Columnist Ron Kantowski: Senior softball team has trophy, but no sponsor

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999 | 9:25 a.m.

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

If forty-something infielder Gary Gaetti ever gets tired of hanging on with major league teams, he can always offer to play third base and hit cleanup for the Las Vegas 70s.

In about 30 years, that is.

Actually, it's a sponsor -- and not talented players a little long in the tooth -- that our local men's age 70-older slow-pitch softball team is lacking.

The 15 players who represented Las Vegas in the men's 70-plus national championship in Phoenix last weekend did just fine without Gaetti, thank you very much. Playing nine games in four days -- a taxing schedule that would send men half their age scurrying for the Jacuzzi -- the 70s captured the national title for softball graybeards, defeating Tavares, Fla., 20-8 in the championship game.

These senior-circuit sluggers averaged 20.6 runs per game and hit .643 as a team in the annual tournament, which attracted 243 teams in the 50-, 60- and 70-year-old age brackets. The Las Vegas squad belted 25 triples, which means that the guys who hit them had to run from home plate to third base without stopping for oxygen -- hard enough for Tony Gwynn to do, much less men 35 years his senior.

The 70s got a huge trophy for their efforts, but as coach Artie Melanson sadly notes, they don't have a sponsor's name to engrave on it. He said it was difficult for the players, most of whom are on a fixed income, to pay their way to Phoenix, and that unless a sponsor comes on board, it will be next-to-impossible for the 70s to defend their title, given that next year's tourney will be played in distant Winnipeg, Canada.

"We're not like the younger (softball) generation, where we can go to a bar for sponsorship," Melanson said. "I'm afraid the liquor and the carousing are a thing of the past for most of us."

Melanson said the next-best thing to finding a full-fledged sponsor would be finding a buyer for player jackets, so the guys would have something by which to remember their national championship. Interested parties can contact him at 451-1315.

* AROUND THE HORN: Two things you can count on in the aftermath of the Las Vegas Invitational: One, Jim Furyk will make a hefty bank deposit; and two, tournament manager Charlie Baron will say without flinching that the gallery was bigger than the previous year's. This year, he might actually be right. TPC observers not associated with the tournament said this year's throng did, indeed, seem larger than last year's. ...

Mike Tyson says the pressure of being Mike Tyson is having an adverse effect on his marriage. But if the gossip columnists are to be believed, almost nightly visits to Las Vegas gentleman's clubs during training for his return to the ring Saturday against Orlin Norris probably won't help patch things up between Iron Mike and wife, Dr. Monica Turner. ...

Two words of advice for former UNLV women's basketball player Amy Wunderlich, or whoever is giving her bum advice: Lighten up. Wunderlich, who was involved in a practice skirmish with former Lady Rebels assistant coach Lisa Rathbun last year, should have been satisfied when Rathbun resigned under pressure. But now Wunderlich, currently working for the IBL's Las Vegas Silver Bandits, has decided to sue the university, months after she reportedly received a season-ending gag gift of boxing gloves from her former teammates. ...

Observations from the baseball playoffs: John Rocker's politically incorrect attitude is to be admired; Mets backup catcher Todd Pratt, with his too-large head squished into his too-small batting helmet, looks a lot like Putty, Elaine's boyfriend on "Seinfeld," and while football officials have been chastised for huddling before making a ruling, perhaps it's time for baseball umpires to do the same thing in an attempt to get the call right. One more thing: Who has the worse throwing arm, Chuck Knoblauch or the Venus de Milo? ...

No publicity is bad publicity: The Indy Racing League, as it is wont to do anytime something bad happens at the track, all but ignored the terrible pit lane accident at the end of Saturday's practice session in Texas that resulted in injuries -- some very serious -- to rookie driver Niclas Jonsson and 11 crew members. The ABC-TV crew had two hours to fill during Sunday's rain delay, yet had driver Tyce Carlson, whose crew was virtually wiped out by the wreck, not alluded to it during an interview well into the broadcast, the frightening incident seemingly would have gone unmentioned. ...

And finally, I saw where one of the local beat guys gave the UNLV football team an overall grade of "C" on his mid-term report card.

The last guy who graded that tough was John Houseman in the "Paper Chase."

Three wins in six tries for a team that didn't win a single game last year and only one the year before that?

I'd say give the Rebels a B+, and coach John Robinson and his staff a shiny, red apple for a job well done.