November first. Day of the Dead in Mexico, death day at Stardust Las Vegas Resort & Casino.

This is the day some observe All Souls’ Day, others, Día de los Muertos. In Las Vegas, it is the day Stardust sees its dreariest, gloomiest Halloween: the calendar date when the casino hotel, after operating for close to 60 years, is scheduled to stop taking all reservations, carrying on with prior commitments until imploded early next year. Stardust is ghost-like from here; it’s the beginning of the end.

Was that name doomed from the start? What games of chance will be lost to us, now that owner Boyd Gaming is gambling away this Las Vegas institution in favor of a new $4 billion megaresort befitting the Strip?

Bustling and spread out across the ground floor, Stardust Casino is no doubt the highest-traffic area at the hotel. Other than convention spaces bringing equally steady business, the gaming spaces teem with the most customers. People saunter nonstop on the red carpet, and you wonder how, within 85,000 sqft; the new Echelon Place replacing Stardust will offer a 140,000 sqft casino.

A thing of note about Stardust Casino is, many say, its gamblers look more Downtown than Strip. As far back as I can remember, the most I see here are over-45 geezers…

From the words of the six-time NBA World Champions Chicago Bulls, ‘’It’s game time!’’

This Tuesday, that can’t ever be more true. The NBA Basketball season starts this Halloween and the Chicago Bulls, although not the same team that dominated the NBA in the 90s, will be facing the present day NBA Basketball champions, the Miami Heat. This will most definitely be good.

The Chicago Bulls visit the Miami Heat on a night when Dwyane Wade, Shaquille O’Neal and the rest of the Miami boys receive their NBA Basketball Championship rings. (BOO!)

Dwyane Wade will have goosebumps Tuesday night. He’ll watch the retrospective video highlighting moments from the Miami Heat’s postseason run to an NBA title, then get his glimmering new championship ring and see the commemorative banner finally sway from the arena’s rafters.

Then, according to the time schedule set for the pregame festivities, Wade will have exactly five minutes to get ready what he considers the night’s primary event facing the Chicago Bulls in the first of 82 regular season games where they will…

Tom Brady showed why he is the best QB in NFL Football today.

Well, leading the New England Patriots pass the Minnesota Vikings on NFL Monday Night Football, 31-7, will do just that. However, dropping four touchdowns on the Vikings’ candy asses is just overkill. C’mon Mr. Brady, show a little compassion! He he…

For Tom Brady, who had his favorite wide receivers taken away from him this season, he couldn’t care less. The New England Patriots quarterback showed why he won all them Super Bowl rings by connecting with FOUR no-name wide receivers to destroy anything the Minnesota Vikings came up with.

Oh yeah, ‘’Mr. Monday Night'’ did it inside the Metrodome too. How heartless is that? He he…

‘’The plan was to come out and put the ball in the air a little bit,'’ Tom Brady said, grinning. ‘’The receivers made a lot of great plays, and it was a lot of fun, needless to say.'’ Already leading 17-7 in the second half, Tom Brady didn’t show mercy as he scored two more TDs amidst the moans and groans of the Metrodome faithful.

The New England Patriots more than doubled…

Well, I don’t know how much these Stanley Cup rings will go in the market but apparently, someone’s selling them.

Yep, apparently, Darren McCarty of the Calgary Flames is willing to sell his three Stanley Cup rings he won playing NHL Hockey. Quite sad ain’t it? Well, you gotta’ give the guy a break. He NEEDS the money being bankrupt and all.

Darren McCarty filed for bankruptcy after his role with his NHL Hockey team diminished. And yeah, as we all know in the world of sports, once your role starts to decrease, so too will your income.

McCarty will sell three rings he won with the Detroit Red Wings along with two replica Stanley Cup trophies, jerseys, photos and other items, including a Corvette and nine televisions.

Darren McCarty listed assets of $1.9 million and debts of $6.2 million in his bankruptcy filing. McCarty listed debts to banks, credit card companies, friends, utilities, law firms and at least $185,000 to casinos in Detroit and Las Vegas. At the time, McCarty said…

Yep, the once struggling Oakland Raiders are now a clone of the Super Bowl champions.

After the Oakland Raiders beat the defending Super Bowl champions, Pittsburgh Steelers, both NFL Football teams now stand at an identical 2-5 record. That’s good for the Raiders’ Silver and Black faithful. Bad for the Steelers’ Terrible Towels movement.

After losing the first five games of the NFL Football season, the Oakland Raiders won back-to-back games to put them back up standing on their own two feet again. And yeah, I guess these guys are now starting to think about a possible wild card berth, at least.

Oakland Raiders defensive leader, Warren Sapp, however, wants his guys to keep their focus. ‘’We’re not going to go around and stroke our egos or anything like that,’’ Sapp said.

‘’We’re still 2-5. We have a long way to go to get ourselves to .500,’’ added the Raiders defensive tackle.

As for the struggling Pittsburgh Steelers, a 2-5 stand at this point of the season is not…

Five more days and the 2006 Breeders Cup betting is about to reach a boiling point.

