Fall is my favorite season, especially earlier on, and this year is no exception. Living here in Southern Nevada, the weather this time of year is absolutely perfect; it reminds me of Summers in Seattle. The brutal heat of the Summer is gone, and so are the monsoons of August. It’s sunny and about 90 degrees every day with no wind, so we’re outside enjoying the weather a lot more than we normally would be during the Summer, swimming excluded.
One way that we’ve been out enjoying the weather lately is by going to the softball field. Ava recently joined a new team through a private softball league and is playing in their Fall Ball season. She last played in the Spring of 2022 for a team through the city of Henderson, and we tried to do the same thing again this year, but there weren’t enough girls signed up so the season was canceled.
This new league she’s playing for is a lot more serious and the quality of play is much higher. She was a bit intimidated at first because most of these girls are more experienced than her and have been playing together for years, but she’s been getting so much better after the past few weeks. I’ve been practicing with her at home, plus she has never missed a team practice, and we meet with the team every Sunday morning at the batting cage.
In addition to getting better as a player, she’s also learning a lot about being a good teammate. At first, she would sit quietly on the bench but now she’s up there cheering for her teammates and participating in all their funny team chants. We’re really glad to see her involved in a team sport again and it’s fun going to the ballpark to watch her play.
Another cool thing that Ava has recently taken on is that she has become a member of her Middle School band. She is playing the cornet trumpet and is really enjoying it! It’s not uncommon for her to stay after school to get extra music practice in. Obviously, I’m thrilled to see any of the kids taking on an instrument and I can already see the joy it’s giving her. Just like softball, we’ve seen a noticeable improvement in just a few short weeks.
To cap it off, this week she brought home her first progress report and it was mostly all A’s and B’s. The transition from elementary school to middle school is tough for a lot of kids, so Jessica and I are very proud of how she’s been doing.
Elise Having A Great Final Year of Elementary School
Speaking of progress reports, Elise just brought hers home and it was all A’s with one B. Once again, Jessica and I were so proud. It hasn’t been the easiest start of the year for her but she’s been putting in the work and it shows. Regarding activities, we took a break from boxing for the Summer but Elise has been asking to get back into it, so this weekend will be her first class. We’re glad to see her doing something that she enjoys so much, and that gives her confidence. I’ll tell you what – Elise is not to be messed with. She’s fast, strong, and can throw a solid punch. I pity the fool that crosses her someday.
Elise has made some great friends at school over the past couple of years and now she frequently finds herself getting invited to do all kinds of cool things. A few weeks ago her friend invited her to come to the Ed Sheeran concert at Allegiant Stadium. They made it all the way to the front door before finding out that the show had to be postponed due to an accident while setting things up. They were bummed but took it well; the show will now take place on October 28th so they will be going then. She still got to go out to a nice dinner that night with her friend’s family.
More recently, this past weekend Elise was invited by another friend to go to the iHeart Radio festival at Mandalay Bay. Her friend’s dad is a marketing executive for MGM so they brought a group of girls to the show. She got all kinds of cool swag, including an M&M bucket hat, and then saw artists like The Foo Fighters, Kelly Clarkson, Fall Out Boy, 30 Seconds to Mars, and others.
Jessica and I didn’t want Ava and Enzo to be jealous so we took them out for an epic night while Elise was away, which included an hour at an arcade, dinner at a conveyor sushi restaurant, and a viewing of Sphere Las Vegas the weekend before it’s grand opening with U2. It was an awesome night but Enzo was clearly partied out by the time we got home.
Another really fun thing Elise recently took part in was her school’s 5th-grade camping trip to the Pali Institute. Ava had a blast doing the same thing last year and this year was no exception for Elise. Going on a 5th-grade camping trip is like a right of passage and we were so happy to hear about the great time she had. She got to participate in all kinds of cool activities and spent lots of quality time with her friends.
Enzo Crushing 3rd Grade
Like his sisters, Enzo is off to a great year at school. I haven’t seen a progress report for him so far but he’s doing really well in every subject. He’s just like me in the sense that he comes home each day and does his homework immediately. He takes his work seriously and never misses a beat. He’s excited to be getting back into boxing this weekend with Elise, and like Elise, he has made some great friends at school.
Enzo has definitely found himself in the middle of a great group of friends and I think it’s fair to say he is one of the more popular kids in his grade. Jessica recently took him over to his buddy Charlie’s house for a play date, then came home and told me about how beautiful this kid’s neighborhood is. Apparently, he lives on a golf course and one of his newest neighbors is Raiders quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. I’ve been telling Jessica that our kids clearly have good taste when it comes to making friends and that it might not be long before we’re riding their coattails.
A Change of Plans for Jessica
Jessica spent the whole Summer training for her upcoming Mt Whitney hike but unfortunately, it’s not going to happen. A few weeks ago she went on a big hike with one of her friends as a training exercise but the weather and conditions turned out unexpectedly bad. Out of respect for her privacy, I don’t want to go into too much detail, but the short story is that she was injured during the hike and the injury is preventing her from going on the Mt Whitney trip.
I don’t want to alarm anyone because she’s going to be totally fine, but a hike like that is no joke and she simply won’t be able to do it at the scheduled time. It was really tough for her to accept and she was gutted by it, but there’s no question she made the right decision to cancel. Although we can’t replace that experience for her, we’re working on setting up some super cool things to do that weekend to help make up for it in some way.
