Tuesday, Jan. 18, 2005 | 10:49 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
Usually, it's hard to keep track of who's coming and who's going on the local sports scene. Last week, it was mostly the latter.
Now departing, Gate 1:
Jason Thomas, Las Vegas Gladiators. Four years ago, no less an authority than ESPN pro football draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. said if Thomas decided to forsake his final two years at UNLV and enter the NFL draft, he would have been the top quarterback prospect in it. Then move ahead to last week, when it was decided that Thomas wasn't even good enough to be an Arena Football League backup in his former hometown.
About all that can be said about this truly sad turn of events is that Mel Kiper still has a job. And Jason Thomas is still looking for one.
Now departing, Gate 2:
Billy Tibbetts, Las Vegas Wranglers. While it's usually not a good idea to sign a convicted rapist if you are a minor-league hockey franchise that prides itself on providing family entertainment, that's just what the Wranglers did when they sold their PG-rated soul for what they hoped would be a bunch of R-rated victories.
It never happened, and when Tibbetts broke the Hanson Brothers' record for penalty minutes in just 12 games (when he wasn't suspended), Las Vegas decided to send the serial cross-checker packing -- something he's used to, in that Las Vegas was the 12th place he had worn out his welcome as a pro.
Next stop, the Federal League. I hear the Charlestown Chiefs have an opening on their checking line.
Now departing, Gate 3:
Lauren Ervin, Lady Rebels. Although you probably never heard of Ervin and she never officially made it to Las Vegas, the Lady Rebels were counting on Ervin, a transfer from Kansas, to take them to new heights, or they wouldn't have steered her up to Dixie Community College to improve her grades.
But as they say on Seinfeld, it didn't take. Ervin is no longer whistlin' Dixie or even going to class there, and thus will not become the savior of the injury-riddled women's basketball program.
Ervin, a 6-foot-4 forward, spent her freshman year at Kansas but before that she was a McDonald's All-American and was ranked the No. 2 prospect in the nation by several recruiting services.
Although Mayor Goodman says he is out of the hockey business, ESPN would include our city in a new start-over-from-scratch pro hockey league that it self-servingly calls -- what else? -- the ESPNHL.
The new league would consist of 20 teams that would play a 60-game season, so as not to overlap with the other pro sports while keeping players fresh, with a strict salary cap. The nets would be widened and goalies' pads narrowed to promote scoring.
More important, strikes and lockouts would be against the rules.
The primary reason for Las Vegas' inclusion, according to the plan outlined on ESPN.com, is that non-traditional hockey markets, especially in a growing city like ours, tend to have more corporate support and thus offer a better chance to produce white-collar revenue.
In addition to the constricted schedule, which I like, the ESPNHL would also outlaw fighting, which I also like.
But that's probably why the traditional hockey fan would never embrace it.
While the ESPNHL may sound like a good idea, I don't expect somebody to take the puck and run with it.
At least the Mountain West won't be alone now that another conference -- USA -- has decided to sign with the College Sports Television Network (CSTV), which will become the sole supplier of MWC sports begining in the fall of 2006.
But Conference USA had the good sense to extend its current deal with ESPN, just in case somebody decides to pull the plug on CSTV as it tries to build an audience.
Conference USA hedged its bet, rather than gamble solely on a fledgling network that is still hard to find in some markets.
Like this one, for instance.
If you don't think it has been awhile since the MWC Web site was updated, there's a link on the home page that reads "QB Nantkes Primed."
That would be former UNLV quarterback Kurt Nantkes, although I can't figure out what he would be primed for, in that the season in which he hardly contributed ended two months ago.
The story about Nantkes is dated June 25, 2004, which is roughly the last time he completed a pass around here.
Right above the Nantkes story is a link to "MWC mourns loss of President Kennedy."
A couple of Mountain West footballers, as they say in England, were center stage for the presentation of the first Pat Tillman Award at the 80th East-West Shrine Game over the weekend.
The award is named for the former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals standout who was killed in Afghanistan last April while fighting for the U.S. Army's Elite 75th Ranger Regiment. It was presented by former UNLV assistant football coach Bruce Snyder, Tillman's coach at ASU, and will be proudly placed on the mantel of Morgan Scalley, a defensive back at Utah.
It was the morning of Game 4 of the American League Championship Series when, with his Red Sox facing elimination against the hated Yankees, Terry Francona's cell phone rang.
It was his old University of Arizona teammate Bill Kinneberg calling from Utah, telling the Red Sox skipper that it isn't over until George Steinbrenner signs the last paycheck, or something to that effect.
Actually, Kinneberg admitted, he thought Boston's chances were pretty grim.
Yet Francona must have appreciated the pick-me-up (or owed Kinneberg 20 bucks), because tonight he'll appear in Salt Lake City at a $100-per-plate fundraiser for the Utah baseball program, which Kinneberg now heads for the second time.
Just call her the Sultaness of Swat.
TCU's Sandora Irvin set an NCAA record with 16 blocked shots in a 75-34 victory against UAB on Sunday but as luck -- and UNLV women's basketball coach Regina Miller -- would have it, she'll be gone when the Lady Frogs join the Mountain West next season.
Irvin, a 6-foot-3 senior from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is the niece of former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Michael Irvin. She also had 20 points and 18 rebounds to go along with those 16 rejection slips in posting the first triple-double in TCU history.
If you're looking for another reason not to start watching "Tilt," ESPN's made-for-ESPN series about a fictional poker championship set in Las Vegas (actually, a sound stage in Toronto), consider the scene in the pilot where a 12-year-old girl is shown making a big haul in a high stakes game in one of our hotels.
Yeah, like that could happen.
So instead of tuning into 'Tilt," do yourself a favor and rent "Rounders," a good movie about playing cards, from your local Blockbuster.
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