will try to make this short n sweet but may be hard to do. All of u bashers may start now on my spelling and lack of paragraphs, i dont really care. After driving 830 miles with 160 to go at 11pm monday thought it would be no problem getting there in time to watch the end of shane & efren, boy was i wrong. Ice and snow with terrible drivers had us arrive at 730 am (yes over 8 hours to go 160 miles), we were a day early and the hotel had no rooms. Met some friends at breakfast who let us shower & freshen up. Checked back at hotel desk and the had a room for us at original rate 105.00, got checked in, unloaded, and got alittle rest. Hit a few balls and got signed up for 9-ball. Now i went to dcc knowing that unless i was very, very, lucky or got a great draw i would be a first round looser so my expectations on winning were slim. Sure enough i drew a very well known road player and was very nervous about it. After playing one of the best sets i had ever played i lost 7-5 but i did have a chance 2 win, i jawed the 8 first game and scratched on the 9 in the second to start off 2 down. After hearing many stories about my opponent (sharking,temper, bad attitude, etc.) all i can say is he was a perfect gentleman and was a pleasure to play. No rebuy for me, knew i was outclassed from the get go and only played to get a pass. Now i have heard many say that this venue sucked because of prices, rooms, layout etc., I didnt think it was bad at all. I wound up spending about 100.00 a day including room, where i really went wrong was not bringing a carton of smokes they were 8.50 a pack at the hotel. We brought snacks and a couple of cases of pop. The security in the tourny room didnt have a problem all week with me bringing my 20oz. Dew in with me. Not only did i get to watch and meet some of the greatest pool players in the world i got to meet some of the regulars on AZ. I was alittle suprised with the pro players actions at times, it was really no different than our local tourny with people *****ing, argueing,sharking, just at a higher level of play.Now it helped and made it more exciting that our hometown boy SVB won, but even if not it was a great time. How do u put a price on getting to meet and see the best in the world.Got 2 see some of the best pool in the world, got 2 play alittle, sweat some small$$$ action in TAR pit (thats a whole story in itself), meet some of my heroes in the pool world. Will i go again, YES did i have a good time, No i had a GREAT time, was it expensive NOT FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT VALUE, was it better than the EW, dont know but i do know that i wont miss The Derby for a long time
