Las Vegas sportsbooks are shorthanded. Let’s get ‘em.

With a blizzard of public bettors headed their way, the MGM Mirage sportsbook is scrambling for help.

“Believe me, we don’t have enough employees,” said MGM sportsbook manager Jeff Stoneback. “We’re borrowing six of the people who sell show tickets for the weekend. We never have enough employees for this.”

The Mirage sportsbook opens at 6 a.m. Super Bowl Sunday. That’s 30 minutes earlier than on a normal Sunday when NFL games kickoff kick off at 10 a.m. Vegas time. Stoneback says its standing-room only, with people sitting on the floor. There is cheering every play, every penalty, every punt and every commercial.

“There’s something riding on every play,” Stoneback said. “It’s really pretty fun and probably the best place to be other than at the game.”

The lines are long and steady on Sunday and contain lots of nervous first-time bettors trying to shuffle through the trendiest prop bets. “They move quite a bit slower than on a normal football Sunday,” Stoneback said.

But Sunday isn’t even the most strenuous of day of Super Bowl weekend. The books really get slammed on Saturday, when the NCAA, NBA and NHL try to squeeze in as many games as possible, before everybody quits caring about their sports Sunday.

The first of roughly 140 college basketball games tips off at 8 a.m. Vegas time Saturday, with the last game not tipping until 8 p.m. The NHL’s 11-game slate gets going at 10 a.m. and NBA puts a wrap on things with nine night games.

“It’s relentless on Saturday - All day,” said Stoneback.

Offshore sportsbooks face a similar spike, not to the extent that Las Vegas sportsbook see, but it’s enough to stress out a staff. Bodog.com sportsbook manager Richard Gardner estimates that 75 percent of the action on the Super Bowl is wagered Saturday and Sunday. That’s on top on the expanded hoops and hockey cards.

Let’s all take a moment to feel sorry for the poor bookies … now let’s go take all their money.

Things are going to fall through the cracks. Pertinent injury info is going to be missed. A key line movement may be delayed. Book managers simply won’t have as much time to adjust their numbers off of the power ratings. We have advantages Saturday. We just have to spot them.

Odds/Ends

Weather factor

With this week’s massive winter storm, weather suddenly became a handicapping factor in basketball. Missouri and Baylor each had trouble getting to Stillwater and Norman, Oklahoma, respectively. Both lost straight up as favorites. Penn State got stuck in Evansville, Indiana, the night before getting drilled by 17 at Illinois. Keep an eye on teams that have travel issues. Notre Dame, for example, had to travel to snowy Chicago Thursday night, before turning right around and heading back to snowy South Bend to face Rutgers on noon Sunday. Normally, the Irish would be expected to be around a 10-point favorite over Rutgers. It will be interesting to see if oddsmakers make any adjustments, considering the Irish’s treacherous travels.

Feuding Bulldogs

After Wednesday’s home loss to Alabama, Mississippi State senior guard Ravern Johnson ripped coach Rick Stansbury via Twitter.

Johnson tweeted, “Starting to see why people Transfer, you can play the minutes but not getting your talents shown because u watching someone else wit the ball the whole game shooters need to move not watch why other coaches get that do not make sense to me.”

What’s worse is that sophomore forward Renardo Sidney re-tweeted it. Both players have since deleted their accounts, according to the Tupelo (Miss.) News.

Most power ratings say Miss