What’s happening in Atlantic City
By AC Mike Lopez
The week began on Sunday in a meeting with the AC Blackjacks, our newest sports professional franchise. Player personnel director Brandon Lang along with Head Coach Ron James sat down with us to talk all things community involvement. We put the X’s and O’s down on paper as we planned the attack on Atlantic City.
The first play call was taking Lang and James to the local establishments including Wonder Bar, Vagabond, and several other locations to shake hands with the patrons and business owners alike. We showed them where to get a great meal and helped facilitate relationships with local business owners. Brian Miranda of Wonder Bar and Elvis Cadavid of Vagabond were especially hospitiable to our guests.
The game plan continued on Friday when the Atlantic City Blackjack’s coaching staff joined Dan Klein & I on location at Longport Media WOND studios in Linwood to talk football and AC. From there, it was off to cheer on the ACBJ’s dance team, the Atlantic City Diamonds at the dance finals hosted at Hard Rock Casino.
We weren’t finished yet though. We ended up on Saturday at an open player tryout. Over 120 participants showed up at Virtua Total Turf Experience in Pitman, NJ vying for an opportunity to be offered a contract with the Blackjacks. The participants were greeted by Arena Football League Chairman, Philadelphia Eagle Hall of Famer, #7 Ron Jaworski aka “Jaws,” The Polish Rifle, CEO George Manias and “The Man” 2x AFL Coach of The Year, Head Coach Ron James. The special guests spoke about their experience in playing professional football and the importance of “leaving it all on the field.”
Throughout the week there were several other exciting events worth noting. On Monday, a productive Miss NJ executive board meeting was had in Vorhees to discuss the new home at Resorts Hotel and Casino. The event will take place June 12-15, 2019. Tickets can be purchased at ticketmaster.com
On Tuesday, local surfing legend and AC Surf School owner, Tom Forkin and I met with Ocean’s Director of Entertainment to discuss the World Surfing League and the possibility of bringing the best professional surfers to our beaches in October with USA Surf Organization.
On Thursday, I spoke with the Blackjack’s at Kelsey’s Supper Club as we enjoyed southern soul cuisine and listened to the smooth R&B sounds of Viktor Allen and The Muzik.
Over the weekend, I found my Halloween Costume at the NJ Horror Con Horror and Film Festival, which took place at Showboat Friday through Sunday.
The Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival was an exciting event with over 30,000 beer and music vendors at The AC Convention Center. Saturday night we attended Mariah Carey’s legendary performance at Hard Rock Casino and Hotel.
Where else would we end a fun filled week other than the world famous Tony’s Baltimore Grill.
Things to Come this week:
4/5-7 Classic Metal Car Show, Showboat
4/5 Flashback Fridays with I AM King, Michael Jackson Tribute band, at Golden Nugget.
You can catch me at FB page “Mike Lopez,” FB page “ACMike,” www.acmikenj.com and on 1400AM or 92.5FM WOND Live and Local Radio 2-4pm.
Til’ next week #ACMike.
Mike Lopez is an executive board member of the Miss New Jersey Education Foundation and the Gilda’s Club of South Jersey. He also currently works for the Camden Diocese Parish Of St Monica of Atlantic City . In addition to catching him in person somewhere on the 48 blocks of Atlantic City you can go to Facebook as Mike Lopez or ACMike.
