Sports Columns
They played a men’s college basketball game at South Point Arena on Tuesday and there wasn’t one dunk over the 40 minutes. There was half a dunk.
What was UNLV thinking, hiring Cindy Fredrick — the mother of Ali Farokhmanesh, the Northern Iowa sharpshooter who sank the Rebels basketball team last March in the NCAA Tournament — to be its new volleyball coach?
A late touchdown pass by Philip Rivers was completely meaningless, and it was symbolic of the San Diego Chargers’ season. It was a comically frustrating trip down a dead-end road.
10. JIM LIVENGOOD IS NOT LOCAL: How many were hoping for somebody in our own backyard to finally get a crack at running the UNLV athletic program? How many thought Jim Livengood had worn out his welcome at Arizona and was coming to town to reprise former AD Charlie Cavagnaro’s routine of getting paid a handsome salary for playing golf?
10. Jim Livengood is no Mike Hamrick: Thank goodness. UNLV athletics might have a chance. In his first year as the university’s athletic director, Livengood hired coaches in football (Bobby Hauck) and baseball (Tim Chambers) who could change the fortunes of both programs, announced a new, state-of-the-art basketball practice facility, restructured the department, reorganized fundraising and facility upgrade efforts, and had one more sit-down with local media to discuss the program’s vision than Hamrick had in six years.
When filthy-rich athletes and coaches whine about working on a holiday, most of us won’t offer hugs and sympathy. LeBron James is taking his talents to Los Angeles for Christmas, and he’s unhappy.
Remember when you were a kid at Christmas, and an aunt or an uncle you never knew you had would show up bearing gifts, and you’d tear through the wrapping paper as if something really cool was inside, like a toy truck or an Etch A Sketch … and it would be the dreaded clothes?
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The resume today will show a win against the nation’s No. 11 basketball team on a neutral court that was anything but neutral. It will not mention the names Jacob Pullen or Curtis Kelly or impermissible benefits or how any of it affected Kansas State on Tuesday evening.