Columnist Ron Kantowski: LV Bowl gets lump of coal

Thursday, Feb. 20, 2003 | 10:16 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, so far in its many incarnations the Las Vegas Bowl has featured the champions of the Big West and Mid-American conferences, a representative of the old Western Athletic Conference vs. an at-large opponent, and, more recently, the second choice from the Old WAC Minus Fresno State (aka the Mountain West Conference) against the Pac-10 team closest to .500 (actually, the fifth choice).

It has been played on Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. It has opened the bowl season, on Dec. 14, and served as a stocking stuffer on Christmas Day.

Move over, Madonna. You haven't re-invented anything until you try selling tickets for North Carolina vs. San Diego State.

And just when you thought The Immaterial Bowl had finally found a permanent home -- Christmas Day, when it has been held the last two years, seemed to work as well as anything -- the Las Vegas Bowl announced this week it is moving again. Effective immediately (and at least for one year), the game will be played on Christmas Eve, at 4:30 p.m.

According to the press release, this is supposed to assure the teams and their fans will be able to spend Christmas with their families, and that many more Las Vegans will purchase tickets to a game whose participants they care next to nothing about.

What was it that Jerry said on "Seinfeld" when Kramer and Newman hatched a plan to strike it rich by exploiting Michigan's liberal pop bottle return policy?

"Yeah, like that's gonna work."

For the record, outside of executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy, there may not be a bigger Las Vegas Bowl fan than yours truly. We're part of a very small minority that has witnessed all 11 LV Bowls, the only difference being that she had to be there. Many of my appearances were optional.

So I would hate to see the game go to hell in Lee Corso's handbag, or whatever ESPN's college football guru uses to accessorize his wardrobe. But that's where it seems to be headed.

If there's a worse day for playing football than Christmas, it's Christmas Eve. If you're like me, that's the day reserved for shopping. Or going to the Smith's Food King in pursuit of Christmas dinner ingredients. Or breaking out that bottle of Bailey's (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) to raise a glass of holiday cheer with friends or relatives.

At least by Christmas afternoon, most of that stuff is out of the way. Other than the frantic mid-afternoon search for batteries, Christmas in many households is over by 11 a.m. But on Christmas Eve, we're just getting started at my place.

Then there's the 4:30 p.m. kickoff, when the weather is sure to be as cold as Steve Austin's refrigerator. An even bigger factor is that America West has a grand total of two flights (one to Portland and one to Seattle) leaving for LV Bowl cities after 10 p.m. Southwest has zero. The next one to Portland arrives at 10:23 on Christmas morning. And then you're got another hour and a half to Eugene or two hours to Corvallis.

Unless you're flying charter, it doesn't leave much time for assembling a bicycle, does it?

But as the press release says, the game should do well on TV, in that there are no other bowl games, sporting events or even a Rolling Stones concert scheduled for Christmas Eve.

For the Las Vegas Bowl's sake, let's also hope there are a lot of football fans named Grinch. And that Whoville State isn't bowl eligible.