Columnist Ron Kantowski: You’ll have to pay extra for selected UNLV games

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 | 8:48 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Though it probably will take some heat for it, UNLV is starting to price its home football games in the manner of prizefights or rock concerts.

For a heavyweight contest such as the season opener against Wisconsin, it'll cost $35 to get in. Tickets for the once intense but now fairly mundane Nevada-Reno game are $30 (sideline) and $18 (end zone). Seats for the remaining four games (Kansas, New Mexico, Wyoming and Air Force) are $26 and $13.

In actuality, UNLV began experimenting with ticket prices for the UNR game back in Jim Weaver's reign as athletic director. If you'll recall, the Rebels were so bad during most of those years that Weaver proposed the Rebels and Wolf Pack play twice every year.

In retrospect, and with Title IX contributing mightily to the high cost of competing within budget constraints, Weaver's idea doesn't seem as harebrained now as it did then. Likewise, from a bottom-line standpoint, pricing football tickets based on the opponent's box-office appeal certainly makes sense.

And more importantly, dollars.

Unfortunately, I didn't. In what had to be the worst fight since Tawny Kitaen beat up Chuck Finley with her high heels, Ruiz retained his title after Johnson was disqualified for a third low blow.

Though Johnson all but handed referee Joe Cortez a written confession confirming the south of the border tactics, replays showed that two of the three were questionable. The one that had Ruiz writhing around the canvas like a soccer player for nearly full five minutes appeared to strike him closer to his thigh than his privates.

In fact, Ruiz is lucky he turned his back on Cortez (or that his name isn't Mike Tyson) after the second low blow, or he might have been the one to get 86'd from the ring. Ruiz's blatant head butt of Johnson following the second apparent low blow easily was the most vicious and mean-spirited foul of the night.

At least to those who didn't pay good/any money for a ringside seat.

"If you would do some research on TSU, you would be surprised by the history of its sports programs," writes Bill Hayes. "Did you know that Ed 'Too Tall' Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Richard Dent of the Chicago Bears and Wilma Rudolph and the world famous Tigerbells (women's track and field) are TSU graduates? And that (TSU's) Aristocrats of Bands was the first to play at a presidential inauguration (JFK)?

"Give us a little publicity."

Consider it done, Bill.

But now you know what it's like to play golf in Tiger Woods' foursome.