Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

While Sideline Sid and Mrs Sids' trip to the US of A is winding down with the last few days in Hawaii, the old fellow had time on the plane to Honolulu, to reflect on his impressions of sport in the States.

The sporting pages of the major daily newspapers are totally dominated by the baseball season, which is headed for the playoffs - and the start of the NFL (National Football League) that kicks off in a couple of weeks' time.

The pre-season NFL games are full flight and are grabbing plenty of headlines. Golf and the start of the US Open tennis also receive coverage albeit in the middle pages of the sports' section.
The Americas Cup, which is a headline grabber in our country, fly's completely under the radar in the States. The only coverage we saw , being a couple of paragraphs in the San Francisco daily, previewing the Louis Vuitton Cup final between New Zealand's Black Boat and Luna Rosa, plus a small piece on the Luna Rosa trouncing of Artemis.
However, last weekend NBC (Television) Sport did show delayed coverage of the Black Boat loss in race two of the LV final.

It was Sideline Sid's luck to see Kiwi boat forced to withdraw from the preliminary title fight when the boat's hydraulics seized. Outside of San Fran, where there is a little knowledge of the great boat race, elsewhere nobody knows or cares about the race for one of the oldest sporting trophies in the world. The only way that we have kept up with the LV results is courtesy of the internet when we managed to grab some Wi Fi coverage.
Maybe when cup holder Oracle enters the fray in the Cup final, there will be some recognition of the event that will grip New Zealand, when (if) Emirates Team New Zealand goes into head to head battle with the American boat.
Back in the States, the attention grabbers in the sports pages have been the on-going drug scandal in baseball and the start of the NFL season. While College football kicked off at the start of August they too have had their share of controversy.

Last season's MVP trophy winner is being investigated for receiving money for signing autographs.
In a real contradiction, where American football players receive salaries measured in the millions, College football is a strictly amateur game. However, while the College players are strictly forbidden to receive payment of any kind, what awaits them is the pathway to the riches of pro-football.
We're not talking a few autographs, but many hundreds of signings for a professional dealer who stands to make a lot of money.

All the scandals have plenty of reference to lawyers and law courts. It seems that another favourite American sporting pastime is watching the battles fought out in the nation's courtrooms.
A few days in Las Vegas, showed that the city in the Nevada desert is not only the slot machine capital of the world, but sports gambling is also a huge industry. Big Sports books at every hotel on the strip, entice punters with floor to ceiling huge screens that show the odds of all the myriad of baseball and football games that are played out each day.

Included on the giant floor to ceiling coverage is a multitude of television screens that show all the live games in action along with up to six or eight race meetings on the go at any one time.
Right now the main attraction in town is the Mayweather fight at the MGM Grand in a couple of weeks' time.

Boxing fans from throughout the country will flock to Vegas to take in the super fight. Fat wallets will be needed by most punters, as not only will they pay big buck to get a ticket to the fight, but most will leave plenty behind on the town's gambling tables and in the slot machines.

I have been reading a book that suggests the only way to make money in gambling in Vegas is to own a casino. What a town, you sure don't go there for a quite vacation. Wall to wall people, all either partying hard or chasing the elusive dollar at the casinos - or in most cases both. The shows are simply amassing, with our highlight catching Celine Dion at Caesars Palace, even if it did cost us a small mortgage.

While the strip is just a few miles long traversing the leisure capital of the universe is no easy feat. Fighting against the tide of people takes its toll and it can take an age to go just a couple of blocks to the next attraction.
It is all about BLING with a multitude of hucksters trying to take your money. They all want to be your friend and have got the best deal in town for you. There is everything on offer from tours and half price food and drinks to loose women for sale.

The biggest battles for us babe in the woods Kiwi travellers in the bling capital of the world, was to separate a good deal from the smart talk. However, we seemed to survive the fire of battle without to many ripoffs.
We are now looking forward to the normality of life again in the best country in the world, with the Western Bay rep rugby teams Stan Meads match at the Tauranga Domain on Saturday, high on Sideline Sid's agenda.

See you at the Game again.