sierra Air Conditioning as secretary. Other 2021 appointments for HomeAid include: Tyson Clayton of Desert Lumber Companies as vice
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president; Kyle Tibbitts of Shea Homes as treasurer; and Kendal Lay of Pacific Sunbelt Mortgage as secretary. Jenny Li joined Sun Commercial Real Estate as vice president with emphasis on investment sales and leasing. Li began her commercial real estate career in 2011 focusing on real estate acquisition, distressed Li real estate investment, landlord representation, leasing, operations management, commercial loan applications, contract negotiations and market research & analysis. Karim Chatoor also joined Sun Chatoor Commercial. Chatoor previously served as an intern and subsequently accepted a position with the Investment Services Group. He will assist the team with potential investment opportunities, marketing presentations and conducting market research while seeking new opportunities for clients. The statewide Nevada Realtors honored its top members at a virtual awards event, naming industry leader Chris Bishop as its Nevada Realtor of the Year. Others recognized include Vandana Bhalla, Realtor Active in Politics Award for government affairs
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advocacy; Molly Hamrick, Realtor Achievement Award for outstanding service to local and state associations; Bob Hamrick, Nolan/Reiss Award recognizing spirit, passion and professionalism; John Graham, Nevada Distinguished Realtor Award; Kirsten Childers, Inspiring New Leader of Tomorrow Award; and Stephanie Grant and Marissa Lostra, Outstanding Leadership Alumni Award. MountainView Hospital was awarded an A in the fall 2020 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing MountainView’s achievements protecting patients from harm and providTaylor ing safe health care. This is the fifth consecutive A the hospital has received from the Leapfrog Group. MountainView also announced that Julie Taylor, RN, MBA, MSN, FACHE, will lead the hospital as its new CEO. Taylor is a 35-year health care veteran and nursing leader with more than 20 years in executive leadership roles. Naylor & Braster Attorneys at Law was recognized in the 2021 edition of U.S. News - Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms,” receiving a Tier 1 ranking for commercial litigation and a Tier 3 ranking in appellate law practice. It’s the sixth consecutive year the firm has received the distinction.
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