Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Ron Kantowski: Reviewing some of the Thunder’s blunders

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.

Who would have thought that Cook E. Jarr's lounge act would have lasted longer in Las Vegas than Thunder hockey?

With our IHL franchise on the verge of capitulation, it's seemingly a natural thing to look back at all the mistakes the club made during its six-year run at the Thomas & Mack Center.

And unlike the jewelry Mr. Jarr wears on stage, there were some real gems.

Remember Table Dance -- er, Bikini -- Night, which attracted so few entrants that management felt compelled to bring in ringers from local strip joints? Instead of buying a general admission ticket, fans should have been asked to pay a cover charge that night.

Or what about the ill-fated affiliation with Torpedo Yaroslavl, the Russian club which was supposed to send a truckload of Pavel Bures and Sergei Federovs to Las Vegas? In reality, the Thunder didn't receive so much as a fifth of Smirnoff from that arrangement.

Remember the pink ice and uniforms on Valentine's Day? The Slapshot-mentality marketing campaigns? Letting sportsmanlike coach Butch Goring get away -- to your chief division rival, no less? Oranges raining down on the ice during yet another early playoff exit? Kerry Toporowski?

But in retrospect, it now can be said that one of the Thunder's biggest blunders was trading Pavol Demitra to Grand Rapids in 1996 for a puck bag.

Actually, a puck bag would have been the better deal. The Thunder, which questioned Demitra's work ethic, unloaded him for a defenseman named Darin Smith, who was placed on waivers before the end of the season.

The 24-year-old Demitra, conversely, has pumped in 36 goals for the St. Louis Blues this season and ranks among the NHL's top 10 scorers with 84 points. He's even being hailed as the next Brett Hull, although they are different kind of players.

Darin Smith? The last we heard, he was pumping gas at a Conoco station in Manitoba.

* AROUND THE HORN: The Baseball Hall of Fame must have opened a new wing this week. Why else would it have sent for the Rangers cap worn by Las Vegan Mike Morgan against the Tigers Tuesday night, thereby setting the dubious record of pitching for his 11th major league team? Morgan's cap probably will be displayed in the Den of Mediocrity at Cooperstown, right next to John Boccabella's spit cup and Ken Oberkfell's Thighmaster. ... Now that Mike Veeck has come on board as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays marketing director, the team's political correctness has gone the way of Mark Wohlers' control. The Devil Rays this week introduced 3-foot-2 inch Dave Flood -- a k a Dave the Dwarf -- as its new mascot. Flood will wear uniform number 3.2. "Political correctness would say he's vertically challenged," said Veeck, son of the famous baseball owner/huckster Bill Veeck. " We're going to call him Dave the Dwarf ... I don't have a clue what's politically correct." ...The sanctioning body of the men's pro beach volleyball tour wants to see more of its players -- literally. This year, the Federation Internationale de Volleyball has mandated the shorts of male players must be cut at least 20 centimeters above the knee. "Beach volleyball players compete in a beach environment and are expected to project a healthy image. Sun, sea and sand are critical elements to be dealt with," says the new uniform directive. But even Mike Veeck knows that's just the politically correct way of saying sex sells. ... The new marketing chief for the Canadian Football League used to promote the World Wrestling Federation north of the border, and wants the CFL to develop a new "in your face" image while promoting its inherent rivalries. Reid Bailey then proceeded to call NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue "a four-eyed dweeb." If Bailey has his way , McMahon Stadium, home of the Calgary Stampeders, soon will be changed to Vince McMahon Stadium. ... William Shatner would feel a bit uncomfortable at a Mountain West Conference football game next fall, because with UNLV yanking the carpet out from Sam Boyd Stadium for natural grass, the new league is now "rugless." NCAA Division I will be 67-percent Astroturf free by next fall, pushing the percentage of grass fields to its highest level since 1978, when such records first were kept.

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