Three up, three down
Only the first 100 spectators attending Saturday’s "Rise ‘n’ Shine with the Lady Rebels" fanfest at Cox Pavilion were promised a free continental breakfast. But everyone went home with a powdered-sugar-and-milk mustache.
Five minutes into the intrasquad scrimmage I counted 84 spectators, including UNLV athletic director Jim Livengood, former athletic director Brad Rothermel and senior associate athletic director D.J. Allen, who were seated by the milk and doughnuts. I’m sure it was just a coincidence.
That’s just the way it is with the Lady Rebels. Not the athletic department honchos sitting close to the free food, but the marginal interest in the team from the community.
And yet, there’s also something reassuring about attending a Lady Rebels game or function. It’s sort of like the "Cheers" bar on TV and a Motel 6 rolled into one. Everybody knows your name, and they’ll leave the light on for ya.
You feel like your presence means something to the coach and players.
The Lady Rebels have struggled in Kathy Olivier’s first two years as coach, but with virtually everyone back, they should be better. So should the Mountain West, which sent six of its nine members to the postseason last season.
UNLV is picked to finish seventh, so expectations are modest. That didn’t deter The Mtn. from making the Lady Rebels the focus of "Season Pass: UNLV Women’s Basketball," a seven-part reality series that debuts in late December.
Olivier introduced the producer and other personnel working on the show after Saturday’s scrimmage. She already knew their names.
And when I left Cox Pavilion, I noticed that someone had left the lights on.
THREE UP
■ WALK-OFF HOLES-IN-ONE: So just what were Jonathan Byrd’s odds of sinking a hole-in-one to win the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open at TPC Summerlin anyway? According to a 1999 Golf Digest story, a PGA Tour pro’s chances of sinking an ace on a typical par-3 were 1 in 3,756. If the pro is John Daly and the tee time is before noon, one probably should multiply by three or four.
■ SOUTHERN UTAH: The decision resulting in UNR and Fresno State not being allowed to play their "Get Out of WAC Free" cards until 2012 when they’ll join the Mountain West probably means Southern Utah will become to UNLV what Teri Garr, the actress, was to David Letterman. When a guest canceled on short notice, the first person Letterman usually called was Garr. The second was Brother Theodore. The Rebels will play Southern Utah in football next year. Hopefully no Brother Theodores will be on the schedule.
■ PHOTOGRAPHS AND MEMORIES: Someone sent me an eBay link to a 1960 8×10 photograph of Wisconsin fullback Tom Wiesner sporting a crew cut, many years before he orchestrated the popular Wisconsin vs. UNLV football series that continues to this day in his memory (and also because UNLV needs the money). No one had bid on it, so I did. If I win, I think I’ll have the photo framed and present it to some bar where people watch football on TV. I think the Big Dog would have liked that.
THREE DOWN
■ GRAND CANYON: A lot of people probably don’t know that Grand Canyon, UNLV’s Division II opponent in the first exhibition game of the basketball season Tuesday night, won three NAIA national championships, including two in 1975 and ’78 when I was a student at Western New Mexico University and Grand Canyon was our bitter rival. The Antelopes had a big guy named Bayard Forrest who spent two years as Alvan Adams’ backup with the Phoenix Suns. Or as we called him, Bayard "Bleeping" Forrest.
■ PAC-10 BASKETBALL: According to Sports Illustrated.com, Washington is the only Pac-10 team considered a lock to qualify for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament this year. Conversely, SI.com puts three Mountain West teams — San Diego State, Brigham Young and UNLV — on its lock list. Yeah, I know. It’s all about football these days. Football and ball bearings.
■ SPECTACULAR CRASHES: If NASCAR want sports fans to be sympathetic when one of its drivers gets hurt — or worse — in a spectacular crash, it should stop its TV partners from using "highlights" of them to promote races. And it should not feign disgust the next time someone says the only reason he watches stock car races is for the crashes.
Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.