Vegas Showbiz Update
I can’t believe how much Vegas Showbiz has started taking off over the past few weeks. It all started off with me reaching out to various performers to see if I could interview them for the Vegas Showbiz YouTube channel. Through one of those requests I got hooked up with Authentic Public Relations and now all kinds of things are popping up. They were impressed by my interview with Adam London, one of their performers, and have since invited Jessica and me to see the show Marriage Can Be Murder and then interview their performers. They have also invited us to the grand opening of Tape Face’s new show at MGM Grand, which includes a meet and greet afterward.
Additionally, another public relations company called KorePR found me online and asked if I’d be interested in interviewing a comedian named Byron Kennedy regarding his upcoming headlining slot at the Laugh After Dark comedy festival and the debut of his first comedy special “NashVegas.” Obviously, I said yes and the whole thing went really well.
I’m having so much fun doing these interviews, mostly because I feel like I can talk to anyone about practically anything. I guess I’m just channeling my inner bartender from a previous life, and I feel confident that it’s going to continue growing from here.
Cappers Update
I feel like Cappers is right behind Vegas Showbiz in terms of starting to take off. One reason for this is that, as Devin and I put it, we’re finally fulfilling our AI promise. The URL for the Cappers website is https://cappers.ai, which implies that we are using artificial intelligence to handicap sporting events, but that wasn’t actually the case until about a week ago. Certainly, we have always been building databases of sports data and using that data in various sports betting formulas and systems to produce betting recommendations, but until now, there was no actual artificial intelligence going on behind the scenes.
That’s all in the past though, as we are now using ChatGPT, the most popular and widely used form of AI in the world, to evaluate games and make betting recommendations. We’re still calculating results from all the systems and providing all the data that we always have, but the ChatGPT results are a huge value add.
At a high level, here’s how it works. You can think of ChatGPT as an invisible robot that you can ask questions to. While you could simply ask the bot something like “Who’s going to win tonight’s game between the Lions and the Packers,” you probably wouldn’t get a very intelligent response because you’re not giving it information to use in its decision-making process. I’m sure it will get there someday, but for now, you have to construct a very detailed question, known as a prompt, in order to get an intelligent response.
A big part of the work I’ve been doing for the past year is writing little computer programs known as Azure Functions that run regularly on timers to get all the latest data from every sport we support and save that data into our database. Once you have all that data, you can use it any way you like. We use it in all those betting system formulas, and we use it to construct the ChatGPT prompts. The prompts we send to the GPT bot are long (about 300 words) and contain all kinds of important information about how each team is performing, point spreads, betting odds, injuries, weather conditions, etc. It takes a lot of code and logic to produce these prompts, but the result that you get back from the bot is really impressive.
I’m not going to lie and say that the recommendations from the bot are always 100% correct because clearly, nothing can ever predict the future with total accuracy, but the responses so far have been looking great. What you get is a response that is very well thought out, takes all the important factors into consideration, and makes an intelligent recommendation. Even if you decide not to make the bets recommended by the bot, it’s still really useful information that you should be aware of and take into account. Plus, more often than not, the bot gets it right. Here’s an example of it’s response about last Sunday’s Steelers vs Raiders game, which was totally accurate across the board.
If that’s too small to read in the image, here’s what it says:
Analysis
The Steelers and Raiders both have a 1-1 record this season, but the Steelers are coming off a win while the Raiders are coming off a loss. The Steelers have been scoring more points on average this season (16.5) compared to the Raiders (13.5). However, the Raiders had a higher average score last season (23.2) compared to the Steelers (18.1). Both teams are averaging 2 turnovers per game this season. The Steelers have 1 offensive injury and the Raiders have 2 defensive injuries, which could potentially impact the Raiders’ ability to stop the Steelers’ offense.
Point Spread Bet
Given the Steelers’ recent win and the Raiders’ defensive injuries, I would bet on the Steelers +2.5 points. This means that even if the Steelers lose by 2 points, the bet would still win.
Money Line Bet
I would be on the Steelers’ money line at +124. This means that for every $100 bet, the payout would be $124 if the Steelers win.
Over-Under Pick
The Over/Under is set at 43 points. Given the average points scored by both teams this season (16.5 for the Steelers and 13.5 for Raiders), I would pick the Under at -110 odds. This means that if the total combined score of both teams is less than 43, the bet would win.
Summary of Picks
Point Spread: Steelers +2.5 Money Line: Steelers +124 Over/Under: Under 43
Final Thoughts
While both teams have had a mixed start to the season, the Steelers seem to have the edge due to their recent win and the Raiders’ defensive injuries. However, as with any sports betting, there are no guarantees and outcomes can be unpredictable. It’s important to bet responsibly.
As you can see, this is an extremely well-thought-out response and had you wagered $100 on each of those three recommendations, you would have gotten your $300 back plus a profit of $282. Considering the fact that we’re offering a two-week free trial of the Cappers Application, then only charging $19 per month (for now), Devin and I feel that it’s an incredible value. People pay hundreds of dollars for tout services to tell them who to bet on. We’re not a tout service but instead believe in giving our customers intelligent recommendations and using them to make more informed betting decisions of their own.
If you’re reading this and know anyone who may be interested in a Cappers free trial, please reach out to me and I will give you a code to extend that free trial to one month. I firmly believe that it’s just a matter of getting the word out there and this thing is going to explode. We’ve put a TON of work into it and I’m so proud of what has been created. While we’re currently only offering AI betting recommendations for NFL games, I’m already working on it for the upcoming NHL season and will do the same thing for NBA games. It won’t be long before every game has an AI recommendation to go along with all the other system results.
That’s about it for now. As I say every month, we’re extremely busy, but busy is good and it beats the alternative. Jessica and I couldn’t be more proud of the kids and everything they have going on. If you’re thinking about making a trip to Vegas, please let us know.
