Columnist Ron Kantowski: Baseball fans do the write thing for a day

Tuesday, June 22, 1999 | 9:26 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or259-4088.

Henderson's Gary Thiessen and his son, Brian, of San Jose, Calif., recently lived out their "baseball fantasy" when they become sportswriters for a day, covering a Dodgers-Texas Rangers game in Los Angeles.

I've got news for them. A baseball fantasy is a 2-1 game played in an hour and 45 minutes. A 7-6 marathon decided in 13 innings and ending at roughly 1 a.m., such as the one the Thiessens chronicled, is more like a sportswriter's baseball nightmare. By the time you get quotes, the bars are ready to close.

But Gary Thiessen said if he has had a more enjoyable four hours and twenty-seven minutes, it's hard to recall them.

"Brian submitted a story that became property of the Los Angeles Times. They didn't use it but he felt just like one of the sportswriters (who cover the team)," he said. "It was nice to see what goes on behind the scenes."

Thiessen's fantasy was one of 62 in 20 categories the Dodgers turned into reality during their 13th annual "Think Blue Week." Some of the others included singing the national anthem, taking batting practice off former Dodgers great Ron Cey, having brunch with Tommy Lasorda, dragging the infield with the grounds crew or meeting a favorite Dodger (two teen-age girls chose Eric Karros).

To a lifelong sportswriter, any of those (with the possible exception of lasagna with Lasorda) sounds more appealing than eating a cold press box meal, being browbeat by a pampered superstar for having the audacity to ask about his .231 average or trying to come up with a clever lead on deadline.

Not so for the Thiessens, who said the treatment they were accorded by the Dodgers was nearly as rewarding as the father-son bonding experience. Spending some quality time with his son was the whole idea behind Gary Thiessen's winning essay, which served as the contest entry fee.

Thiessen said he and his son had access to the locker room and playing field before the game, where players such as closer Jeff Shaw and third baseman Adrian Beltre made them feel at home. They had assigned seats in the press box, where the Dodgers' beat guys treated them as equals and answered all their questions -- all without spilling anything on their notebooks.

"They (the Dodgers) took care of us. We had press parking, the works," said Thiessen, who works in financial services. "The hardest thing for Brian (a lifelong Dodgers fan) was to stay objective."

I'm assuming that the younger Thiessen, 24, wanted to write something positive about the home team. A three-game series probably would have cured him of that.

* THUNDER ROLLING IN? The International Hockey League board of governors is meeting this week in Chicago, where the fate of the dormant Las Vegas Thunder may be determined. According to an IHL source, the latest rumor making the rounds is that the Thunder may be headed for Omaha, Neb.

The University of Nebraska-Omaha had the third-highest attendance in NCAA hockey this past season, and the 8,900-seat Omaha Civic Auditorium is the ideal size for an IHL franchise. IHL preseason games have drawn decent crowds there in the past.

Officials at the auditorium did not return a phone call seeking comment.

An executive with another IHL club said the league remains infatuated with Las Vegas, and would like to put another franchise here -- under new ownership -- the year after next. That possibility, according to the source, would hinge on the new owners striking a deal with an existing arena until they could build one of their own.

The thought is that if the league waits more than a season to re-establish itself here, it runs the risk of losing the 4,000 or so fans who comprised the Thunder fan base.

* REBELS ON ICE: If you thought the protests following Brett Hull's game-winning goal in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals came a little late, consider the timeliness of the announcement revealing that UNLV has an ice hockey team.

The Sun received a fax last week, stating the Rebels' ice hockey team had completed its first season (obviously as a "club" sport) and was looking for money to sustain a second one.

It is seeking team ($15,000), jersey ($10,000) and bag and helmet ($7,500) sponsorships, but the fax provided little additional information. In fact, this is the way it ended:

"We would like to extend you an invitation to come out and enjoy a game or two this coming season. Our home ice is the ---------- which is located at ----------."

The letter closes with the following non-signature: ---------- Head Coach, Rebels Ice Hockey.

For a second, I thought I was playing "Mad-Libs," that parlor game where you fill in the blanks with the names of persons, places or things in the room to make a funny narrative.

Matt Lemma, a former player for the team, Monday filled in most of the blanks. He said the Rebels hockey team is not affiliated with the university, other than all the players must attend classes at UNLV. The group played as a pick-up team last season but is seeking funds to join a California-based league of college club teams. Any persons making financial contributions will be listed in the club's "media guide/business directory."

The team will play both ice and roller hockey, purchasing rink time at the Santa Fe Arena (ice) and Crystal Palace (roller). Paul Villaluiz will serve as coach.

As for the suspicious letter with all the blanks, that was an early copy. But the ones going out now look like Charles Nelson Reilly's Match Game '73 game card. The blanks are filled in.

Lemma said that no sponsorship is too small, regardless of what the letter suggests.

Interested parties should call 736-2326.

* AROUND THE HORN: Here's the best reason yet to put your money on Butterbean Esch in his Saturday four-rounder at Mandalay Bay against former Mike Tyson foil Peter McNeeley: McNeeley has been training at Boston College of all places. You can get a master's degree at B.C. but in terms of developing the "Eye of the Tiger," it's no Kronk Gym. ...

PGA touring pro Mark O'Meara owns three homes, a fleet of sports cars and has access to a private jet. Yet he often stays at modest hotels and eats at modest restaurants in an effort to trim expenses, none of which are covered by the tour. Sometimes, he and Tiger Woods will even pop into a McDonald's, where star-struck burger flippers sometimes forget to charge the pair. "That way I can save another three or four bucks," O'Meara joked. ...

Regarding the course conditions at the U.S. Open: The last time I heard the word "diabolical" used that often, Mr. Freeze was threatening to ice Gotham City. Now the world's best golfers know what it's like to be a left-handed finesse pitcher for the Red Sox. ...

Josh Hamilton, the first player picked in the recent Major League Baseball draft, after going 2-for-5 Saturday for the Princeton (N.J.) Devil Rays: "The ball's coming in there a whole lot faster and a wooden bat is a whole lot heavier than a regular bat." And here I thought regular bats were made from ash by Hillerich and Bradsby, not out of an alloy refined by Alcoa.

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