Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Steve Guiremand: Crowd at Nevada-Reno game fit for Jerry Springer show

Steve Guiremand covers college football for the Sun. He can be reached at [email protected] or (702) 259-2324.

Memo to Jerry Springer:

Looking for a place to take your show on the road? Forget about spring break in Cancun or Panama City, Fla. Have I got the place for you.

Reno.

Why fly nitwits and trailer trash to Chicago to tape your shows when all you have to do is sit in the bleachers or stand outside the visiting locker room at Mackay Stadium before a UNLV-Wolf Pack game?

You would have had plenty of candidates to choose from, and we're not just talking about the clown who nailed Rebels coach John Robinson in the face with a beer container in the end zone as he walked off the field at halftime.

It would make for an interesting show if all you did was just film the hundreds of "fans" who lined the route to the locker room -- those who weren't busy relieving themselves in public by the Rebels' equipment truck -- as UNLV players and coaches walked by before the game, at halftime and, of course, afterward.

You want to show your viewers something surreal? Check out all the young kids yelling four-letter words and flipping "the bird" to the Rebels as Ma and Pa stand proudly nearby.

How about a program about the dangers of mixing alcohol with elevated levels of testosterone as college kids wander around Mackay Stadium in packs before kickoff looking for anyone wearing red to throw a beer can at or to test out their latest profanities?

And of course you could have a contest with the studio audience to try and guess what will be thrown at UNLV players and coaches out of the bleachers next ... bottles, batteries or pizza.

Seriously folks, maybe it's time to think about whether UNLV needs to continue to play Nevada-Reno anymore for the Fremont Cannon.

All these legislators who want to move the game to Nevada Day and voted to make it an annual event should be forced to walk out with the teams and stand on the sidelines and take in the "atmosphere" of this state rivalry first hand. Hopefully, they won't get conked in the head with a rock or a quarter.

How sad is it that rule No. 1 when playing at Mackay Stadium for the Rebels is not to take your helmet off? Rule No. 2 should be that coaches and equipment personnel also should be required to wear headgear.

Despite good sportsmanship pleas from both schools heading into Saturday night's game at Mackay Stadium, the sad thing is nothing much has really changed. In fact, you get the feeling the people in charge don't get it ... or don't want to.

Fortunately, UNLV was smart enough to bring along 10 of its own police officers to the game to help out and keep the drunken Billy Bobs and their kids at arm's length from the team as they exited the stadium afterward. But the major problems -- the east end zone bleachers where most of the objects come from and the close proximity of the fans to the visiting entryway to the stadium -- hasn't changed in the three trips I've made there. It's a no-brainer and should be priority No. 1 before UNLV's next visit to Reno.

Wolf Pack officials said all the right things afterward and were very apologetic for what happened to Robinson. But it still gave the school and rivalry a major black eye nationally.

Just think for a moment. What would have happened if Robinson had been hit with a battery and suffered a serious head injury? Here's a guy who has coached countless times before 100,000 people in real rivalry games like USC-UCLA and USC-Notre Dame and never had to endure anything nearly as classless as what happened last Saturday night by fans of a glorified I-AA program.

What can be done?

First, no more UNLV-Wolf Pack games at night. Period. They start at noon both at Sam Boyd Stadium and at Mackay Stadium to cut down on the possibility of alcohol-related problems.

Second, put undercover police in the key areas of the stadium where they might be able to prevent a nasty incident before it happens. Anyone swearing or throwing stuff is arrested and taken from the stadium. Ditto under-aged drinking.

Finally, how about putting up block walls between the bleachers and the visiting team entryway to Mackay Stadium? Even better, how about putting much-needed concession stands and bathrooms on the other sides of those block walls?

Whether all that even makes a big difference remains to be seen. But at least it would be a good start.

Meanwhile, the folks in Reno who are hoping to get an invite if/when the Mountain West Conference decides to expand might want to take note of what MWC commissioner Craig Thompson said this Saturday night's incident.

"It didn't come up (at the MWC's joint council meeting)," he said, adding, "Game management, crowds, atmosphere ... all of those things will play a part in what schools are considered if we do decide to add teams."

It also should play a key role in whether UNLV and Nevada-Reno continue their Fremont Cannon series.

Unless changes are made fast, I say put the Cannon back in mothballs ... before somebody gets killed.

Once around the MWC

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