Columnist Ron Kantowski: Mandalay Bay, Hard Rock show they have heart

Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

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

They are corporate giants, with huge, money-grubbing mechanical arms. But it's good to know that well beyond the bottom line at Mandalay Bay and the Hard Rock hotel-casinos there beats a heart that seems nearly human.

Both Las Vegas entertainment conglomerates were taken behind the woodshed in this space last week for the way they treat locals -- specifically, local fight fans.

Originally, I didn't think there was a switch big enough to get the attention of Mandalay Bay and the Hard Rock. Happily, I was wrong.

First, I heard from corporate headquarters at Mandalay Bay. Publicity chief Gordon Absher agreed that the hotel made a public relations gaffe by reserving all -- not just most -- of the tickets for the Sept. 18 Oscar De La Hoya-Felix Trinidad bonanza for itself and fellow Strip heavyweights to use as they see fit.

Likewise, he said Mandalay was wrong not to sell a fan -- the only one in line when the ticket windows opened-- a ringside seat for Saturday's Floyd Mayweather-Carlos Gerena bout because it wanted to keep all the premium tickets for its high-rollers.

Absher attributed Mandalay's short-sightedness toward the general public to its lack of promotional experience. But he knows that actions speak louder than words -- even in boxing. So 2,000 reserved seat tickets for November's Evander Holyfield-Lennox Lewis rematch (that Mandalay Bay will co-promote) have been set aside for Ordinary Joes.

And he's going to try to square things with Ordinary Vicky, too.

Sun reader Vicky Jarden of Lansing, Ill., wrote a letter to the editor, relaying how her father-in-law, who lives here, was told he couldn't purchase ringside seats for the Mayweather bout, despite being the only soul in line. Absher has phoned Jarden to apologize and has arranged to do the same, on behalf of the hotel, to her entire party at the prefight weigh-in this weekend.

I might be wrong about this, but there's also a pretty good chance that Vicky and her crew won't need binoculars to see the fight.

And then, an even bigger surprise.

Just as I was announcing the end of my House of Blues boycott, I got a call from its chief rival. Peter Morton himself was on the line, explaining in a hip monotone that the Hard Rock likewise cares about its Las Vegas patrons.

Morton said had Arnold Schwarzenegger still not been grieving over the death of John F. Kennedy Jr., he would have participated in a charity 3-on-3 basketball tournament as advertised, and that fans who paid $25 to see him (and other stars who did not show) wouldn't have felt so shortchanged.

Likewise, he said had he known that Las Vegas resident Wayne McCullough was going to headline the Hard Rock's second boxing card last Monday, he might not have been so hasty to rent The Joint out to the MAGIC apparel convention and allow the fight (and a Blondie concert afterward) to become "by invitation only."

Morton sounded sincere until he said that no matter where his travels take him, he religiously reads this column via the Internet. I think he has me confused with Jan Wenner of "Rolling Stone."

No matter. Consider my boycott of The Joint a short-lived deal as well.

* HERE'S TO YOU, MRS. ROBINSON: Linda Robinson, the attractive and perky spouse of UNLV football savior-in-the-making John Robinson, has turned being a coach's wife into an art form.

In her case, a literal art form.

The talented Mrs. Robinson has hired a public relations firm, Bruce Merin Public Relations & Advertising of Las Vegas, to promote her various business pursuits. These include Aloha Greetings (greeting cards featuring her own watercolor designs), "wearable art" from the Tuu Much Tutu Resort Wear Company in Hawaii (her clothing designs soon will be featured in Las Vegas retail outlets) and Robinson's Rebel Rags, UNLV gear which she also has designed.

But it's her artwork -- and thus the greeting cards -- that are her true passion.

Right now, she's working on a new line of get-well and sympathy cards that she would love to market to Rebel opponents.

* AROUND THE HORN: Compared to ironing out the details of a Don King production, getting flattened during the first quarter of the UNLV-North Texas football game by Rebel linebacker James Sunia probably was the less painful experience for Marc Ratner. The head of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, who moonlights as a college football official, got run over during a boisterous scramble for a loose ball following the whistle last Thursday night. ... The fan-strapped Indy Racing League should update its marketing scheme. Four of the drivers featured on an IRL MasterCard flier that went out last week are no longer active. Arie Luyendyk has retired while Mike Groff, Roberto Guerrero and Lyn St. James are without a ride these days. ... Niketown Las Vegas is selling the same model of sports bra Brandi Chastain revealed when she took off her shirt in celebratio n of the United States' victory in the Women's World Cup. According to the press release, Brandi's bra is the Pullover Racerback style and sells for $40. That's a tad more expensive than the Alexi Lalas' athletic supporter, which, given the men's soccer team's poor showing in last year's World Cup, you could only pick up off the locker room floor. ... A tip of the cap to Las Vegas' Lori Harrigan, the 1996 Olympic gold-medalist softball pitcher. She has been named to 2000 squad that will go for double gold in Sydney.