Columnist Ron Kantowski: XFL was lucky to avoid rainy opener

Tuesday, Jan. 30, 2001 | 10:30 a.m.

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

Vince McMahon is lucky the NFL took an extra week to hype all those "pantywaists" playing in the Super Bowl.

Had it not, it might have triggered a domino effect that could have resulted in a public relations disaster for the fledgling XFL.

Let's say that Kerry Collins and Trent Dilfer threw all those interceptions and incompletions the weekend before last. In all likelihood, that would have moved the nationally televised XFL opener between the Las Vegas Outlaws and the New York/New Jersey Rabid Dogs (or whatever they call themselves) at Sam Boyd Stadium ahead a week, to last Saturday.

It rained all day Saturday.

When it comes to live sports, Las Vegas is literally a fair-weather town. Any time it rains or the mercury drops below 60, we stay indoors. In other words, the only place you'd find 27,000 curious football fans (which is what Outlaws officials are boldly predicting for Saturday) on opening night would be gathered around their big-screen television sets (provided there weren't any "Baywatch" reruns showing).

The Sam Boyd playing field, in suspect condition as is, would have been turned into a Monster Truck bog. And those half-naked cheerleaders would have caught a death of a cold.

McMahon insists there will be nothing scripted about the league. But this Saturday's forecast is calling for clear skies and 64-degree temperatures, so it has to make you wonder.

With the Rebels leading San Diego State with just a few seconds to play, basically all Richardson had to do was inbound the basketball to a teammate -- or for that matter, even an Aztec -- to preserve a UNLV victory. Instead, he thought he saw Jason Sehorn fall down and hurled the ball the length of the court -- right into the pep band section.

The clock did not start, and the ball was turned over to the Aztecs at the point Richardson turned it over. Naturally, SDSU drained a 3-pointer to force overtime as UNLV blew a 5-point lead in the final 15 seconds of regulation.

It might have been the worst example of clock management since John Cameron Swayze hurled a timepiece into Niagra Falls in one of those old Timex commercials.

Talking about his decision to leave Bishop Gorman High before he coached a single game to become an assistant with the financially struggling Las Vegas Bandits of the IBL, the ex-Rebel said he "left a good situation to come to a better one."

If Smith truly believes that, I've got some dot-com stock that he can have for a song.

The NCAA recently flagged three athletes for sportsman-like conduct during the past year that you may have missed amid the rampant trash-talking, bench-clearing brawls, late hits and intentional fouls.

Topping the list is Big Ten long jump champion George Audu of Penn State, who asked that his trophy be given to an injured rival, Mike Turner of Purdue, who was facing possible amputation of his right leg following a freak injury.

The NCAA also cited Salfiya Ingram of Alabama, who lost the Southeastern Conference hammer throw title when she called the officials' attention to an incorrect distance that had been recorded for her; and tennis player Linday Morton of Ferrum College, who lent an extra racket to an opponent, who then used it to beat her in the Dixie Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championships.

TCU coach Billy Tubbs, conversely, was not nominated for the award.

You may be familiar with the anecdote by now. When referees insisted Tubbs try to calm an agitated crowd at Daniel-Meyer Coliseum by addressing it over the public address system, Tubbs at first resisted. But when threatened with a technical foul, he finally relented.

"No matter how bad these referees are," the colorful Tubbs implored of the Horned Frog faithful, "don't throw anything on the court."

The two pages of descriptions of the Outlaws cheerleaders are pretty straightforward but I'll bet you didn't know that Caroline of the New York/New Jersey Rabid Dogs -- er, Hitmen -- has a tattoo of a dolphin on her pelvis.

For his sake, I hope it's not Dan Marino.