Duly Noted

Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2005 | 9:26 a.m.

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY

A couple of years ago the Las Vegas Bowl succeeded in getting off Christmas Day, a great time slot for TV ratings but not-so-great for drawing a live audience.

Were the game still played on Christmas, it could have been a disaster this year. While Brigham Young is the Las Vegas Bowl's "Tickle Me Elmo" -- for the first time in history, the game has sold out, mostly because of BYU's presence -- the Cougars wouldn't be participating and the bowl committee would probably be handing out 3-for-1 tickets.

Christmas falls on Sunday this year. Because of its affiliation with the Mormon church, BYU does not play ball on Sunday.

This year's Las Vegas Bowl, with Cal of the Pac-10 providing the opposition for BYU, is set for Dec. 22 -- a cool, crisp Thursday evening.

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PACIFIC RIM SHOT

I remember calling Karen Weitz, who built a girls' basketball dynasty at Centennial High School, asking if she actually was serious about taking the head job at Northwest Montana Tech A&T&Z, or whatever small college in the middle of nowhere was offering her a head coaching job last spring.

For some reason, she asked what I thought, and I told her rather than living with grizzly bears or Grizzly Adams, I'd hold out for an assistant's job at a Division I school. That would probably give her the inside track on a job when the head man moved on. Or was forced to move on.

Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened. Weitz took a job as an assistant at Pacific, and when Craig Jackson resigned following a 1-5 start last week, Weitz was named interim head coach.

The only thing I forgot to tell her is that it's much better to slide into a job where the team went 22-5 last year instead of 5-22.

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HE SHOULD BE DANCING?

Move over, Tony Manero. Step aside, Fred Astaire. Forget about it, Deney Terrio.

Kenny Mayne, who before he became a wise-cracking ESPN SportsCenter anchor made trash cans in Seattle and threw incomplete passes as a UNLV backup quarterback, will be one of the guest hoofers in the second season of ABC's "Dancing With the Stars," which debuts Jan. 5.

The others with 1 1/2 left feet are George Hamilton, Tia Carrere, Jerry Rice, Tatum O'Neal and Romeo, a teen rap star who may or may not be related to the Montague family.

"I'm a terrible dancer," Mayne told USA Today. "I haven't done it since my last wedding, and I might not have done it then."

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(breakout stuff)

$275,000

The Las Vegas Chapter of Speedway Children's Charities contribution to 67 local children's charities this year.

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17,000

The number of seats in the Richard Petty Terrace going up in Turn One at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

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28

Utah's number of offensive rebounds in a win against Rice, tying the Mountain West record set by UNLV against Auburn last year.

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(quote)

Boxing writer Robert Morales:

"Calzaghe and Lacy. Sounds like some kind of television detective show."

On the uncoming super middleweight unification fight between Joe Calzaghe and Jeff Lacy.

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