Columnist Ron Kantowski: Bizarro sports in Las Vegas

Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2002 | 10:48 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.

Let's see if I have this straight: On the parcel of downtown land where we were going to build a stadium/arena for major league sports, we're going to have something called chuckwagon races. And in the football stadium we already have, two black college powers located roughly 500 miles apart will instead square off about 1,500 miles from home.

Jerry Seinfeld was right: There is a Bizarro World.

Las Vegas has seen its share of strange sports weekends, but perhaps none more diverse than the one coming up. The Las Vegas Stampede chuckwagon races will celebrate Western Canadian heritage while the Silver Dollar Classic extols African-American culture, as well as the outstanding Division I-AA football programs of Grambling and Tennessee State and their high-stepping marching bands.

At first glance, these two events seem to have about as much in common as Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie. But they do share an underlying thread in that each has some controversy to overcome.

In the case of the chuckwagons, it's that they appear more dangerous than David Berkowitz at an animal shelter. Have you seen the TV spot advertising the event? One of the "highlights" shows horses and drivers and wagons going down in a cloud of dust that would do Woody Hayes proud.

Only sometimes, unlike a Buckeyes' fullback, the horses don't get up.

During this year's Calgary Stampede, four horses had to be destroyed after being injured in crashes. Another died after suffering a heart attack. Proponents of the sport say these tragedies are rare, but I'll bet the PETA folks are lining up outside the gates as you read this.

Many moons ago, when I was low man on the Sun totem pole, I was assigned to cover the Helldorado rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center. During intermission, they rolled out a couple of horse-drawn wagons and let them race around some barrels that were painted like gigantic cans of Coors beer.

What looked like a bad Purina Chows commercial was my introduction to chuckwagon racing, or at least the arena football version of it. But to be honest, it looked more crazy than dangerous, although those two often go together.

As for the football game, it would appear Grambling has bigger problems than figuring out Tennessee State. According to a story in Monday's USA Today, if Grambling doesn't get its books in order by Sept. 25 and show how it is spending state and federal dollars, one of the nation's most respected historically black colleges could lose its accreditation.

If that were to happen, Grambling might close. Without the federal seal of approval, a degree from Grambling State would be worth about as much as one from one of those trade schools that Sally Struthers brags on.

Grambling and its legendary coach, Eddie Robinson, sent 220 players to the NFL before retiring in 1997. For that reason alone, I predict Grambling will survive. But if it doesn't?

Well, as Brittnay Williams, who comes from a long line of Grambling grads, told USA Today, "If Grambling does shut down, I will go to (Louisiana) Tech. And I'm going to hate it, because I've always wanted to go to Grambling."

Louisiana Tech? Isn't that where Terry Bradshaw went to school?

Maybe Struthers State isn't such a bad deal after all.