Columnist Ron Kantowski: Don’t blame whistle-blowers for mess at Las Vegas High

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1998 | 10:35 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at ron@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

Appalling. Disgraceful. Disgusting. Deplorable.

Collect all the adjectives normally reserved for Albert Belle and heap them on the Las Vegas High athletic department. Its boorish attitude in the wake of being banished from the state high school football playoffs for using a player who was ineligible since midseason is hard to comprehend.

On Sunday, four days after his team was disqualified and three days after he told the Sun, "I don't think we did anything wrong," Wildcats coach Kris Cinkovich was back at it. He suggested the LVHS faculty members who turned the Wildcats in to the Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association were the ones at fault and owed his players an apology.

On the contrary, whoever blew the whistle on the Wildcats deserves a gold star. Were it not for his/her/their information, the integrity of this year's playoffs would have been compromised.

And to think that were it not for some aggressive reporting by Sun prep editor Spencer Patterson, the Wildcats probably would have gotten away with the notion that it "self-reported" the football team's violation to the NIAA.

LVHS' other claim, probably just as dubious, is that it simply "misinterpreted" the NIAA's academic progress report rules. That one might have carried a lot more weight had the Bishop Gorman and Rancho boys soccer teams not been busted during the past two weeks for violating the very same rules.

Those developments were chronicled in a Sun centerpiece story on Oct. 23 which examined the recurring problem of undetected athletic ineligibilities resulting in mass forfeits.

So forget the rhetoric, ignore the spin doctors.

Somebody over at Las Vegas High tried to pull a fast one, plain and simple.

Run for the border

Marc Ratner, the personable director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission who moonlights as a Western Athletic Conference football official, now can relate to anybody who has purchased beach-front property over the telephone.

Ratner said every WAC official was promised at least one Hawaii assignment this season. And, sure enough, Ratner had the Rainbows this past Saturday -- in El Paso.

El Paso, for those who have never been there, makes Fresno look like a garden spot.

But next to Marty Robbins (the country crooner who fell in love with a Mexican maiden in El Paso), Ratner might be the West Texas town's biggest ambassador.

"I like El Paso," he said, sounding as if he really meant it.

Poster boys

Speaking of Robbins, the late country and western star liked to spend his weekends tooling around the track in a stock car during NASCAR's formative years. Those were the good ol' days, according to Bobby Allison, one of the few NASCAR luminaries who is speaking out against Winston Cup's evolution into a corporate sport.

"This sport was based on an idea by Bill France of people going out and being able to race the car that was sitting in their driveway. That's what made NASCAR so good," said Allison, who retired 10 years ago following a near-fatal crash at Pocono, Pa.

"Nowadays, the sponsors just want (a driver) who looks good on a poster. A guy who works at a gas station or on a farm won't ever have a chance at this level." ...

There were 106,000 spectators at Sunday's Marlboro 500 CART FedEx Championship Series season finale at California Speedway, yet within 22 minutes after Las Vegan Jimmy Vasser took the checkered flag, I was in my car, heading north on I-15. Roger Penske isn't winning any races these days, but he could show the Las Vegas Motor Speedway folks a thing or two about clearing the parking lot in an expedient manner. ...

With the advent of the Handford Device, a special fitting on the cars' rear wings designed to slow them down (a tad), CART's superspeedway show is just as spectacular as NASCAR's -- only it's about 75 mph faster. With a record 62 lead changes at Michigan earlier this year and 24 more Sunday at Fontana, it's time for CART to reinstate its Triple Crown of 500-mile races. And it should run the third jewel at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, at night. ...

Spotted at the LVMS' Derek Daly Driving Academy: Actor Sylvester Stallone, taking some hot laps in preparation for a movie project he's heading up about Formula One racing. ...

And if you still don't believe that auto racing isn't the hottest sport going, consider the race car is now the token of choice among Monopoly players. It garnered 18 percent of 1.5 million votes cast, edging the dog (16 percent) and the cannon (14 percent). ...

Skinned for shirts

Nine of the 27 NHL clubs are sporting new alternate jerseys this year, which means their fans will be asked to shell out even more of their alternate cash to display their team's true colors. ...

No bull: Dallas-based White Knuckle Promotions will use this weekend's Professional Bull Riders Bud Light Cup at the MGM Grand to introduce a new line of bull rider trading cards. But there's no truth that a pinch of Skoal has been substituted for the slab of pink bubble gum that used to come with baseball cards. Fans can order the bull rider cards by calling 1-800-613-4558. ...

Note to UNLV public address announcer Dick Calvert: It's "Tulsa University," not the "University of Tulsa." ...

Will the Denver Broncos go 16-0 this season? The "will go" at Caesars Palace is plus 300; the "will not go" is minus 400. ...

Will the UNLV Rebels go 0-11 this season? The "will go" at my house is minus one bazillion. ...

According to this week's Scripps Howard Power Ratings, the UNLV football team would be a 7 1/2-point underdog against William & Mary if the teams met on a neutral field.