Columnist Ron Kantowski: LV Dodgers sure has a nice ring to it

Thursday, Sept. 21, 2000 | 10:11 a.m.

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

While I maintain that becoming the triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Dodgers is a good thing for the Las Vegas Stars, last Friday's announcement doesn't appear to have created a buzz among our city's dwindling number of minor league baseball supporters.

The Sun hasn't received a solitary e-mail, letter or phone call conveying even the slightest interest in what was thought to be a major development.

Of course, there are two sides to every story. A prolific six-paragraph Stars press release confirming the new player development contract claims that season ticket sales for next season are "already exceeding projections."

But when I called the Stars' office to inquire about season tickets, I was transferred to a recording. The automated greeting featured more options than a Lincoln Town Car but I didn't stay on the line long enough to learn if I could purchase season tickets by pressing the pound key.

That aside, it's not too early for the Stars to begin capitalizing on their new marriage. So far they're 0-for-1 and have yet to get any wood on the ball.

The Stars whiffed by not calling a news conference to announce the deal with the Dodgers. Next to the franchise formation itself, it was probably the biggest transaction in Stars history. But management treated it as if it were the next Cashman Field appearance of The Famous Chicken.

At least when The Chicken comes to town, the Stars buy an ad to let everybody know about it.

Maybe the Dodgers are at least partly to blame. With bigger fish to fry (such as manager Davey Johnson), perhaps they didn't have time to help the Stars roll out the blue carpet in Las Vegas.

But if the Stars are truly going to take advantage of the bazillion transplanted Dodgers fans that apparently live here, they need to call attention to the fact that the Dodgers of tomorrow are the Stars of today.

And the Stars need to take a radical approach to hammering that idea home.

They should change the franchise name.

If I were signing paychecks, the Las Vegas Dodgers would adopt the parent club's colors and wear identical uniforms -- only the caps would feature an interlocked "LV" design instead of "LA."

This is the perfect chance for the Stars to reinvent themselves, or at least get rid of that goofy teal and purple color scheme -- "Barney colors" is the way former manager Tim Flannery described them.

I would make sure Tommy Lasorda had box seats and sell Dodgerdogs at the concession stands. I'd paint the stadium blue and white and insist the Dodgers and Stars -- er, LV Dodgers -- play a three-game series every year during spring training. Everybody named "Vin" or "Scully" would get a free seat in the bleachers.

Because if the Stars don't make it a point to educate "Joe" and "Public" that this is a whole new ballgame, the guys in the goofy teal-and-purple uniforms are going to look a lot like the guys who wore them last year over their "Property of San Diego Padres" T-shirts.

And once the novelty wears off, it'll be back to fireworks extravaganzas and beanie babies in an attempt to draw a crowd.