Back when I covered the Padres, my brother visited in the midst of spring training, and this is how it came to pass that a couple of Vermonters from a town of 400 people rolled down The Strip in Las Vegas, where San Diego was to play a couple of exhibition games.
“This place is great!” he said, amazed by the lights. “I know I’m coming back here again.”
Fast-forward two hours. My brother’s gambling money was gone, having been drained by a particularly unlucky slot machine. “This place [stinks],” he said. “I’m never doing that again.