Mr. America Part 2 — Charlie Hannema checks in from the Miss America pageant (again)

Miss Nebraska Brittany Jeffers

Mr. America Charlie Hannema?

Vegas must be a good place to be. Why? Charlie Hannema (Mr. America) sent in his Las Vegas/Miss America diary from Thursday late Friday night.

In case you missed it, KOLR 10/KSFX 27 weekend sports anchor and TagSGF.com friend Charlie Hannema is currently in Las Vegas for the Miss America pageant. Why? His girlfriend is Brittany Jeffers, local TV reporter by day and Miss Nebraska by, well, all the time.

Jeffers has been in Vegas for a while now, but Hannema flew in Wednesday and delivered on his promise to keep us privy to his Miss America experience, thanks to some priceless connections and credentials.

He’s chosen to use a running diary via his Blackberry to tell his story. Keep in mind, he’s using Pacific Standard Time to keep things consistent and I’m still firmly behind the movement to refer to Hannema as Mr. America from here until the end of time, even if Jeffers doesn’t win.

If you missed Charlie’s diary from Day 1, click here.

In case you were wondering, the Miss America pageant airs at 7 p.m. Saturday on TLC. For now, here’s the diary:

Remember when the whole Tonya Harding-Jeff Gilloly-Nancy Kerrigan thing? Charlie is wondering if that's going to happen at this year's Miss America pageant

8:30 AM: Planet Hollywood breakfast buffet.  Interesting to see all the pageant moms and friends decked out in gear for each state.  I feel like we’re just minutes away from sort of Jeff Gillooly, but everyone gets along.

9:30 AM: Trip sidekick/wingman Tyler Profilet arrives.  Tyler aka Curtis aka Prof is a news reporter for a station in Cape Girardeau. We’re college buddies, he’s good people.

9:35 AM: Welcome Profilet to Vegas with celebratory beverage.  Toast to Miss Nebraska winning the whole thing.

9:40 AM: Head down to Miracle Mile at Planet Hollywood to look for supplies.

9:52 AM: These people sure are good at making things hard to find.  Still wandering around looking for ABC.  (Grocery type store)

10:30 AM: On to cab to head for golf.  Profilet calls boss to run his mouth about how we are playing golf and avoiding a Snownami.

11:00 AM: Check in at Angel Park Golf Course.  If you come to Vegas, play it.  Twice.

11:28 AM: On to first tee.  I drive 270 down the middle…

11:31 AM: Shot No. 2 of the day flares to the right, off some rocks and back in to play.  Sort of.  Another chip and 3 putts later, and we escape with double bogey.

While we deal with the fallout from the snow, Charlie and Tyler are here. Grossly unfair.

11:58 PM: Tee off on No. 5, a 369-yard par 4.  And by tee off, I mean hook a ball into the street.

11:59 PM: Tee off again.  Into the street again.  Sounds about right.

12:18 PM: Tyler and I both hit solid drives.  Comedy ensues.

CH: Did you hear they are opening a new Vegas Walmart Supercenter?
TP: No, where?
CH: Somewhere between my ball and your ball, should be plenty of room.
(Ba-dom-ching. It’s Vegas, give me a break!)

12:35 PM: After whining for three holes, Tyler finds a bathroom while we are on the par 3 No. 6.  I hit my tee shot near the green, so I walk up there and wait.

12:38 PM: Realize Tyler appears to be on the wrong hole.  That’s what happens when you hit the ball so far left.   After almost hitting a shot towards the back nine, he comes to his senses.

Lady Gaga as a golf caddy? Might have well been on Thursday.

1:08 PM: Call KOMU-TV in Columbia’s legend, Jim Riek. Tyler and I take turns taunting Jim about the impending Missouri Snownami, and how we are in the 60s and sun.

2:00 PM: Start pumping the jams via BlackBerry and iheartradio app.  You haven’t golfed until you’ve hit one 280 while jamming to Lady GaGa’s “Poker Face.”

3:10 PM: After multiple balls in canyons, roads, and lakes, we have left our mark on Angel Park.  Back to the strip.

3:24 PM: After hearing we’re going to Planet Hollywood, cab driver asks if we have “met any of the starlets from Miss America.”  You could say that.

