So I realize this post is incredibly late but... well, no one reads it anyhow so fuck off.

The Pacquiao vs. Marquez fight was epic - or so I've been told. I was drunkety-drunk drunk drunk. Not terribly but enough to not really care about the actual fight.

I got tot work around noon, pretty normal for me on fight day. I don't need to be there any earlier unless some idiot sponsor is hounding me, in which case I don't actually come in, I have my Savior Dave Westbrook handle it! But on this day, Dave was bored out of his gourd. He may not like days like this but I LOVE them!

So I get in around noon-ish (which anyone who knows me really means 1.00p-ish. I'm usually pretty prompt but when it comes to coming into work unless I'm picking up the boss-man Dan Quinn for lunch, my + and - is 60 minutes.

Nothing exciting going on but there's a different kind of spring in my step today. Big time fight days are always fun for me. The entire week. It's where I came from. It's full of the ridiculous characters that make up my professional past. Love (and despise) them!

So the day goes on like any other fight day. Anthem rehearsals, HBO tech check, NVAC pow wow. But today for  me, personally, is a little more special. Tequila-guy is supposed to show up. Now let me preface this by saying, I get tickets for lots of people. Tickets for shows that have been sold out for months, tickets that no one can get, but I have them. So I have 4 top price tics for Tequila-guy. Let me be clear: he NEVER asked me for them. I offered them up. I offered them up about 3 days prior. So come Saturday around 6.00p-ish I don't hear from him so I shoot him a text. "Not to be a nag but are you coming tonight? If not I need to unload these 4 tics." He responds something like he's sorry but he's got food poisoning. Whatever. So you're either puking or shitting. Still you can take 60 sec to send me a goddamn text to let me know you won't be needing the $5,000 in tics that I'm holding for you. Asshole. But I digress.

So I get doors open at 3.00p. It's not that I'm a control freak and have the need to do this on time; more so I want to relax and hang with the Brain Trust (Trubes, DQ & Zippy). Around 6ish Big Rod comes over. His birthday is only a couple days away so I'm especially attentive. He finally parks in his special spot I always hold for him next to the building (which much to my dismay he doesn't do for me @ Mandalay!) and we head to Fiamma.

We get to Fiamma and 

11.07.11 Pacquiao vs. Marquez Arrivals @ MGM Grand - Las Vegas, NV

Team Marquez Arrives

And so it begins. Fight week at the MGM Grand. Pacquiao vs. Marquez. Here we go...

Today we had the first of 2 arrivals. Juan Manuel Marquez arrived almost on time (around 12.10ish) in the signature Top Rank wrapped bus with the fight art and Marquez's name plastered around it 360 degrees. 

Great public turnout

As I've mentioned in posts past, the arrivals aren't really a true "arrival." Most times the fighter has already been on site for a day or 2 or isn't even staying at the MGM. (Pacquiao for example loves our sister property, Mandalay Bay so he stays there when he fights in Vegas.) The arrivals are a media event staged for the press & the public to hype the fight. Normally we do both main event fighters in one day but for whatever reason the promoter wanted to split the days: Marquez arriving today, Pacquiao arriving tomorrow. Not a big deal; just a pain in the ass operationally because what we normally do in one day we have to do twice. But such is the life of working under other people's direction. 

Mariachis!

I was surprised at the public turnout for Marquez actually. For a Monday we prob had a couple hundred people lined up around the barricade in the lobby of the MGM Grand. Looked great. Nelson Valdez had his Mariachi band set up like clockwork. Those guys are very fun, playful. Hard workers too. Until I came to Vegas & worked the fight game I never knew how in demand mariachi bands were. Who knew? Then again I am from the Twin Cities where our version of Mexican is Taco Bell. (Ok that was harsh but you get the point.)

Nacho Beristain doing an interview

The whole thing didn't take very long, maybe 35 minutes? Marquez did his interviews in the ring with various media outlets. Nacho Beristain, Marquez's trainer did his thing too. He looked more bored than anything. I don't think this kind of hoopla is up his alley. 

Bob Arum, the Bob-Father

Then there's the Bob-Father, Bob Arum. Not sure who coined that but it's an awesome nickname. Who knows, he may hate it but if you've read anything about Bob, it's pretty accurate. He's the master of promotion. I don't know Bob personally and although I'm sure he recognizes me as someone who works for the Grand Garden he doesn't know me from Adam. But I've been around this game long enough to know he's one of the smartest men around. Manipulative? Sure but I think that's a skill, a gift. I often consider myself to be pretty good at manipulation too. Certainly not even close to his level but I do ok. In my eyes manipulation is just another way of saying you're good at persuasion, or as my new twitter pal Chris Saldana calls it "Signs of a leader!" 

Lobby of MGM for Marquez arrival

All in all a pretty uneventful event. Next up Manny Pacquiao's arrival. Tomorrow. Same time, same bat channel only there will prob be a couple hundred more people there hoping to get an autograph, a photo or a simple glimpse of the Congressman. Hope to see some of you there too!

Time To Say Goodbye

While The Year of Botti is technically over (no more Botti concerts on the horizon) a couple people have reminded me (thanks @jerkstore23) that Botti isn't the only topic I've covered on my blog. So I'm gonna try and go back to writing about my take on the the shows at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. I'm sure I'll do the occasional rant about my idiotic love life (after all I am still me) but I'll try and keep it to a minimum. 

Up next we have Pacquiao vs. Marquez III. "Grand" arrivals being tomorrow with Juan Manuel Marquez live in the lobby of the MGM Grand @ noon. Pacquiao makes his entrance Tuesday @ noon. Presser is on Wednesday @ noon but only open to credentialed media. The weigh in is Friday with doors @ 1.00p; fighters hit the scale around 3.00p. Pacquiao & Marquez weigh ins will be live on ESPN. I think the hit is at 3.15p-ish so if you can't make it to the Grand Garden tune into ESPN. We're also playing it live in the sportsbook. The fight is Saturday night. Doors to the arena are at 3.00p. Undercard fights start around 3.05p-ish. We go live on HBO PPV at 6.00p. There are 3 PPV undercard fights before the main event. 

The Year of Botti was a blast and a great experiment but as with everything it too has ended. Thanks for the great adventure CB. But for now it's Time To Say Goodbye.