Columnist Ron Kantowski: Bowl will need help from Santa

Tuesday, Aug. 21, 2001 | 10:32 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088. Regular sports columnist Dean Juipe has the day off.

Within 10 minutes of receiving an e-mail that the Las Vegas Bowl was moving to Christmas Day, the phone rang. It was Tina Kunzer-Murphy, the LV Bowl's Executive Director and the hardest working woman in the bowl business.

Of course, she's the only women in the bowl business. But she really does work hard, she's pleasant and she returns phone calls.

This time, she didn't have to. Kunzer-Murphy was calling because, as she so aptly put it, "I read your mind." Although she sidestepped the steel trap, she had to know I was going to blast this decision as if it were an old Strip hotel waiting to be imploded.

Actually, I understand the move. Bowing to the TV gods will help prolong the attendance-challenged game's somewhat tenuous future, as it now will land on national TV (ABC) with next-to-no sports viewing competition, instead of on Thursday night on ESPN2 where locally, it went up against Seinfeld reruns.

If you're Kunzer-Murphy, you probably make the trade-off with hardly a second thought.

But if the local bowl officials think this decision is going to help the walk-up crowd, they've watched "Miracle of 34th Street" once too often.

Don't forget, they played two bowl games on Christmas Day in Hawaii last year. The first one did so well it will be played in Seattle this year. The second one is still looking for a new home after being rejected by Anaheim, among others.

I hate to be The Grinch when it comes to drawing a crowd to a Christmas Day sporting event in Las Vegas. But as Boris Karloff sang about the slimy green descendant of Ebenezer Scrooge, I wouldn't touch a Christmas Day bowl game with a 39 1/2-foot pole.

According to a story in the Contra Costa (Calif.) Times, De La Fuente has been called everything from "reckless" to "indiscreet" to "completely uncontrollable" by observers who think the misinformation may have caused permanent damage with the current A's owners, who had been working closely with Oakland city officials on a new long-term deal.

Las Vegas reporters who were forced to refute the bogus rumors the next day also had a few words for De La Fuente, many of them featuring hard consonant sounds.

According to the Detroit News, Michigan's upscale image doesn't jibe with the stereotype of NASCAR's beer-swilling, uneducated fans.

"It is kind of bizarre ... seeing this Michigan Wolverine car running around," said Jeff Cameron, a 1993 Michigan grad and football season-ticket holder. "It just doesn't fit Michigan's image. It sounds like it should be a Spartan car, not a Wolverine car."

Cameron, of course, was taking a cheap shot at Michigan State, Michigan's Big Ten rival.

In reality, Michigan didn't pay a penny for putting its big, block "M" on Sawyer's car. The program was conceived by the Collegiate Licensing Company and involves 14 universities located near Busch Series tracks.

For instance, when UNLV still was a member of the Western Athletic Conference, the WAC's postseason women's volleyball tournament was played at the MGM Grand during Thanksgiving week.

As the Sun reader pointed out, that would mean it is -- or at least was -- OK for a women's Olympic (read: non-revenue) sport to compete in a gaming venue, but not a men's revenue sport.

Also, a women who plays fullback for the Minneapolis Vixen, Jodi "Moose" Armstrong (she signed her e-mail that way), said the Vixen is an independent team and not affiliated with either league.

Good enough for me. I know better than to start an argument with a women who answers to "Moose."