Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2005 | 9:36 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
Get ready for Hoop-a-palooza or the Tournament Playaz Club at Summerlin.
Those were a couple of the names I suggested in proposing to bring all these high school basketball tournaments held here every summer under one roof.
"Why not combine them all into one gigantic slam dunk orgy?" I wrote last May 24. "Get the shoe companies, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and anybody who manufactures baggy clothes to pool their resources and throw a summer hoop festival like no other."
Much to my astonishment, that's exactly what is going to happen.
A source close to the negotiations said there will be a news conference as early as this week to confirm that the major shoe companies have agreed to hold the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals of their respective tournaments at a common site, the Cox Pavilion, in July.
The event will be staged under the Las Vegas Events banner, so one of the key components will be live television. But for the hoop-a-holics who live here, putting the final rounds under the same umbrella will eliminate traipsing all over town, dealing with scheduling conflicts and, most importantly, paying separate admission to see them.
The idea of merging the tournaments into one gigantic bounce pass makes so much sense that I'm glad I thought of it. But I also campaigned for playing the Army-Navy game here and believed Rick Neuheisel would been a good choice for UNLV football coach, when it appeared Mike Sanford might stay at Utah.
Like Meatloaf said, two out of three ain't bad. But sometimes when you think outside the box you gotta settle for .333 and a 99-cent burrito.
Anybody who doesn't think Utah's Alex Smith is good enough to play in the NFL should consider this: On Sunday, Jim Sorgi completed 16 of 25 passes for 168 yards and two touchdowns for the "replacement" Colts in a 33-14 loss to the Broncos.
You may recall that Sorgi was the Wisconsin quarterback to whom UNLV awarded a game ball after the Rebels' shocking 23-5 road victory in 2003. In that one, Sorgi completed just 11 of 25 passes, was intercepted twice and was sacked nine times by Jamaal Brimmer and company.
Who needs the Blue-Gray game, which went belly-up in Alabama this year, when we've got the Las Vegas All-American Classic in our own backyard?
For those with short and/or selective memories, the LVAAC is what the Paradise Bowl evolved into upon leaving its modest roots in St. George, Utah. It's an all-star college football game, kind of like the Hula Bowl or Senior Bowl, only featuring "stars" from schools such as Rice or Rutgers, or backups from Michigan and USC.
The game will be played at Sam Boyd Stadium on Jan. 22, marking the second year in a row that some of the country's most obscure NFL prospects will bang helmets in Las Vegas.
Tickets are $65, $50, $30, $18 and $13. You can get them now at the Thomas & Mack Center ticket office and all UNLV tickets outlets, including the Galleria at Sunset, Boulevard mall, Meadows mall and all Station and Fiesta casinos. Or you could just wait until game day, when guys in the parking lot will probably be handing out free tickets, like they do at Rebels games, in exchange for a cold beer.
Not that it matters much, but I am no longer undecided about the Rebels' new basketball uniforms, especially the road ones, after getting a second look at them while watching the Texas highlights on Sunday.
Those metallic accent strips aren't so noticeable on the white home gear, but when combined with the Rebels' road red, they remind me of something George Jetson might buy off the rack. One of these days, Elton John is going to wear a Rebels basketball jersey in concert, and it'll wind up hanging on the wall in the Hard Rock Cafe next to his sequined Dodgers uniform.
Of course, that's just an "old school" opinion. So hold on while I lace up my high-top Cons and launch a set shot at the peach basket hanging from the wall for a further review.
Not much is known about Fort Courage, er, Lewis, UNLV's cupcake of the week which will visit the Thomas & Mack Center on Wednesday night to help Odartey Blankson pad his scoring average.
But fans of Court TV may recognize the name of the Skyhawks' assistant coach.
Bobby Pietrack was the bellman at the Edwards resort hotel lodge in Eagle, Colo., and a friend of the woman who became known as Kobe Bryant's accuser. Pietrack, according to testimony, was the first person she told about the alleged sexual assault the morning after.
The woman claimed she didn't know who Bryant was, and only went to his room to get an autograph for Pietrack, who was Fort Lewis' point guard last year before he became Kato Kaelin.
I heard a new ad for Las Vegas Motor Speedway's upcoming NASCAR race that not only featured hometown hero Kurt Busch, but did not use soundbites of wrecks to promote ticket sales.
Somewhere, the devil is lacing up his hockey skates.
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