Columnist Ron Kantowski: The variety of reasons why readers wanted his free ticket to the Las Vegas Bowl

Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2005 | 9:39 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's column appears on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

Until last week, when I decided to give away the ticket I had purchased for Thursday's sold-out Las Vegas Bowl, I thought the hardest thing I had ever done as a local sports writer was to describe John Robinson's offense without using the words "boring" or "unimaginative."

But of the 100 or so requests I received for my lone general-admission cheap seat in the end zone, few were boring or lacked imagination. That's why it was so hard to decide who was going to get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of freezing their backside off while Cal or Brigham Young staked their claim as the best 6-5 college football team in the land (give or take a meaningless nonconference win).

Thankfully, Las Vegas Bowl executive director Tina Kunzer-Murphy came to the rescue, adding a couple of more free tickets to the lump of coal she had planned to place in my Christmas stocking.

Now there are three big winners.

Eat your heart out, Ed McMahon.

THE WINNERS

1. Lt. Brian Whitaker, JAG Corps, U.S. Navy, Abu Ghraib Magistrate, Iraq:

Tell you what, Mr. Kantowski. You should give that ticket to me. I'm stuck here in Abu Ghraib, winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people by imprisoning them one at a time. I've taken my daughter to dozens of BYU football games. The first song she could sing was the Cougar fight song and the second was the national anthem. My wife got a ticket to the bowl game, but just one. With your ticket, she could take my daughter in my place and I could feel that much more a part of my family at Christmas as BYU whips up on Cal .

The ticket is yours, Lt. Whitaker. Thanks for watching our backs.

2. Glen Thomas, Parts Unknown, Utah:

Dear Mr. Kantowski, this ticket I need

I flunked the semester, too much football on TV

Instead of history, science and class

I watched Bush juke, Vince scramble and Matt pass.

So here I am, I need to get away

I must go to Vegas, where what happens stays

Your GA ticket is priceless to me

How appreciative I'll be this you will see

You said to be brief, you said to be clever

Please lend me your ticket and I'll forget you never.

Yours truly, a sixth-semester sophomore

Your signature clinched it, Glen. I can (almost) relate.

3. Dennis Knox, Las Vegas:

I would appreciate being the one you send to the Las Vegas Bowl. I'm 63 and if I don't get to a bowl game soon I may never get to see one. I am a great football fan and would love to feel the excitement of the game in person. The last college game I attended was at Wisconsin in 1977. It would mean a lot to see BYU play in person.

Dennis, you sound like a real football fan. Wisconsin wasn't very good in 1977. That's when it used to lose to Indiana.

HONORABLE MENTION

My daughter leaves for Australia on Dec. 16 with my bowl game ticket money. If that doesn't top it off, the mother-in-law called last night to inform me she would be in town Dec. 22 and 23. -- Calvin Branson

I deserve the ticket since I will be killed on Christmas morning because I could not afford to buy an XBox 360 off eBay for $2000. -- Jae Markham

The ticket should go to Jerry Tarkanian. It would keep his record at 100 percent for never having to pay for anything in Las Vegas. -- Ron Endres

I have lived in Kentucky much of my life ... -- Daniel Quick

When they announced BYU was playing, I said to my wife that I'd like to go to the game. She said not unless someone gives you a ticket. Here's a chance to make us both look good. -- George Bock

If you give me the bowl ticket, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness. So you'll have that going for you, which is good. Gunga-la-gungala. -- Doug Wilhelm

You should give me the ticket because I'm the cheapest Mormon of them all. And that's really cheap. -- Richard Ripplinger

Because what goes on in the end zone stays in the end zone. -- Tom O'Brien

Wearing BYU apparel to University of Utah law classes every day of rivalry week: Stupid. One ticket for redemption: Priceless. -- Stevan Baxter

God forgot about me. I'm 28 and still living with my parents. And He still forgets we like to beat Utah on occasion. -- Matthew Floeke

Despite snow blindness and gray skies, I read your column. -- Mark Stoddard

Forget about the ticket, Mark. You can have my seat in the press box.