Who went 18-0 and then lost it all in the Super Bowl? That’s an easy one. Who went 0-18 in the Super Bowl? You’re about to find out in the latest installment of Chris Carr’s Vegas Wonderland. Take it away, good sir:

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Part 3: NYC west
Nobody does loud and happy better than a New Yorker. Say what you want about those folks but when they gather together and catch a horseshoe between the cheeks, it’s a beautiful thing. Grown men dancing on casino bar tables. A retiree standing atop a barstool. Hilariously gross exaggerations of accomplishment (”gahraatest teeem of awwll times!”). I’m sure Super Bowl weekend in Vegas is always a blast but it’s a safe bet that it’s extra special when the New Yorkers get to be the ones partying.

I don’t know anybody stupid enough to bet on the Patriots — ahem, [redacted], cough, cough — but those who did take the favorites were sure quiet come 7 p.m mountain time. There were plenty of broken hearts here. The most painful sight: A Red Sox hat-wearing gentleman sitting alone in the Chinese restaurant we hit up sometime around 11 p.m. He had a terrifyingly blank look on his face and only a lonely half-consumed bowl of soup in front of him. Somebody didn’t even save enough for the chicken pad thai.

Thirty minutes to kickoff: The sportsbook here was electric. Advice on the game was easier to come by than the now-elusive free drinks. The crowd was jacked. ”Let’s go Pats!” ”Geeeee-men!” One lady hollering: ”E-li! E-li!” (I briefly considered adding a ”Vin-san-te Shian-coe!” to the mix but held off). If your team ever gets to the big game, I’d highly recommend it. And there were plenty of sweet spots to watch the game — huge projection screens and normal-sized plasmas were everywhere. The Giants-to-win-outright  moneyline bet was definitely the most popular bet in Mandalay Bay’s 80-yard-long sportsbook line before kickoff. One guy ahead of me: $500 on the moneyline and $300 with the points. I saw him about an hour after the confetti flew and in typical NYC fashion he bellowed ”Yo! I told ya so! Giants by three - I totally called it bro. You shoulda listened to me!” Great stuff. Although when you ignore the guy in front of you and he ends up calling the exact margin of victory you kind of feel like a kid who failed the exam even though he had seen the answer key.
My NYC taunter was one of the real winners. By the time Plaxico scored everyone around us somehow added money to their original bet. ”I got about a grand on the Geeee-men” a man declared behind us. Pretty sure he said $100 three hours earlier.

For all the winners — the big ones and the fish-story guys — it didn’t always look good.  When Randy Moss scored late in the fourth quarter he turned Las Vegas into the saddest town on Earth. It was clear then that the Patriots were not going to cover and that upset about half of the sprawling Mandalay Bay crowd. And there was no way goofy Eli Manning was going to lead a last-minute drive for the win. That left another 30 or 40 percent here — a guess, obviously — really bummed that their Giants moneyline bet paying 3.4 times your amount was going to be close but no cigar. That left only a relatively quiet group of bettors — the Giants-and-the-points people — happy. But Eli’s magic would rescue that loud group of Giants backers and light the fire on one heck of a Super Bowl celebration across town.

Your blogging Vegas vacationer: a truly remarkable 0-for-18 on SBXLII bets. Honestly. I’d like to know the odds on that. You could close your eyes and pick random numbers and do better than that. Thankfully almost all were fun $5 prop bets. Among the lowlights: Randy Moss to score the last TD. Brandon Jacobs to score the first. Brady will throw an INT. Laurence Maroney will run for 83 yards. Wes Welker will score. Patriots will win by 12. And about a dozen more. Good bets I thought and nice odds on most of ‘em. But none of it happened. I’m laughing about it, so it’s OK that you are too. I saved enough (barely!) for the chicken pad thai.

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