Columnist Ron Kantowski: Viewers pick Gladiators, golf over Rebels

Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2003 | 9:37 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.

If you still subscribe to the notion that sports in Las Vegas revolves around the UNLV basketball team, you had better cancel it.

To show how far the Rebels have blipped from the local radar, consider the UNLV vs. Southern Cal basketball game on Sunday afternoon finished behind the Gladiators-Arizona Rattlers Arena Football telecast from Phoenix in the local Neilsen ratings.

The Arena game drew a 4.6 rating while the stumblin' Rebels received a 3.4. Granted, in that the football game was played in Phoenix and the basketball game at the Thomas & Mack Center, the ratings may been skewed by fans who made the misguided decision to attend the UNLV game in person.

On second thought, forget the home game factor. This is Las Vegas, where we never pay for a ticket when we can freeload at home.

Actually, the Rebels finished third locally among the sports fare on network TV Sunday, as the UNLV game also came up short against the AT&T Golf tourney, which drew a 4.1.

It's one thing to finish behind a football game, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. But when Joe Pesci taking divots at Pebble Beach beats you in the ratings, shoddy backcourt play may be the least of the Rebels' worries.

A caller Monday asked me what I thought of the Rebels-USC game. I told him it reminded me of those old Harlem Globetrotters cartoons (with the Trojans cast as the 'Trotters), without the morality lesson at the end.

In fact, rather than show highlights, I heard SportsCenter just used one of those Globetrotters clips that shows the ball continuously spinning through the net and the numbers on the scoreboard rotating at a similar rate.

Given the Rebels turned the ball over 34 times against USC and the Gladiators turned the ball over five times against Arizona, the Las Vegas plays of the week should be sponsored by Pepperidge Farm.

I had to chuckle when I read the quote from the Gladiators' Mike Horacek, who said: "You take those turnovers away, and we run away with it."

At least none of the Rebels tried to get away with that observation.

What's eating Marcus Banks? The Rebels' star seems preoccupied in recent games and even when he does put it all together, such as in last Monday's easier-than-expected victory over Colorado State in which he scored 31 points, there are issues.

According to observers in the dressing room tunnel, Banks challenged a man identified as Rebel teammate Dalron Johnson's former summer league coach to a fight after the CSU game.

Banks, according to onlookers, was seen taking off his jacket and heading "outside" before cooler heads prevailed.

Tiny Indian Springs has to be the only 8-man, football-playing high school in the country that can claim four Division I scholarship players.

Last week's national signing day addition of Faauo Faga gives UNLV four players from Indian Springs -- brothers Derek and David Olsen and brothers Andrew and Faauo Faga.

The Thunderbirds are coached by Sope Faga, Andrew and Faauo's father. And scouts say there's another Faga brother, Omega, who may be the best one yet.

I heard from a veteran UNLV booster Monday who said he longed for the old days, when Jerry Tarkanian coached the Rebels and UNLV was the one forcing turnovers, not committing them.

Ah, those were the good ol' days -- but they're not for everybody.

For instance, have you noticed that Fresno State is 17-4 this year under former Oklahoma assistant Ray Lopes, just a year since Tark called it quits. And that (so far) the Bulldogs are doing their own homework?

Around the horn: During Saturday night's Shane Mosley-Raul Marquez buttfest on HBO, boxing commentator Jim Lampley credited one of the dot.com sites for raising the question whether Tony Alamo Jr. should be allowed to serve as vice chairman on the Nevada State Athletic Commission while his father is employed as CEO at Mandalay Bay, which hosts virtually every big fight here. But the Sun's Dean Juipe wrote about the potential conflict the day after Alamo Jr. was promoted several weeks ago. ... How good are sports on high definition TV? Well, prior to Sunday, when the NBA Slam Dunkfest -- er, All-Star Game -- was broadcast in HDTV, the last NBA game I watched in its entirety featured Clifford Ray and Bob McAdoo as the starting centers. ... While Andre Agassi continues to add major hardware to his trophy case, one of the guys he broke in with is callin g it quits. Indefatigable Michael Chang, 31, who spent much of his spare time fishing for Lake Mead stripers during the years he called Henderson home, has announced that this year will be his last on the ATP Tour. ... And finally, while NBA throwback jerseys are all the range, when's the last time you saw anybody hip-hopping around in Hank Finkel's old No. 29?