Columnist Ron Kantowski: Unlike Tyson, Rebels willing to mix it up

Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2003 | 10:03 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.

They're not the baddest men on the planet, or even the Mountain West Conference. But unlike Mike Tyson, there's still plenty of fight remaining in the UNLV basketball team.

Since getting embarrassed by Southern Cal 10 days ago in the manner of those gold digging "Joe Millionaire" gals, the Rebels have been more honest -- especially on the defensive end of the court -- than a $19,000 a year construction worker.

First, they went to San Diego State and befuddled the Aztecs with a 2-3 zone defense en route to a 79-64 victory. Three days later, they bedazzled then first-place Brigham Young with gritty interior defense on the way to a 61-54 win. And Monday night, they nearly bedeviled nationally ranked Utah before falling 86-80 in overtime.

Like Meatloaf said, two out of three ain't bad, especially after that USC disaster.

In battling back from a 14-point second-half deficit to force an extra period against the MWC's premier program, it can safely be said that the Rebels are back.

I think.

So Mike Tyson reportedly has a new tattoo that covers one side of his face? No one seems to know what the design is, but if Tyson were smart, he should have asked the artist for an Everlast boxing glove.

That way, it would match the one Lennox Lewis tattooed upside his head last summer.

This was not the kind of welcoming present Dave "Smokey" Gaines had in mind.

The former San Diego State basketball coach moved to Henderson two months ago but last week drove himself to St. Rose Dominican Hospital's Siena Campus, the victim of a heart attack.

Gaines, who will turn 61 Monday, was hospitalized in good condition in the intensive care unit but has since been released.

The former Harlem Globetrotter compiled a 112-117 record in eight seasons on the Aztecs' bench from 1979-87. His 1984-85 NCAA Tournament team, which lost to UNLV in the first round, was the last one of those at SDSU until Steve Fisher guided the Aztecs to last year's Big Dance.

First, thieves made off with the Lego version of the Stanley Cup at a recent Las Vegas convention. Then last week, somebody swiped an original LeRoy Neiman golf painting from the display in the window of Centaur Galleries in the Fashion Show Mall.

At least witnesses got a good description of the art thief, who was described as a white male, 45-50 years old, 5-foot-8, 150 lbs., black/white hair, wearing blue jeans, a dark below the waist coat and tennis shoes. He made his getaway in a white van splashed with splotches of bright colors.

Actually, all but the part about the getaway vehicle are true.

A couple of years ago, Kenny Mayne was one of the ESPN SportsCenter's rising stars, having even been elevated to the status of co-anchor with Dan Patrick.

While I still think that the former UNLV backup quarterback is pretty clever, this past weekend Mayne made his debut on the all sports network's "Citgo Racing to the Kentucky Derby" program, the first of nine leading up to the 129th "Run for the Roses" in May.

Mayne is said to passionate about horse racing and has served as emcee for the sport's Eclipse Awards. That said, guys who host horse racing shows usually don't get to slop barbecue sauce all over their mug for a (TGI) Friday's commercial.

Around the horn: It didn't take long for Arena Football to fall to the bottom of the Sunday afternoon network sports ratings chart, although it should be noted that its competition (Daytona 500, Tiger Woods) was saltier than a street vendor's pretzel. Daytona topped the heap in Las Vegas with an 8.2 rating/17 share, followed by Buick Invitational golf (6.4/13), Spurs-Kings (2.8/6), Sixers-Nets (2.5/5) and the Colorado-LA indoor football game (1.6/3). ... You knew the Thomas & Mack in-house cameraman was asking for trouble at Friday's BYU-UNLV game when he panned the arena during timeouts for couples -- not all of them male-female -- and framed them in a heart that said "Kiss Me." Based on the one-fingered salute of a long-haired guy and his buddy, I'd say there were at least a couple of Arizona fans in the house, although I'm not sure they were tryi ng to say that the 'Cats were "No. 1." ... According to ESPN.com, 56.6 percent of those surveyed wanted NASCAR to finish the rain-shortened Daytona 500 on Monday, 25.7 percent said the result as is was acceptable and 17.6 percent thought NASCAR should have waited longer for the rain to stop. But 100.0 percent at the track thought the race shouldn't have been halted until Rusty Wallace made his way to the front, so they could take home a free six-pack of Miller Lite as part of a promotion by Wallace's sponsor. ... The brilliant drive of Las Vegas' Kurt Busch from 36th place to second nothwithstanding, the highlight of my race weekend was when John Travolta gave the command to start engines. Barbarino was more animated then Mr. Woodman dressing down the Sweathogs.