Columnist Ron Kantowski: Schlossnagle remembers pro-Huskers crowd at World Series

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 | 9:17 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Although Jim Schlossnagle has yet to schedule Little Bighorn State, at least the UNLV baseball coach can appreciate the predicament Gen. George Custer got himself into.

Not to mention Barry Switzer.

Schlossnagle's only trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. -- although he'd probably like to add the qualifier "so far" to that -- was in 2001, his last year as Tulane pitching coach.

The Green Wave's second-round opponent that year was none other than Nebraska.

Technically, Creighton serves as host school for the CWS. But apparently, nobody told the capacity crowd that Rosenblatt Stadium was to remain a neutral site.

"I've only been there once, but you talk to the people who have been there a lot, and they'll tell you that most of the 24,000 people who are there just cheer for good baseball," Schlossnagle said of the prevailing mood at the CWS, which runs through the weekend.

"It's not really a volatile atmosphere -- with the exception being if Nebraska is there.

"When we played Nebraska, of the 24,000 people there, 23,400 must have been wearing red. There were only 600 or 700 wearing green, and they were sitting behind our dugout."

The (near) hometown crowd notwithstanding, Tulane managed to beat the Cornhuskers in an elimination game, sandwiching the win against Nebraska between losses to perennial powers Stanford and Cal State Fullerton.

Schlossnagle said even if the fans tend to sit on their hands, being on the field for a College World Series game is something one in his business does not soon forget.

"That's the pearly gates of college baseball, the signature event," he said. "That's what you're in it for, the chance to get to Omaha. Once you get there, you can't go to restaurant or a mall without ... somebody talking to you about those games.

"But if you want to experience a volatile atmosphere, go to a Super Regional (the last qualifying round for the CWS played at home sites). We played LSU in the Super Regional and there were 14,000 there each day.

"Now that was crazy."

It was Joe Burleson, who makes his home in Las Vegas. Burleson made it as far as the Pacific Coast League in the late 1990s before becoming one of college baseball's most respected arbiters.

The ESPN broadcast crew applauded Burleson for getting into proper position to make the call.

Dobson, the son of veteran televison actor Kevin Dobson, who played detective Bobby Crockett on "Kojak," joins first baseman Fernando Valenzuela and pitcher Robbie Van of Silverado High on the list of Rebels who will forego their senior years to play pro ball.

"Pat did sign, and naturally we're disappointed (in losing another key player)," UNLV coach Jim Schlossnagle said. "But sometimes that's the price you pay for being 47-17."

It was American auto racing legend Dan Gurney, who celebrated his 1967 victory in the 24 Hours of LeMans endurance classic by dousing his co-driver A.J. Foyt, their Ford mechanics and French race fans with the bubbly stuff.

Even though his win at LeMans predated Gatorade by a couple of years, Gurney apparently decided he'd rather "share" the fruits of victory rather than consume them himself.