Wake Up Call

Does anyone ever sleep in Vegas? Gamblers at the black jack tables from dusk till dawn, clubs full at noon and midnight, flights coming in at 6am and leaving at 1am. One could argue that the new ownership of the Las Vegas Lizards weren't ready for the Vegas lifestyle in their inaugural season in the EHBA, but they've turned some heads in the past few weeks and now find themselves in the drivers seat of one of the final two playoffs spots. How many red bulls are they going to have to drink to keep it up?

By: Max Powers/Reno Weekly Rag

The Crazy Horses. 2006 Champions. The Doggs. 2004 and 2006 Champions. The Lizards. Well, let's not get carried away just yet. This is just to prove a point. The Lizards have been going under the radar, not only in the EHBA, but in the city of Las Vegas itself. The team was aware of their place in the city from the beginning.

"When we started the season it was in the middle of the Crazy Horse's season. They were defending champs and we were a first year franchise. Of course we're going to be overlooked. We expected it. We were ok with it...at first," then back up point guard Mike Conley told the EHssociated Press back in December. Conley wasn't the only one that assumed the worst.

"We knew we were going to have to impress the fans of this city right off the bat and it was going to be tough. We put together a pretty good team in the draft and I thought that with the players we had we could do great things in this city. Needless to say, it was a tough start," head coach Charles Barkley stated in a recent interview with EHSPN.

A tough start it was. The Lizards lost the season, and home opener to the Deathpiggys of Montreal 7-2. They then moved into Fitch Foo Fighters' territory and slightly redeemed themselves, winning 6-3 on the road, only to come back home the following week and lose 6-2 and 7-2 in back to back home games.

"It was embarrassing. I remember seeing fans leave toward the end of the week 3 game against Colorado. And I don't mean just a few fans here and there, I mean the entire stadium. The janitors were sweeping the aisles before the final buzzer. I swear I heard one of them ask us to leave so they could start mopping up. That hurt," Pau Gasol told me in a recent phone interview.

The Stardust University Crazy Horses made a big trade during that game, sending away their franchise quarterback and star running back for a new look offense. This didn't help the Lizards one bit.

"The media spent a whole month analyzing that trade. I don't think anyone even realized we [the Lizards] existed anymore for that time period," said Barkley.

The Lizards went 4-5 in the following 9 weeks. In that time they played 7 home games, not one of which had a live fan base of more than 20% the stadium's capacity.

In week 14, the Lizards started a 5 week road trip. Beginning in Peoria and moving onto Colorado, Tijuana, Rakeville, and Minnesota. No one was looking forward to the trip, especially after losing at home to the Foo Fighters the week prior.

"There's not too much to do in any of those places. We're kinda spoiled by the city we play in I guess, but no one on the team skis so Colorado will just be cold, especially this time of year, we're all too afraid to go out in Tijuana to be honest, Rakeville has a couple historic sports stadiums and museums I guess, but after that we'll just spend all our free time in the Mall of America before heading home. It's not too enticing of a road trip to say the least," remarked injured center Greg Oden in an interview back on January 27th.

Perhaps it was the normal schedule the kept rather than their normal Vegas schedule. Maybe it was the lack of entertainment on the road. Just maybe it was the fact that the players and coaches were sick of losing every other game. Whatever it was, something sparked the Lizards on that road trip. They finished up that 5 game trip away from home 5-0, outscoring their opponents on their own floors 29-14.

It didn't stop there. Once they finally returned home they were greeted by a full stadium of fans for their match up against the highly seeded Boston Danawolves. The Lizards' players were energized by the crowd, by their coaches, and by themselves. They went on to dominate the Danawolves 9-0, posting the first perfect game in EHBA history. On their home court no less. In front of a full house. Simply amazing.

The Lizards continued their winning streak in week 20, beating the Dublin Brawlers at home 5-3. This win put them in the drivers seat for one of the last two playoffs spots in the EHBA. With just one week left, the Lizards are more in control than all season.

The Lizards' staff has been hard at work the last two week doing everything they can to keep this team running strong. They've brought in nine new players and three new trainers in the past two weeks, hoping to keep that fire burning through the end of the regular season and hopefully into the playoffs. All they have to do is hold off the Tokyo Vegans in Vegas and the Lizards are in the playoffs. A script couldn't be written better that what is happening to this team. Once ruled out of playoff contention, the Lizards now hold the keys to their own destiny.



Max Powers is a writer for the Reno Weekly Rag. He enjoys jalapeño poppers, but hates jalapenoes. Go figure.