Columnist Dean Juipe: Bowl game, Christmas an odd mix

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Nov. 27, 2001 | 10:43 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

With Thanksgiving behind us, I got into the Christmas spirit for the first time Monday, buying a box of cards and pondering how I would spend the big day.

Exchanging gifts with friends, perhaps?

A home-cooked meal at Mom's?

Dinner with my lovely wife?

And then reality snapped in. Like it or not, I realized I'd be at the Las Vegas Bowl and the 12:30 p.m. game and whatever column I come up with will certainly put a crimp in any extraneous plans.

It being better to give than to receive, I'm going to give the Las Vegas Bowl the benefit of doubt and say in advance that I'm not dreading seeing Utah vs. Southern California. But how many others -- how many ticket buyers -- will be so accepting?

"I don't know what to expect," said Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy. "Will I be pulling my hair out? Probably, but I do that every year."

But this year, unlike in 2000 when the Las Vegas Bowl was played on Dec. 21, it's Christmas day that will be infringed. The TV ratings will be exceptional, but what about the live gate?

"Well, I don't know if it's any worse than being on a Thursday night the week before Christmas with a 5 p.m. starting time and people just then getting off work," Kunzer-Murphy said, referring to last year's situation. "We don't know what's going to happen Christmas day but as traditional and non-traditional as Las Vegas is, maybe it will support a bowl game on Christmas.

"But all I really hope is that people give us a chance."

Las Vegas bit this Christmas hook for an assortment of reasons related to TV. Aside from the Blue-Gray Game, the Las Vegas Bowl (on ABC) will be the only college football on television that day, as a pair of games that were held last year in Hawaii have been nixed.

"After opening their gifts and having breakfast and lunch, everyone will be poised to watch football and it doesn't get any better than that," Kunzer-Murphy said. "The TV ratings will be great."

She's right, but with this caveat: The games in Hawaii, aside from supposedly being poorly run, flopped in part because live attendance was dismal. And there are no assurances that it will be any better in Las Vegas.

By agreement with the conferences, each of the competing teams must purchase 12,500 tickets. USC and Utah both "travel well," so those 25,000 should get distributed and the seats should be taken.

That leaves another 11,800 tickets to sell to reach the bowl organizers' goal of a full house at Sam Boyd Stadium. Given that last year's game drew 29,113 yet included UNLV as one of the participants, a true sellout for USC vs. Utah may be wishful thinking.

But the afternoon placement of the game is a significant plus, in that it should minimize the chilly weather. And USC ( 6-5 but coming off big wins over California and UCLA) and Utah (7-3 with a game Saturday at Air Force) make for a good pairing in that each is a known commodity and predicting the winner is far from a sure thing.

It certainly won't be the least-attended Las Vegas Bowl in history.

Yet it needs to lure enough locals to fill in the gaps between the hard-liners from USC and Utah.

So, what are you doing for Christmas?