Working hard, while hardly working is tempting

LAS VEGAS -- The plane touched down as the passengers peeked out the windows, all pointing to this sign or that building, all anxious to hit the tables or the slots or the bar, and perhaps all three by noon.

That's the way folks think when they arrive at the world's best adult playground.

Wally Judge, bound for Kansas State, will be in Las Vegas. (Provided to CBSSports.com)

Even if they're tired, they're almost always excited and devising plans.

And that's why this is a helluva place to try to work.

But make no mistake, I am here to work. Even as I found myself constantly trying to convince friends of this before I departed for my trip to Las Vegas to cover the three summer basketball tournaments that annually turn Sin City into, well, it's still Sin City, I guess.

That's not changing. But there are a lot of basketball players playing basketball games here this week, and that's the point I tried to stress when I ended up in conversations that typically went like this:

Friend: So what do you have coming up, Gary?
Me: Vegas.
Friend: Really, for a bachelor party or something?
Me: No, I'm working. It's for work.
Friend: You're working in Vegas?
Me: Yeah.
Friend: Hahahahahahahahahaha!

That happened four times last week, only difference being the variances in length and pitch of the laugh. Nobody believes it's actually work, and that's bothersome, because this stuff is hard to do. If you don't believe me I'd like to see you try to play cards until 5 a.m. and then make it to Rancho High for the Adidas Super 64 tip-off at 8:30 a.m.

Not. Easy.

But that's basically the requirement for coaches (and writers) this week as long days of watching basketball are followed by long nights of watching double-downs or all-ins or come bets, depending on your game of choice. Like I said, it's not easy. But it is necessary (in the spirit of networking), which is why July 22 is circled on every basketball calendar in the country.

For those unfamiliar, July 22 marks the opening of three major tournaments that bring pretty much every relevant high school prospect to Las Vegas each year, as well as the college coaches positioning themselves to sign them. Consequently, that date is cemented in my head along with other notable dates like Christmas (Dec. 25), my son's birthday (Feb. 19), Halloween (Oct. 31) and Cinco de Mayo (May 5).

(What can I say? I love white cheese dip!)

Anyway, back to July 22.