… as in the Las Vegas Advisor weekly poll. Tomorrow’s promises to be a real doozy. The question is, What was the worst show in recent Strip and Downtown history? The dog kennel hasn’t been completely filled but I can share with you some of the nicknames our hard-working research department has coined for some of the great stinkers of Sin City: Pammy and the Klok … Steve Wyrick, Master of the Anticlimax … Melinda “Oh shit, what’s the car still doing here?” Saxe (aka Melinda, Worst Lady of Magic) … Triumph: It Ran out of Steam … Wayne Newton: Once Before I Die … Scarlett the Booby Magic Psycho … Michael Jackson The Immoral World Tour … Striptease The Show (not to be confused with Striptease The Laxative) … and here but already half-forgotten, Smurf The Musical.
Hot girl-on-girl action at the Olympics? Maybe I’ve been too quick to write off synchronized swimming as the Snooki of Olympic sports.
CEO Andy Choy‘s makeover of the Riviera may be slowed by skepticism in the bond market but it keeps moving ahead. My Desert Companion profile of the Strip dowager 
Our favorite welfare queen, Xpress West (née Desert Xpress) isn’t letting its plans be constrained by anything so mundane as reality. 
“There is no human problem which could not be solved if people simply do as I advise.” — Gore Vidal (1925-2012), novelist, historian, polemicist and provocateur par excellence.
No, not in some phony-baloney Chamber of Commerce way. I mean, there could be some good wagering to be had on behalf of Nevada were its sports books were to petition for the right (which is theirs, in principle, according to Anthony Curtis) to take wagers on the presidential election. S&G reader Greg Askins, who regularly challenges my preconceptions — a healthy exercise, which I recommend — was passing along some recent polling data.
“I remember staying up late many Saturday nights to watch Porky’s, Meatballs and Revenge of the Nerds on HBO. And like any, red-blooded, prepubescent male, I always thought there was way too much story between the shower scenes. This is my chance to fix that.” — Troy Heard, writer, co-lyricist and director of 
If you drove past Treasure Island this morning and saw a veritable armada of emergency vehicles jammed into an access road and spilling out on Spring Mountain Road, the good news is that things are under control. The bad news is that 
Sorry, PR folks, but how many decades has it been since a Carrot Top sighting was news? In other breaking events, the sun rose this morning. And, if my eyes don’t deceive me, there’s been some serious attrition in the Tropicana Las Vegas‘ 
Where others in Las Vegas hold back, Michael Gaughan plunges boldly forward. Using its iView platform, Bally Technologies has been holding virtual horse races, streamed across the slot floors of various tribal casinos. Pechanga Resort & Casino in California and Barona Valley Ranch Resort & Casino have been quick out of the chute, as has mammoth Mohegan Sun Casino. (As usual, tribal casinos continue to outpace industrial ones in their deployment of new technology.) So far the only private-sector adoptee has been 
It looks like the new owner of Fitzgeralds/The D is a little hard up for cash. Rather than donate the Fitzgeralds marquee to the Neon Museum, he’s liquidating the big display on eBay — and for a mere $25,000. At 10 feet tall and 30 feet long (complete with transformers) it should make a nice addition to the back yard of your house and I’m sorry it won’t annoy the neighbors one little bit, although your electric might spike just a titch. Just call “Dave” at 702-332-5566 and tell ’em S&G sent you. Or maybe you can still find it at Medusa’s Antiques, in one of the ritzier precincts of Downtown Vegas.
“The minor was in contact with the four drink servers, at least two dealers, a floor supervisor and at least 10 other Harrah’s employees, none of whom asked for identification, the complaint says.” — from a Las Vegas Sun story about Caesars Entertainment getting totally busted for allowing underage drinking and gambling at four of its Strip properties (Caesars Palace, The Rio, Harrah’s Las Vegas and Flamingo Las Vegas) and being 
suggested, that’s a relative compliment indeed. Like musical 
Insurgo Theater Movement‘s residency at the Plaza Las Vegas ended not with a bang but a Facebook whimper five hours ago: “Greetings mes braves! Insurgo is no longer producing at The Plaza. We want to thank them for a great run and wonderful hospitality! If you’re looking for live theatre, check out The Onyx [Theatre], Las Vegas Little Theatre, Sirc Michaels Productions, Cockroach Theatre, and Atlas Theatre. It’s been a pleasure to perform for you.” (The inclusion of Atlas is odd; it hasn’t produced in over a year.)
It was bound to happen: Not one, not two, but four douchebags trying to get tables at The Mirage‘s 
Just when it seemed hope was lost … The D is reintroducing Sigma Derby to Downtown. In one fell swoop of utter brilliance, owner Derek Stevens has staked a prohibitive claim to Gaming Executive of the Year. To be completely honest, slot machines bore me. But I’ve never seen an electronic game — anywhere! — that generated as much social interaction and value for the dollar as Sigma Derby. That must be why most casinos hate it so and MGM Grand kinda, sorta tolerates it. Players, however, love it madly and an LVA staffer tells me it’s one of the top “Question of the Day” queries of all time. The Sigma Derby machine is holding a meet-and-greet for local media this afternoon. Normally, I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Stevens has put Sigma Derby in The D’s upper-floor “Vintage Casino,” home to coin-in slots and handle-pull Wheel of Fortune. It’s not a new Sigma Derby machine, mind you, but one “that has been refurbished to its original glory, including the signature canopy.” Your move, MGM. Perhaps it’s time to bring back Luxor‘s camel-race game.