Columnist Ron Kantowski: Nothing wrong with IBL talent

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 10:53 a.m.

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

After watching a quarter and a half of Wednesday's Silver Bandits (they're the team from Las Vegas) vs. New Mexico Slam International Basketball League exhibition game at the Doolittle Center on Las Vegas' near West side, I'm convinced that the caliber of play will be the least of the fledgling minor league franchise's worries.

Of course, the team's long-term viability will have nothing to do with playing good D or finishing on the fast break.

On paper and even on the court, the Silver Bandits look a lot like the defunct Las Vegas Silver Streaks of the equally defunct World Basketball League, only a little taller.

During the late 1980s, the Silver Streaks managed to stay in business for three seasons in a league featuring players 6-foot-5 and under. The team was made up of some overlooked guys from "directional" schools -- Southwest Missouri State, Northeast Louisiana, et al -- along with the odd former Division I star and an old hometown hero or two slightly past his prime.

Sure enough, all three categories are represented on the Silver Bandits' roster. The names on the scoresheet Wednesday included Ernest Hall, a spunky point guard out of Southwest Oklahoma, UCLA's J.R. Henderson, former UNLV space eater Moses Scury and Mike Johnson, just out of Oklahoma by way of Rancho High.

The most noticeable names on the New Mexico side were Todd Burgan, the ex-Syracuse Orangeman, and Taymon Domzalski, the former Dookie who was sitting so far down the bench you needed a quarter and a telescope to see him.

The crisp play actually might have been better than it will be when the regular season tips off, simply because final cuts haven't been made and players on both sides were battling hard for paychecks.

The black basketball that will be used by the IBL for as long as the league lasts also is pretty cool.

There were about a dozen of them in a bin that were used in pregame warm-ups. None had the number 8 painted on it.

But over on Desert Inn Road, there's a fourplex office building with the Las Vegas Posse logo still painted on its side.

* TICKETS TOO HIGH: So Saturday night's Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield heavyweight title fight at the Thomas & Mack Center set a record for the largest live gate (nearly $16.9 million) in boxing history.

Translation in the words (sort of) of Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon: They've got the tickets (priced) too high. And they don't care.

The true barometer of a fight's success is pay-per-view buys. And Lewis-Holyfield II resulted in only 800,000 of those (considered no more than an average attraction) after their first fight topped 1.2 million subscribers.

* MILLS ON WHEELS: Judge Mills Lane of Reno, the former boxing referee, sure is getting around since he announced his retirement from the ring. Earlier this week, he turned up on "Rivera Live" -- as a so-called expert on the JonBenet Ramsey murder case, of all things.

So what's next for the ubiquitous Lane? Raising a barn with TV handyman Bob Vila on "This Old House?"

Actually, that's not such a bad idea. Instead of his trademark command of "Let's Get It On!" Lane could shake hands with Vila and growl "Let's Get It Up!"

* TICKETS TOO HIGH II: If somebody handed you $48 today you could:

* Treat yourself and 63 of your buddies to a round of beers at O'Shea's on the Strip.

* Eat breakfast 96 times at the Klondike.

* Valet park your car 48 times.

* Purchase one ticket to an NBA game.

According to the Sports Business Daily, the price of an average NBA ticket is at an all-time high for any of the big four team sports. Is it any wonder, then, that NBA attendance is down, in some cases dramatically, in all but six (discounting the four teams who moved into new arenas this season) of the league's 29 cities?

But what is a wonder is why some Las Vegans are so excited about the possibility of an NBA franchise coming to town, when most won't be able to afford to attend the games.

* TIS (NOT) THE SEASON: Jeff Tisdel's four-year football coaching record at Nevada-Reno wasn't all that bad (23-21 while stepping up in conferences) and he will resign (under pressure) as the only Wolf Pack coach with a perfect record against bitter rival UNLV (4-0). So it makes you wonder why the former UNR quarterback was let go so unceremoniously this week.

Unless UNR athletic director and former coach Chris Ault is planning another return to the sideline. Then it would make perfect sense.

* TALENT (IN THE) POOL: Dana Benedict, a 12-year-old whiz competing for the Las Vegas Sandpipers swim team, set six age division records and won seven gold medals at last weekend's Nevada State Swimming Championships in Carson City.

Given all of her record-setting times fell among the top 16 in the nation and that she has been swimming competitively for only three years, Benedict may turn out to be more than just a face in the crowd, provided she stays with it.

* SKATE THAT GREAT: I laughed out loud when Rob Lowe's character in the old movie "Oxford Blues" earned a rowing scholarship to UNLV and had a similar response upon receiving a fax from -- get this -- the Las Vegas Speedskating Club. But believe it or not, there are a bunch of Eric Heiden wannabes in our midst.

According to the fax, the team scored an "upset" victory in a recent competition in Utah. The local speed skaters train at the Sahara Ice Palace in the Commercial Center from 4-6 p.m. on Saturday and 10:30 a.m.-12:45 p.m. on Sundays. Future Ard Schenks (the name of a Dutch Olympic speed skater that for some reason is burned into my subconscious) should call 870-7134 for details.

* BOTTLE ROCKETS: Here's a news flash: English and Scottish soccer fans hurled bottles at each other in Trafalgar Square prior to Wednesday night's European Championship qualifying match.

According to a news report, about 200 English fans, figuring the odds were in their favor, tried to attack 300 or so Scottish backers in the famous square in central London.

Scotland Yard said two fans were arrested for drunkenness. The other 78,998 on hand probably considered the night a disappointment.

* AROUND THE HORN: What's up with those white collars on the basketball jerseys worn by the California All-Stars against UNLV Monday night? They made the traveling hardwood troupe look like Chippendales dancers. ... During tonight's nationally televised Colorado State-Air Force football game, CSU officials are expected to provide Las Vegas Bowl reps with 4,000 e-mails from Rams fans who said they will buy tickets if CSU is selected to play in the annual Dec. 18 bowl season lid-lifter at Sam Boyd Stadium. But that means many of them would have to make two Las Vegas junkets in the span of just two weeks -- Colorado State and UNLV will conclude the regular season here next Saturday. ... James Caan looked nothing like Brian Piccolo and let's hope for Babe Ruth's remaining relatives' sake that William Bendix only bore a slight resemblance to The Bambino. But ac tor Jared Leto is a dead ringer for Steve Prefontaine, the late distance runner, in a real good movie about the short life of the former Oregon Duck now running on assorted movie channels.