Diary from the BTI Classic in Las Vegas: Ashley Gayle
Dec. 17, 2010
Hey Longhorn fans! Greetings from my hometown of Las Vegas! It’s great to be back in the city that I have called home my entire life and to have the chance to show my teammates some of my favorite places. My family is also very grateful to have the chance to see the Longhorns play three games here at UNLV in the BTI Classic over the weekend. We traveled from Austin to Las Vegas Thursday afternoon. From the plane windows, many of my teammates had their first glimpse of the famous Vegas strip. Once our luggage was collected, we took the charter bus to New York, New York, the hotel we are calling ‘home’ during the tournament. They hotel offers plenty for us to see and do, and from the outside it looks like the Manhattan skyline! Last night, the team saw ‘Ka,’ a Cirque du Soleil show at the MGM Grand. The show was visually stunning because there wasn’t a traditional stage. Instead, several moving platforms and lifts seemed to float through a big, empty space where the stage should have been. The platform seemed to turn from a boat to a beach to a rainforest during different acts of the show. The performers could climb all over the platforms when it was as various angles, too. The storyline of the show is that of twins who are separated at a young age and undergo different struggles in life before reuniting at a later point in their lives. We had a leisurely breakfast on Friday morning before we began to prepare for practice. When we’re traveling, we usually meet in a hotel conference room and view scout video of our upcoming opponents. After our ‘scout,’ we had our first practice at the Thomas & Mack Center on the UNLV campus which is just a few miles from our hotel. The arena is large like the Frank Erwin Center and also has a circular feel to it. Playing at places like this always remind us that we have the greatest fans back in Austin and it makes us appreciate our home games even more!
That’s a quick recap of our past 32 hours. We’re looking forward to a team dinner tonight at Wolfgang Puck’s before getting a good night’s rest and waking up fresh Saturday morning to play SMU in our first game. Happy Holidays and Hook’em! Ashley Gayle #22 |
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