Everyone’s agog now checking Breeders Cup horse contenders odds, turning to handicappers for tips and picks, and I’ll bet you you’ll have to go through a large haystack to find a yet unsold ticket for the event on Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Racing experts are eager to see if top BC Classic entry Bernardini can live up to all the hype. Why All HorseRacing just gave him a 1-1 odds to win. Can you believe that? Skeptics are rolling their eyes and still would rather put their money on the longshots.

I’d also like to play devil’s advocate on this one. What are the odds that 2005 Kentucky Derby champ Giacomo will pull a victory at the $5 million race? What, you’re laughing now aren’t you?

I kinda like the guy, I mean horse. He was a longshot at last year’s KY Derby but he won. And the BC will be at The Downs, an all too familiar track for him. I don’t believe he’s a fluke either. He was able to place 3rd at that year’s Preakness. And this year he had a strong win at the San Diego Handicap at Delmar.

He did however finished 5th in the Pacific Classic. Yes, he’s not…

The New England Patriots are virtually invincible indoors.

Yep, that’s the kind of thing the Minnesota Vikings will be facing on NFL Monday Night Football. And adding to that pressure, the Vikings will be playing an NFL Monday Night Football game for the first time after five long years.

Jeez… The stacks are definitely against the Vikes on this one eh? The Metrodome has long been a big boost for the Minnesota Vikings, giving them one of the most intimidating home field advantage in NFL Football with all them Vikings fans hollering at the top of their lungs, destroying the opposing team’s morale, if any.

But come Monday Night Football, the environment will be a whole lot different. Well, a 5-1 New England Patriots contingent will definitely do that, especially if they have a rocket of an arm like Tom Brady.

Well, in spite of all these forces going for their beloved Minnesota Vikings, the Metrodome fans are still excited about Monday night. After all, five years sure is a damn looong time.

‘’I think the fans are a little more awake at 7:30 on a Monday night than they are at noon on a Sunday,’’ said Jim Kleinsasser, one of two Vikings still on the team the last time the Metrodome hosted a Monday night game in 2001.

‘’There’s a lot of overall excitement downtown way before the game even starts. Those fans get revved up and come into the dome, it’s going to be tough for other teams to…'’

Um… NO.

Here’s why. I know I’ve been saying this a lot, especially last NBA Basketball season, being the Miami Heat hater that I am, but THIS time, you got to admit I may have a point.

First, let me get this one out, the Miami Heat got lucky in last season’s NBA Playoffs. They faced off with the Detroit Pistons somewhat broken from their nip and tuck NBA Playoffs series with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

If the Heat faced the Pistons the Milwaukee Bucks got in the first round, then it will definitely be a different story. And yeah, Richard Hamilton got hurt in the first round of that playoffs war before Rasheed Wallace got hurt in the second so Miami was lucky enough to face a team with two players not playing at a hundred percent.

Second, this Miami Heat team is just too old to repeat. Shaquille O’Neal’s minutes have been dropping like the next Story of the Year album sales and it’s only a matter of time before father time gets the best of the Man of Steel.

Third, Dwyane Wade got the benefit of the referee’s calls in the NBA Finals. You can bet your ass that NBA Officials will be keeping that in mind once the…

After coming to the game as +3 underdogs, the Indianapolis Colts edged the Denver Broncos, 34-31.

Yep, the Indianapolis Colts made sure that any doubts about their dominance over the NFL Football field will finally be put to rest. Colts Peyton Manning and Colts wideout Reggie Wayne did just that by connecting for three solid touchdowns.

Yep, both these guys were in their game Sunday. The Denver Broncos never had a chance. Peyton Manning, proving why he is paid all THAT money in Indianapolis, passed for 345 yards and three touchdowns, ALL to Reggie Wayne. The awesome Indianapolis QB made 32 of 39 passes, making the overly publicized Broncos defense look like idiots.

Well, in all fairness to the Denver Broncos, they DID managed to get their struggling offense going. Broncos QB, Jake ‘’the Snake'’ Plummer, scored with one rushing touchdown and one pass touchdown to Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker.

All that was good if it wasn’t for that…

The Chicago Bears should forget about interpreting Cedric Benson’s body language.

On Wednesday at Halas Hall, Benson’s words portrayed a running back as frustrated as he is confused about his role with the Chicago Bears.

Asked about the promise of increased playing time offensive coordinator Ron Turner delivered on the team’s weekly radio show Monday night on WBBM-AM 780, Benson revealed how far out of the loop he feels. Either that or he needs to get an AM radio.

‘’If they are planning on it, I wish they could tell me so I could prepare instead of like hoping I can catch the hint,'’ Cedric Benson said. ‘’I wish they’d be a little more upfront and more businesslike about the situation. I hope they’re not planning on doing something and not telling me.'’

Turner later took responsibility for the failure to inform Benson of the Bears’ plan to insert him later in games. But Turner’s valiant effort to protect his player came too late to undo the additional damage Benson had inflicted on his reputation as a moody malcontent.

Before taking a swipe at the coaching staff’s lack of communication during Wednesday’s open locker room, Benson had complained about the difficulties of finding a rhythm with no clear-cut rotation behind starter Thomas Jones.

‘’It’s hard to get into one when you’re in for a…