4:45 PM: Post-golf nap.  Does it get much better?

6:00 PM: Start getting dressed for the final night of prelims.  Entertain the posse of Huskers in our room overlooking Bellagio fountains.

7:30 PM:  Down to the theater.  The Nebraska crowd has grown considerably.  Maybe they will make a Brittany statue right next to Suh’s.

8:00 PM: And we’re underway.  Nebraska’s group does talent tonight, but Brittany is in the second half.  Side commentary ensues.

8:12 PM: I realize that I am providing some pretty intense pageant analysis.  The Miss Nebraska directors are right in front of me, and can hear all of it (I find out later).  More on that coming up.

This is Miss Oregon, C.C. Porter, your preliminary swimsuit competition winner. No, Charlie did not shoot this photo.

8:38 PM: Texting begins with Brittany’s college friends that are four rows behind me.  What did people do before texting?  Pay attention to stuff?   Yikes.

8:50 PM: On to swimsuits.  I have no horse in this race, so I can be neutral.  I pick Oregon, my friend Tyler goes with Washington. (Sorry, no live pictures.)

9:02 PM: Back to the talent group.  Nebraska is getting close.  At this point I might be just as nervous (or more) than she is.  I think its because I have no idea how to A) dance well or B) judge a pageant.   She could do really amazing or struggle, and I could be way off.

9:09 PM: Brittany’s introduced.  Waving the signs with the Big Red N.  (Still painful, but getting easier for a Mizzou grad)

9:11 PM: Nebraska knocks it out of the park.  She dances to a song from the Legally Blonde musical, “So Much Better.”  Her dance just like her.  Full of energy, fast paced, and left them smiling.  Crowd loves it.  Horribly-biased-wannabe-pageant-expert-boyfriend crowd really loves it.

9:45 PM: Evening gown.  At this point, I’m in a blur.  Nebraska has already rocked it out of the park.  I am providing some pretty strong dress critiques though.  Its amazing that some of these states will pay thousands of dollars for gowns that look terrible.  If you’re going to have the sparkly look, that’s great.  Do it for the whole dress, not just half.  That’s like wearing a Hugo Boss suit jacket with jorts.

Miss Michigan Nicole Blaszczyk won for doing some type of gymnastics that Charlie doesn't remember.

10:15 PM: Prelim winners are announced, Oregon wins swimsuit.  I called it.  I’m not sayin’, I’m just sayin’. Michigan wins talent, and I can’t even remember what it was.

11:25 PM: Head for Venetian to meet up with the group at Tao.  They tell me to text this guy when I got there and he’d come let us in.

11:45 PM: Guy that lets me in turns out to be like 40 years old.  Not that there’s anything wrong with being 40, but when you’re prowling for barely out of college girls?  Come on.

1:00 AM: Sick of Tao, honestly not all that impressed.  Put me in Icon in Springfield any day.

1:25 AM: After weaving through Venetian, we end up in some underground back hallway and are stopped by security.  We were just following exit signs.  Oops?  On we go.

1:45 AM: We sit down for some late-night black jack.  Terrible idea.  People at the table say the dealer has been crushing them.  We thing we can shake it up.  Terrible idea.

Was it really Nancy Pelosi playing late-night blackjack with Charlie and Tyler? Tyler thought so.

1:55 AM: I have 18, while dealer with no personality Liu Yang has 6 showing.  Perfect.  She flips over a 3, hits a 10.  Ouch.  It got to the point where you didn’t even feel safe with 20.

2:25 AM: Tyler has made a comeback and is up some money.  He refers to a hippie type woman from California as “Nancy Pelosi.” To her face. She doesn’t approve.  Here we go.

2:35 AM: Tyler is still in to this conversation with a pack of cougars.  As a good friend, I try and get him to leave.  He says no.  So as a good friend, I leave.

2:52 AM: Las Vegas McDonald’s.  The dollar menu tastes great after getting your wallet destroyed.

3:08 AM: After multiple accidental jaywalks, jumping over fences and more.  Finish the walk back to Planet Hollywood.  Its been a big day.  And still building.   More tomorrow.