Columnist Ron Kantowski: Honor Cunningham, not casinos, on press-box facade

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 12:01 p.m.

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

UNLV seems to have difficulty promoting its football program -- i.e., no television coverage of last week's Fumble (and 101-yard) Rumble at Baylor and stubbornly going head-to-head vs. De La Hoya-Trinidad Saturday night at its home opener -- so I thought I'd propose a way to call attention to its football tradition (what little there is).

Now that there is a legitimate facade on a legitimate press box at the suddenly legitimate Sam Boyd Stadium, it would be neat if the athletic department paid homage to past Rebels stars by putting their names up on concrete. Sort of like the "rings of honor" at Texas and Mile High Stadiums.

Start by putting Randall Cunningham's name up there. He's the only UNLV football player to have his jersey retired. Others worth considering for big letters include two-time All-American Mike Thomas, wide receivers Keenan McCardell (the Jacksonville Jaguars' all-pro) and Jim Sandusky, quarterback Glenn Carano (Roger Staubach's longtime caddie in Dallas) and maybe even Ickey Woods (although he was a better pro than a college player).

Former coaches Tony Knap (.695 winning percentage) and Ron Meyer (.771) both won a bunch of games here, although Knap's longevity (six years to Meyer's three) might give him a slight edge over Meyer's coaching lineage (SMU, New England Pats and Indy Colts. We won't count the defunct Las Vegas Posse of the CFL -- or hold it against him).

Anyway, it would be nice for UNLV to recognize its own in such a conspicuous spot.

Hopefully, the athletic department sees it the same way and won't put another Sam's Town ad up there instead.

* VIEWING OPTIONS: Forget about a seat in the nosebleed section or closed circuit television in a crowded hotel ballroom. I know a guy who plans to watch the De La Hoya-Trinidad fight with a bunch of his Hispanic buddies, who in turn are going to don the gloves themselves and box each other between rounds. And, he says, some of the wives and girlfriends might dress up like ring card girls and parade around the living room.

He didn't say who would be responsible for bringing the Diet Pepsi and mopping up the testosterone.

* DON'T BLAME LVMS: A couple of years ago, Indy Racing League czar Tony George blamed the paltry turnout for our IRL race on Las Vegas Motor Speedway's lack of marketing expertise. That won't be the case this year.

Oh, it will still be a lame turnout, given LVMS' reluctance to disclose how many (or few) advance tickets have been sold for next Sunday's Vegas.com 500. But the Speedway has promoted this puppy like P.T. Barnum and Bob Arum all rolled into one.

There have been print ads, radio ads, and television spots galore. Offers of discounted tickets, 2-for-1 tickets and, if you look hard enough, free tickets. They've got school kids out selling tickets and drivers in Internet chat rooms, talking up the race with fans.

I think if you call the track early enough, IRL points leader Greg Ray even will drive your kids to and from school next week and pick up your laundry.

The bottom line is that despite offering some exciting racing, the four-year-old IRL just hasn't caught on.

* AROUND THE HORN: Maybe the Venetian folks were onto something when they called for the abolishment of the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority. The LVCVA is responsible/to blame for bringing the triple-A World Series to town. The second one begins Monday at Cashman Field, in the event anybody cares. ...

Yet one more confirmation that UNLV football is on the rise. An acquaintance who watches Mountain Dew commercials (and spends most of his free time jumping out of or off of things) and some of his equally extreme co-workers have ponied up the money for Rebel season tickets. Prior to John Robinson's arrival, these thrill-seekers would have never thought of looking for them at Sam Boyd Stadium. ...

This week I watched a movie called the "The Sixth Man," a college basketball fantasy in which the NCAA West Regional Final was played at the Thomas & Mack Center. Fantasy is the right word. Unfortunately, thanks to the NCAA's Paleozoic Era view of our city's primary industry, that's probably as close as we'll ever get to hosting a tournament game. (I guess the NCAA doesn't care if the Mountain West championship game gets fixed). ...

Jerry Tarkanian was one of a plethora of NCAA coaches who played themselves in the movie, but one of the few who had a speaking part. As usual, Tark's performance was hilarious -- even if he didn't mean it to be.