Columnist Dean Juipe: Petty plans to run twice in Las Vegas

Dean Juipe

Friday, Jan. 23, 2004 | 10:12 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

Fast wheels, fast feet? That's what we're asking ourselves as we lead off this notes column with an item on NASCAR driver Kyle Petty and his participation in Sunday's Las Vegas Marathon.

Petty, 43, will be wearing bib No. 5001 as he takes part in the half-marathon that runs from Sloan to Sunset Park. A resident of High Point, N.C., Petty is mixing business with pleasure by combining a Tuesday practice session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a spot in the 6,500-person marathon field. ... Look for Las Vegas resident and Ethiopia native Abebe Yimer to win the marathon, as he has let it be known he's looking to run the 26.2 miles in 2:20. Yimer also won the race in 2002.

Race director Al Boka said "maybe things are looking up" as we talked about the 38th annual event Thursday. He has added Michelob Ultra -- via Nevada Beverage -- as a national sponsor for 2005 and he's hoping to get the race back to where it can offer prize money. ... A marathon in Phoenix two weeks ago had a $750,000 marketing budget and attracted 29,000 runners in pursuit of a $100,000 purse. Boka's budget is a slim $16,000 for this year's race.

Ricky Sobers will become only the sixth former UNLV player to have his uniform jersey retired when the Las Vegas resident is honored at halftime of the Rebels' Feb. 21 game with Colorado State. Sobers, the school's first basketball All-American and the No. 1 draft pick of the Phoenix Suns in 1975, played two seasons with UNLV teams that went a combined 44-11, although he didn't lead either of those teams in scoring. Nor was he named to the first, second or honorable mention "All Millennium" team the school selected in 1999. So is Sobers truly deserving of an honor such as having his jersey retired? "I think so," said UNLV senior associate athletic director Jerry Koloskie, who also chairs the department's Hall of Fame committee. "He not only was our first All-American, his teams put UNLV basketball on the map and there was a time he was known as Mr. UNLV Ba sketball. I'd say there's no question he's worthy."

A continuing problem with the American Basketball Association's Las Vegas Rattlers and the team's inability to promote itself or make contact with the media has ABA chairman Joe Newman upset. "It's terribly frustrating," he said by phone from his Indianapolis office. "They're not doing a good job with the press -- period. And there are no excuses, including their own inexperience. A strong presence with the media and good working relationship with the press is important, and the Rattlers are not effective on a local level. It's difficult enough to get people interested (in the ABA product) and we haven't been impressed with how they've been going about it." The Rattlers played twice this week but neither Las Vegas newspaper ran so much as a final score from either game. "We're going to take care of that," Newman promised, adding that the league will expand from its current seven teams to either 18, 21 or 24 next season.

The upcoming Super Bowl between New England and Carolina will be the first in which neither team represents a specific city. ... Panthers' kick returner Rod Smart -- aka He Hate Me -- gives Las Vegas more than just a gambling tie to the Super Bowl. Smart, who averaged 23.1 yards on kick returns this season and who also brought one back for a touchdown, played here for the short-lived Las Vegas Outlaws of the equally short-lived XFL. At the time, Smart drew attention to himself not so much for his playing ability but for having He Hate Me on the back of his uniform jersey where most guys had their names. ... Who says the outcomes of NFL preseason games aren't important? Carolina (4-0) and New England (4-0) were two of only four teams to go unbeaten in exhibitions last summer. Tennessee and Arizona, also both 4-0, were the others.

An astute reader wonders if -- and if not, why not? -- Las Vegas will bid on hosting the third largest sporting event in the world, the Rugby World Cup. The tournament for 2011 is about to come up for bid and the winning entry can be assured of crowds in excess of 80,000 for games stretched across 40 days. Only the Olympics and the Soccer World Cup are bigger draws, the reader points out. ... The Gorgeous Ladies Of Wrestling, or GLOW, which was once based in a strip mall in Las Vegas, continues to operate and offers weekly pay-per-view shows on Wednesday.

Shawn Marion (Phoenix), Marcus Banks (Boston), Keon Clark (Utah) and Stacey Augmon (New Orleans) are ex-Rebels playing in the NBA this season. Marion (at $10,067,750) and Clark (at $5 million) are the best paid. ... Golfers on the PGA Senior tour are no longer allowed to ride in carts during competitive rounds. ... The seniors, of course, no longer stop in Las Vegas and neither will the PGA tour this year unless Las Vegas acts quickly to fill the void that exists in the tour schedule for the week of Oct. 7-10. The first city to make an offer will get the spot, which is vacant only because Las Vegas hasn't been able to finalize a deal and take its usual place in the rotation. ... But the LPGA tour will be here April 15-17, so all is not lost.