The Amazon Room is a bizarre looking place today. Since noon, one corner of the room has been brightly lit with action at just three – then two, and now one – tables. Even in that corner, everything else has been removed, including the lights. In the adjacent corner, far from the action, is Press Row, also brightly lit. That’s where I’ve been working from, though there really isn’t anything to see, do, hear, or report upon from this vantage point. The other two quadrants of the room have been empty and dark. Tables, gone. Lights, gone. I left the room when they went from 19 players to 18. Not only did they disburse the players from the third table to the other three, but the table itself vanished.
It’s just after 10 PM and there are just ten players left. The screams, cheers, and exhortations, which earlier today sounded like distant echoes, now have the cadence of carpet bombing. Press row is still the worst place from which to view the action, but, wow, is there ever action!
Continue reading »