Columnist Ron Kantowski: Joe Public wins over fans — here and abroad

Thursday, Sept. 30, 1999 | 10 a.m.

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

Until Tuesday, when the Football Confederation Championship Cup soccer tournament made its debut at Sam Boyd Stadium, my favorite name for a sports team was the Marshall Thundering Herd.

But now I'm a Joe Public fan.

Joe Public isn't one guy, or even a brand of men's underwear. It's the name of the soccer club from Trinidad and Tobago (two names, one country) which played the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer in a quarterfinal game.

According to coach Jamaal Shabazz, team owner Jack Warner named the team Joe Public because "The word 'public' means a part of the people or belonging to (the people). Jack Warner named the team Joe Public to make the people in our country feel that this is a part of them, and to be the Manchester United of Trinidad and Tobago."

Last year in this event, Joe Public played more like Manchester, Melissa (the pop singer), looking nothing like the powerhouse side from the English Premier League. It was blown out of the tournament 8-0 -- which is like 56-0 in our style of futbol -- by D.C. United of the MLS.

On Tuesday, it was the Fire which turned out to be Joe Public Enemy No. 1. But the result was much closer, as Public lost just 2-0.

There are 1.2 million residents in Trinidad and Tobago, and most have become Joe Public fans during the team's brief three-year existence. According to the game media notes, Public is the second most popular club in the Caribbean, trailing only the "Reggae Boyz" of Jamaica, the celebrated dreadlocked national side which qualified for last year's World Cup in France.

Joe Public also is extending its brand with the addition of a youth coaching school, under-17 and under-20 teams, a senior reserve squad and now, a women's team.

The women are known as -- what else? -- Jane Public.

* SOCCER IS FAN-TASTIC: Anybody who hasn't been exposed to pro soccer should give the Football Confederation Cup a look this weekend. The "Beautiful Game," as the great Pele used to call it, is much more appreciated in a live setting but it's the passion of the fans that should be experienced at least once.

They show up, usually at least an hour before the match, waving flags, beating tom-toms and blasting a happy refrain on those plastic stadium horns. And the noise doesn't cease until well after the match.

These fans also know the sport. The Toluca backers chanted the names of the more popular Mexican players as they were announced over the public address system. And for every "Elway 7" jersey I spotted there were at least a half-dozen "Baututista 9" shirts, in deference to the Argentine striker, or similar jersey tributes to the Spanish-speaking stars of International soccer.

But lo and behold, midway through the first half of the Toluca-Alajuela game, I spotted a guy who looked like comedian Paul Rodriguez. Like most of the others in the stadium, he was clutching a beer in one hand and a plastic horn in the other.

What made him stand out from the rest of the crowd was that he was wearing a Rusty Wallace cap.

* SAM WAS TRUCKIN': Henderson's Sam Schmidt made a lot of new fans during his first career Indy Racing League victory at last Sunday's Vegas.com 500 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but none bigger than Las Vegan Wendy Shumate.

Shumate was one of 26 fans -- one for each driver in the race -- who were eligible to win a $30,000 pickup truck with all the options, part of a race promotion co-sponsored by LVMS and Fletcher Jones Chevrolet.

When Schmidt dove inside Kenny Brack to take the lead with two laps to go, Shumate nearly lost her mud flaps, she became so excited.

"It was the first race I've been to and it was great," she said, adding that she had hoped to obtain Schmidt's autograph on the truck.

* AROUND THE HORN: Like many of my media colleagues, I'm not too fond of ballparks being named for big corporations. But when you think about it, what was Wrigley Field named for? A chewing gum corporation, that's what. In time, even the ballparks and stadiums that are named for big business will begin to have a familiar ring to them. ...

Mayor Oscar Goodman was quoted this week as saying he thought his interview for an upcoming "60 Minutes" segment went well. I recall that Jerry Tarkanian said pretty much the same thing after entertaining Mike Wallace for the story he was doing on Tark's Fresno State basketball program. Then Wallace fried him like a catfish filet. ...

I knew the Rebels were in trouble against Utah when I walked into Sam Boyd Stadium and saw 'Steep Downgrade" and "Runaway Truck Lane" signs planted on the Utes' sides of the field. The depressing fact is that with the possible exception of Air Force, which makes up for its lack of size with an offense that is more precise than a Rolex watch, the Rebels won't match up physically with any of their remaining Mountain West opponents. So this should be their revised goal: Beat Nevada-Reno, beat New Mexico and consider a 4-7 season a job well done.