Columnist Ron Kantowski: Don’t turn blind eye to danger

Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2001 | 9:56 a.m.

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

The Sun received two calls on Monday that "congratulated" us on our notebook item about the bronc that had to be euthanized following Sunday's National Finals Rodeo performance.

"Congratulated" is way too strong a word. We'll settle for "reported" the incident. It happened, we were there, we reported it. That is what reporters do, report the news -- whether it's good, bad, or in this case, sad.

At least that's what most reporters do. Both aforementioned callers said the NFR ESPN broadcast team neglected to mention the injured horse had to be destroyed.

At least the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which issued a release to media informing it of the end result, seems to have taken a cue from auto racing's sanctioning bodies. Ignoring the dangerous side of a sport will not make it go away. To do so only jeopardizes a niche sport's credibility with the mainstream public. ...

Any chance the BCS and the Nevada Interscholastic Athletic Association are bunking together? According to a story in Tuesday's Sun, most of the top girls basketball teams reside in the north (as usual). Yet under a playoff system that was instituted to reduce travel costs, six of the eight playoff berths will be reserved for southern teams this year. Like the BCS, there has to be a more equitable way to determine a champion. ...

We media types always complain when policy is made without our input. But then when we have the opportunity to make a difference -- such as in the voting for this year's Heisman Trophy -- 30 percent of our brethren were too lazy to mark their ballots and drop them in the mail. The three members of the Sun sports staff who had a vote took the responsibility seriously, but those who didn't should have their voting privileges revoked. ...

Remind me never to challenge the Lady Rebels' Erin Johansson to a game of H-O-R-S-E. She fired up seven shots from 3-point distance in Sunday's win at Nevada-Reno -- and made them all. ...

UNLV basketball coach Charlie Spoonhour complained on TV this week -- in a nice way, of course -- about a goofy early season schedule in which the Rebels have played only three home games at this late date. But where does it say UNLV can't play in Las Vegas just because the rodeo cowboys and cowgirls are ropin' and ridin' at the Thomas & Mack? I'm sure there are a lot of high school gyms that could accommodate the Rebels. Or you could set up a temporary court in the vicinity of the Strip (or Binion's poker room) and let everybody wearing a cowboy hat in for half-price. ...

And finally, UNLV president Carol Harter sicced one of her henchmen on me -- actually, a cordial university press officer named Tom Flagg -- to set me straight on her link to former Rebel coach Bill Bayno. She wanted to make it clear that she was not responsible for hiring Bayno, as I stated in this space last week, only for firing him.

She's right, in that Bayno's hiring preceded Harter's by three months in 1995. But that doesn't change my point -- that until Bayno had the bad timing to be charged with a recruiting violation at about the same time boosters thought they could lure Rick Pitino to town, Bayno was Harter's fair-haired boy.

I guess this means that unlike she did with Bayno, Dr. Harter won't be visiting me at courtside to kiss me on the cheek before tip-off.