post mortem anger in vegas.

Here's another account about the All-Star Weekend in Vegas, courtesy of the LA Times Vegas Blog:

Vegas Anger At All-Star Crowd

...Frontline workers on the Strip are not minimum wage workers but highly compensated professionals offering a mix of obsequiousness and hard work that is meant to give every tourist the VIP experience. So, Vegas workers will put up with a lot from tourists without complaining. Casino workers rarely confront troublesome customers rather they try to soothe things over. The sad truth is that the more obnoxious tourists can often bully their way into comps and other treats meant to keep everyone happy.

But the over-the-top "thug" behavior of the All-Star NBA crowd has left in its wake a boiling fury among cocktail waitresses, bartenders, security and other jaded pros of the Strip. Among the nightclubs where incidents seem to have taken place on the Strip are hot spots at Wynn, Mandalay Bay and freestanding Empire Ballroom. Off Strip, the topless bars proved a center for problems, too. Read more.

I've been to Vegas several times. Yeah, it's a fairly permissive city; the last bastion of all your great social addictions. But for all its catering to our favorite vices and Seven Deadly Sins, it's a fairly peaceful town. There's the occasional arrest on the Strip, but you never hear of shootings, brawls or other acts of violence.

I spoke to a friend of mine who's a dealer at The Palms who told me it was awful that weekend because of either thug behavior or rumored thug behavior.

Memo to David Stern: Your beloved league is beginning to lose fans and respect in droves. Here's the sad truth, Mr. Stern. You have only yourself to blame for this mess. By over-selling your league to the hip hop youth, you've created a monster. Lest we forget thug culture is celebrated by the hip hop community. And as long as it was making you money, you turned a blind eye to the reality that your fan base was getting turned off. See, Mr. Stern, thug culture is a lot like redneck culture. The difference is southerners do their best to distance themselves from redneck culture. They make fun of it. They laugh at it. They keep a safe distance from it. They don't celebrate it. In other words, you need to distance the league from thug culture or continue to watch the NBA die in a hail of bullets.