Columnist Ron Kantowski: Hey Bayno, shhh! The NCAA may hear you

Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2000 | 10:31 a.m.

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

Based on his comments following the Dallas Inquisition (a k a UNLV's hearing in front of the NCAA Infractions Committee) last Friday, one can assume Bill Bayno wasn't spanked very often as a kid.

Obviously, he never learned that even if the swat is a glancing blow you should always scream bloody murder.

You should never invite more punishment, which Bayno seems to be doing after UNLV opted to sanction itself, hoping that would appease the NCAA as it considers how to punish the Rebels for violations within the men's basketball program.

"I don't think it really directly affects us," Bayno said about the restrictions, which include the loss of a scholarship and cutting recruiting in half.

"Two scholarships over two years ... I mean, right now we probably have too many players. We've got guys on the team who don't play. I only play a rotation of eight. Considering all things, this is a positive."

In other words, the restrictions are no big deal.

"We just hope that the committee will look at this and not take it any further."

No, what Bayno should hope is that the infractions board doesn't subscribe to the Las Vegas Sun and put his program on double secret probation -- or worse -- for his lack of contrition.

While Bayno probably was telling the truth, he should think these things out before he speaks. What he should have said is the self-imposed sanctions are brutal, and how can anybody expect him to beat Majerus under those circumstances?

On Monday, he backtracked a bit, sort of like he did when he spoke out against the proposal of making betting on Rebels games legal in Nevada, and then changed his mind the next day.

He didn't belittle the sanctions, conceding they were "necessary."

But let's not forget that the NCAA is still holding the paddle. And if I'm on that infractions committee and reading Bayno's initial comments, chances are I'm going to make it sting a little more on judgment day.

Around the horn

A published report to the contrary notwithstanding, I don't see how any event that brings a quarter of a million people to town and pumps $170 million into the local economy over three days -- which is what last weekend's inaugural United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis meant to the Indiana capital, according to studies -- would have been bad for Las Vegas.

That race was headed here until the Clark County Commission and/or local resort owners (I'm leaning toward "or") wouldn't work together to bring the world's most prestigious motor racing circuit to town when it had the chance(s) a couple of years ago.

A report in the morning newspaper said F-1 wouldn't work here because nobody would buy tickets. Then, later in the story, it said an F-1 race would cause a huge traffic jam on the Strip.

Well, which is it? If nobody goes to the race, how can there be a traffic jam?

Reminds me of that old Yogi Berra-ism: "No wonder why nobody eats at that restaurant any more. It's too crowded."

Note to Bill Snyder over at Kansas State: Delaware beat West Chester 84-0 this past Saturday and it's not too late to get the Golden Rams on the Wildcats' schedule next year. I heard West Chester has an open date between Kutztown and East Stroudsburg in 2001.

Olympic athletes can't decide whether to take their clothes off or put more of them on. According to reports, the Australian women are literally turning the pole vault into a demonstration sport at Sydney by wearing next to nothing. Meanwhile, many of the sprinters now sport full body stockings topped by an aerodynamic skullcap. They look like speed skaters or that old superhero, The Flash.

Which, if the Aussie pole vaulters aren't careful, will be what they're charged with next.

Prediction: Bob Knight's next coaching job will be out West, or at least somewhere where he can hunt and fish, but wouldn't it be something if the head coaching job at Butler became open sometime during the next year? The Butler campus is situated in Indianapolis and Knight could continue to wreak havoc with his former employer by competing against Indiana for players and fans in its own backyard.

Hits and misses

TED MUSGRAVE: First it was Jack Nicklaus who decided to skip out on the death of a loved one (his mother, who died the weekend of the PGA Championship); now it's NASCAR's Ted Musgrave. The journeyman driver said his father, who died just prior to qualifying, would have wanted him to drive in Sunday's MBNA.com 400 rather than grieve his passing.

While everyone deals with the death of a loved one in his own way, I was never tempted to stay here and write columns a few years ago when my dad died because that's what he would have wanted me to do. MISS.