Columnist Ron Kantowski: Ex-Rebel lacks ‘rap’ in the IBL

Thursday, March 30, 2000 | 10:14 a.m.

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

For the Silver Bandits' sake, let's hope that new owners/former Rebels Jackie Robinson, Mike Loyd, Flintie Ray Williams (and whatever silent partners they may have) are better at running a minor league basketball franchise than they were at making records.

Back in 1994, the Sun ran a story announcing a company called Mo Money Records, billed as the city's first record label. According to the story, Loyd, Robinson, Williams and another ex-Rebel, Sidney Green, were "backing the project."

Mo Money Records was going to open a recording studio in the Bank of America building downtown, according to the story. After that, it was going to move under the Fremont Street Experience canopy.

I'm not sure if Mo Money ever made any money. But I am certain I didn't see it among the Pizza Hut Express and T-shirt shops that monopolize the Fremont Street corridor. And in the place where you'd expect to find it in the phone book, there's only a listing for "Mommy Rents." (Honest.)

Of course, the three ex-Rebels aren't the first ones to make a bad business decision. I'll admit to making a bad one myself -- joining a consortium that placed a three-figure wager on Frank Tate to beat Michael Nunn in a title fight at Caesars Palace many years ago.

If you don't recall how that one turned out, all you need to know is that was the last time I bet on sports.

But if I were to make another wager, it would be that the ex-Rebels know more about playing basketball than running a basketball organization.

If you didn't know better, you'd swear that somebody talked them into this. There's a widely held theory that the only way anything sports related can survive around here is to have a UNLV pedigree.

It has been tried before. It usually doesn't work.

It's almost laughable that the Silver Bandits are using former UNLV greats Mark Wade (who's already playing) and Freddie Banks (who is talking about playing) to sell tickets. Ten years ago, when each still fit into his uniform, Wade and Banks played for the Las Vegas Silver Streaks of the World Basketball League.

I guess you'll have to take my word for it, because there weren't very many of you who bought tickets to see them play as pros. Jamie Waller, who played at Virginia Commonwealth, was more popular than the two ex-Rebels. As a result, the Streaks lasted only slightly longer than a No. 16 seed in the Midwest Regional.

Not that the Las Vegas Posse noticed. It thought having ex-Rebel coach Ron Meyer patrolling the sidelines and a plethora of Rebels in the starting 11 -- er, 12 -- would be its ticket to long-term solvency in the Canadian Football League. The team almost didn't make it to the end of its first season. It had to move its final home game to Edmonton, because it couldn't pay its rent at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Here's something the next local minor league team that isn't propped up by its major league affiliate should take under advisement: A lot of marginally talented players have passed through Las Vegas on their way to a career in used car sales. Arguably, none has been more popular than Las Vegas Thunder hockey players Radek Bonk, Patrice Lefebvre and Clint Malarchuk.

All three of those guys were foreigners. Two didn't speak English growing up. The other was a cowboy.

None ever wore a UNLV jersey.