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Betting on March Madness: Vegas Secrets to Bracketology

Whalehead

Buckle up, sports bettors—save for Super Bowl Sunday, there’s no better time to hit Las Vegas sports books than the annual National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament, which starts with a play-in game on March 16.

This ritual, known as March Madness, plays out over the course of three weeks every spring, and pits the 65 best teams in the country against each other for a shot at the national title.

The 2010 national championship game is April 5, but the best part of the tournament is the first full weekend—March 18-21. Sports fans like this weekend because 48 of the tournament’s 64 games take place over four days, providing virtually non-stop tailgate-like excitement in

The Westin Casuarina Has Weekends for $99 a Night (and Change)

juliana

In our never-ending quest to find cheap rooms on the weekends in Vegas, we've come across a new low rate at the Westin Casuarina Hotel, Casino and Spa located across from Bally's on Flamingo.

What we like about the hotel is that all of the guest rooms are non-smoking and the casino is far less hectic than any of the other Strip casinos. We actually spent an entire night playing blackjack here because we liked our quiet but full table and our dealer/philosophy teacher. (Don't worry, we got wasted as well.)

We're also digging the hotel's excellent weekend rate of $99 a night.

'Garden of the Gods' Package Includes Pool Credit and Sunscreen But No Gossy Gear

juliana

Only four more days until Caesars Palace Garden of the Gods opens for the Summer 2010 season. For those of you who have been GTL-ing like good boys and girls you should take advantage of the hotel's special Garden of the Gods pool package which includes a three-day, two-night stay along with a $25 pool credit (for food, drinks, merch and cabana rentals) and a pool bag stocked with a towel, a water bottle, sunscreen, lip balm and our fave, a Caesars Palace visor. Goss fans will have to find their own ways to incorporate Matt Goss poolside.*

The package says room rates start at $110 a night but as

Do Not Attempt The Bellagio's Spring Display On A Hangover

juliab

Walking through the Bellagio this weekend we were stunned to see the new display in the conservatory. We thought the Chinese New Year display was awesome but this one – where do we start? The oversized trowel? The giant daffodils? The supersized ant?

There are apparently some 100 year old potted olive trees in there, but we can’t begin to see for all the muck. And though we appreciate that all the green stuff is probably going to flower into something cool, but even then, we predict that we’ll be too taken aback by the giant purple toadstools to appreciate it. Come come guys – let’s have some delicacy in the next

Matt Goss Has Landed At Caesars Palace

juliab

As you’ll see from the photo gallery, we like to call this “The Start of the Orgy”

It’s all over! Matt Goss has launched at Caesars, and now that our ~~stalking~~ waiting is over, we’re not quite sure what to do with ourselves. Treat this review as step one in our Weaning Yourself Off Goss twelve step program.

(First, though, we’d like to remind you that on Thursday, we told you that we had a feeling that the luscious Mel B (swoon) would be joining the G-man on stage but the boring Leona Lewis wouldn’t. We were right on both counts. Just sayin’.)

See our videos of the night here