Columnist Ron Kantowski: Running up the score is simply part of the game

Tuesday, Nov. 10, 1998 | 10:25 a.m.

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

Kansas State coaches and players are feeling all sensitive about running up the score on Baylor last Saturday, which is strange, considering they've done it all season long.

But I have never understood why everybody gets so worked up when a second-stringer scores a touchdown in the closing minute.

In baseball, nobody tells Mark McGwire to strike out on purpose in the ninth inning, just because the Cardinals are leading 12-1. Nobody suggests Scott Burrell tank a free throw, just because the Bulls are 30 points ahead of the Nuggets. They might even call that point shaving.

And in NASCAR, ever see Jeff Gordon throw his car in reverse to allow everybody else to catch up?

Where's the logic in telling a second- or third-string quarterback, who rides the pine most of the year, not to throw a pass or try to score a touchdown when he finally gets the opportunity to do so?

If the college football coaches are really concerned about assuring that nobody's feelings get hurt by a late touchdown, then they should change the rules.

One of the criteria in the new Bowl Championship System, which ultimately will decide the combatants in the so-called national championship game, is margin of victory.

What's that smell?

Something stinks within the UNLV athletic department -- and it's not just the football team. University officials visited the Bellagio Monday, inquiring about the resort's aroma therapy rooms. Apparently, a sewage smell emanating from the athletic department offices has become stronger than the Rebels' offensive line. ...

The UNLV football team may have stumbled on to the secret to success -- don't play. By sitting idly by last weekend, the Rebels saw their co-leading nation's longest losing streak become the sole property of Hawaii, which lost 45-17 to San Jose State. The Rainbows have lost 15 straight. ...

Olympic gold medalist Katarina Witt gives new definition to the term "figure skater" with her pictorial in this month's Playboy magazine. Even the Romanian judge would be impressed. But New York Times columnist Robert Lipsyte makes an interesting point. If Witt's pictorial is well received, and larger, more developed and older women become their sport's stars, the exploitation of elfs and gnomes might end. ...

The bankrupt Pittsburgh Penguins can't even satisfy their $3,000 debt with Pool & Spa Outlet of Pittsburgh. So I'd say the chances of Petr Nedved (holding out with the Las Vegas Thunder) getting a new deal from the Pens are just about nil. ...

After a season-opening stint with the Los Angeles Kings, former Thunder goalie Manny Legace is back in the IHL with the Long Beach Ice Dogs. He was the I's goalie of the month for October, going 4-0-0 with a 1.75 goals-against average. ...

But minor league hockey is not catching on in Southern California. Despite fielding one of the IHL's most successful teams, Ice Dogs owners Barry and Maggie Camp have lost $6.9 million in the two years since they paid $5 million for the club. ...

Two minutes, for being good guys: The Southern Nevada Minor Hockey Association is one of 10 youth hockey programs that will receive a $10,000 grant from the NHL's A.S.S.I.S.T. (Assist Skaters and Shooters In Succeeding Together) fund. ...

Lunatics fringe

What's the common thread binding the Nevada Lunatics, Santa Rosa Prune Pickers, Vicksburg Hillbillies, Bonham Boogers, Joliet Convicts, Kalamazoo Celery Pickers, Waycross Blowhards and Des Moines Undertakers? Each was an obscure minor league baseball team in an obscure minor league.

The Lunatics played in the 1913 Missouri Valley League, the Prune Pickers in the 1910 Central California League, the Hillbillies in the 1950 Southeastern League, the Boogers in the 1922 Texas-Oklahoma League, the Convicts in the 1890 Illinois-Iowa League, the Celery Pickers in the 1923 Michigan-Ontario League, the Blowhards in the 1913 Empire State League and the Undertakers in the 1903 Western Association.

T-shirts, at $22 a copy, commemorating those clubs can be purchased from Ebbetts Field Flannels (1-800-377-9777). ...

Stick-and-ball sports, beware: A story in the current issue of Time Magazine reports that ESPN's X Games drew a greater proportion of under 35-year-old viewers than the cable sports network's football programming, and that NASCAR's overall TV ratings are now second to only those of the NFL. ...

Who would have thought the Arena Football League would have survived one season, much less 13? The AFL, which will feature 15 teams next season, is planning a $3 million marketing blitz for 1999. That will come as good news to UNLV football broadcast analyst Hunkie Cooper, a stalwart with the Arizona Rattlers. ...

A new Las Vegas Rugby club called the Sin City Irish is up and running. It appears rather organized, with a full complement of officers and a newsletter, part of which is devoted to the post-match party, a long-standing Rugby tradition. Call 873-0009 for club information. ...

There's a new baseball statistic being bandied about called RABBI -- the Ross At-Bat Base Index, which will give a hitter credit for moving a runner into scoring position with a single or by other means. The stat is named for its creator, Chicago labor lawyer Jeff Ross. Agents probably will use the stat more often than managers. ...

The Chrysler Corp. has presented Tim Forneris, the St. Louis Cardinals groundskeeper who retrieved Mark McGwire's historic No. 62 home run ball and presented it to the slugger, rather than hold it for ransom, with a Cardinal red 1999 Town and Country Limited minivan. ...

Additional horsepower

Bill Burke, who promoted the recent NASCAR Southwest Tour race in downtown Los Angeles, has struck a deal to run 10-15 off-season auto races at Hollywood Park, which caters to the more traditional form of horsepower. No word on which series would be involved and whether the racing would be done on the dirt oval or on a removable asphalt surface. ...

Ohio State offensive tackle Tyson Walter, on second-guessing coach John Cooper and the Buckeyes' coaching staff for conservative play calling during Saturday's stunning loss to Michigan State: "I don't get paid to think like that. I get paid to do what they tell me."

Now I finally know what UNLV's problem is. The O-line plays for free. ...

And finally, Lonnie Rush drove a truck sponsored by The Ohio State University in the Sam's Town 250 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Unlike the Buckeyes against Michigan State, the wheels did not come off Rush's truck in the second half of Sunday's race.