He's one of my best friends in the world and he became a guy you folks got to know as well. The camaraderie of our folks at the live drafts appealed to Dennis right away and he joined me each year as much for the friendships that he made as for the sun and fun of staying in Las Vegas. Heck, he was there with me at the Stardust, the Flamingo and now the Bellagio. He was even at the Boardwalk Casino with me in March of 2002 when I hosted the FSTA Trade Conference. Now the Boardwalk Casino is leveled to make room for Center City and the Stardust is no more as well.
Dennis has worked for me every football season since about 2007 and he worked baseball as well until two years ago. He now vacations with my sister in Florida for three months and March is tough for him to get away, but I know many of you still remember him from the baseball drafts.
Dennis came home to Wisconsin last Tuesday after his long vacation and wasn't feeling too well. He thought it was stress from the fact that his older brother is sick, so he let it go. But on Thursday when he started feeling numbness in his left arm my sister threw him in the car and took him to the Emergency Room. They discovered that he had 90 percent blockage of an artery and they installed a stint there to alleviate the problem. He is back at home and doing better, knowing that the end result could have been a lot worse.
We all feel so fortunate that this was discovered in time and that he's back on his feet. As most of you know, Dennis is healthy and fit. Heck, every day in Las Vegas he walks from the Bellagio to the Stratosphere and back. He's 66 but doesn't look like it at all. I told him it's a good thing this didn't happen in Las Vegas because if I had to give him mouth-to-mouth out there we'd have a lot of explaining to do!!
But what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.Denny is doing better and he wanted to keep this quiet, but I think there's a lot of lessons for all of us here. NEVER take a single day for granted. NEVER stop telling someone how much you love them. And NEVER try to toughen out the signs of a heart attack; go in immediately.
I'll shoot all good thoughts to him from everyone here and if you want to reach him directly just email me at [email protected] and I'll shoot you his contact info. I think it would pick him up to know that we're all thinking and praying for him and that he does have a second family here. He knows there are many more days ahead to hang with all of you in Las Vegas, so that's the good news. And every day we all have together is a good day.
So good news on Dennis Miller -- not the comedian -- and I'm not kidding about that. Thanks all and God Bless good health.
