Columnist Ron Kantowski: Taking media days one quote at a time

Friday, July 22, 2005 | 9:55 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

One of these years, one of the players at the Mountain West Conference football media blitz is actually going to say what's on his mind rather than regurgitate the usual rhetoric espoused by their coaches and sports information departments. But it wasn't this year.

As Utah center Jesse Boone told the freeloaders -- er, working press -- at the Coronado Island Marriott Resort, "Don't worry, I've been prepped on what to say for this."

It was at that point that I contemplated petitioning the NCAA for a sixth year of eligibility for Bradlee Van Pelt, the former Colorado State quarterback who set a MWC record for political incorrectness.

Still, media daze -- er, days -- is a good way for coaches and the press to get to know one other in a relaxed setting before we start calling each other names. So for me, the biggest upset in cool and picturesque Coronado was when new Rebels coach Mike Sanford asked Sun beat writer Steve Guiremand and me if he and his family could join us for lunch -- even though there were plenty of seats at the other tables.

As it seemingly always does in San Diego, the idyllic weather -- and the not-so-idyllic weather at home -- quickly became the main topic of conversation.

Melinda Sanford, the coach's wife, wanted to know if it was always this hot in July in Las Vegas.

"Yes, pretty much," I told her.

"What about August?" she asked.

"Yes, pretty much," I told her.

"September?"

"Yes, pretty much," I told her. "But October is pretty nice."

That may explain why Lindsay Sanford, the coach's daughter and a former Notre Dame cheerleader, is getting married in Laguna Beach south of Los Angeles this weekend.

As much time as her dad has spent in Southern California -- Mike Sanford was an assistant at Long Beach State, USC and coached the Chargers' wide receivers for two years -- even he admitted it was good to feel the sea breeze for a couple of days.

As he dined in style while watching the sailboats maneuver around San Diego Bay, one of those cool thoughts that Satchel Paige claimed were the secret to his longevity as a baseball pitcher crossed Sanford's mind.

"Hey, this is my Fiesta Bowl," he said.

Sanford was one of the architects of the high-powered and fun-to-watch spread offense that carried Utah to its undefeated season and allowed it to crash the BCS party last year. But he had agreed to replace his old boss John Robinson as Rebels coach in early December and thus missed out on coaching in the Fiesta Bowl, where the Utes pummelled Big East champ Pitt, 35-7.

If Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson is wondering what to do with the leftover name tags from media day registration, he might want to stick them on the lapels of the conference presidents and athletic directors.

Over the past 18 months, Thompson has had to learn the names of five new MWC presidents and six new athletic directors with the most recent being Jeff Schemmel, the new A.D. at San Diego State whose first day on the job was Monday.

"It's been a challenge," admitted Thompson about overcoming the lack of continuity in the MWC's ivory towers.

With the addition of TCU making the Mountain West a nine-school conference beginning this year, some at media headquarters -- aka poolside -- were wondering how long it would be before the MWC took on three more newcomers so it could grow to a 12-team league and thus hold a lucrative playoff game in football.

Forget about it, Thompson said.

"Is there more expansion (coming)? There is not," he said. "I don't know about three years or five years or eight years down the road. But we're going to play with nine teams for a while."

In the afterglow of Utah's stunning performance on the football field last season, the Mountain West has every right to feel good about itself. But it's still apparent it has some work to do from a public relations standpoint.

If one of the ideas behind holding football media days so early was to get the publicity jump on some of the other conferences, the MWC fumbled, at least as far as getting word out to USA Today.

In Tuesday's edition, The Nation's Newspaper reported on the Big 12 media gathering and even had a blurb about Eastern Washington being picked to win the Big Sky. But there was nary a word on the proceedings in San Diego.

Remember Britton Johnsen, who had a nice basketball career at Utah but never blossomed into another Keith Van Horn, as everybody expected? Well, that might have been because he was just another guy who was on a last-name basis with his coach.

Trying to catch on with the Spurs, Johnsen invoked the name of former Utes coach Rick Majerus after clanking a 3-point attempt off the rim in a Rocky Mountain Revue NBA summer league game this week.

"But it felt good," Johnsen told the Salt Lake Tribune after scoring 21 points on 8-for-14 shooting. "And that's how I feel, too. I'm not going to worry about it. If I'd done that in college, Majerus would have benched me and yelled at me, during the game, after the game and the next day in practice. That mentality rubbed off on me. I was afraid if I missed one shot, I might disappoint someone."

Johnsen had a couple of NBA cups of coffee with the Magic and Pacers last year but spent most of the year riding the bus with the CBA's Idaho Stampede.

Too old to lace up the skates and play minor-league hockey, former Las Vegas Thunder GM Bob Strumm said he still made the most of the protracted NHL lockout which officially ended Thursday with the players ratifying a new labor agreement.

Now the director of pro scouting for the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, Strumm said he got reacquainted with his kids Bobby, Brianna and Kristie during "Game Off" and even went back to school and picked up a master's degree in business administration.

"The only thing is that I also had time to play more golf, and it (the lockout) has not helped my golf game at all," said Strumm, who still makes his home in Las Vegas.

As director of pro scouting, Strumm is responsible for filing reports on the AHL, ECHL and junior leagues in Canada, among others, as well as scouting the Jackets' NHL opponents.

"It's kind of like fantasy hockey, only for real," he said.

Last year while covering Las Vegan gym dandy Tasha Schwikert at the U.S. Olympic Trials I bumped into Dominique Moceanu, the pixie of the "Magnificent Seven" U.S. gymnastics team that won the Olympic gold medal in 1996.

Well, she's not a pixie anymore, as she reportedly has gained 65 pounds since she was 14. Now 23, Moceanu has announced a comeback that was supposed to commence at this weekend's U.S. Classic but has been put on hold because of an Achilles injury.

Like me, Cassie Rice -- Schwikert's former coach who operates Henderson Gymkats -- was surprised by Moceanu's bulk.

"She didn't look like she was in shape to be a contender," Rice said. "I'm sure it could be done but it won't be easy."

As fate would have it, Rice's latest charge, 16-year-old Cassidy McComb, was supposed to compete alongside Moceanu on the uneven bars at the Classic in Virginia Beach, Va.

Recently, with my TV frozen on The Inane Comedy Channel, I finally got around to watching "The Cat in the Hat" starring Mike Meyers -- and 11-year-old Taylor Rice, Cassie's daughter, as Thing 2.

At least that's how she was listed in the credits, although her mom said Taylor did some of the gymnastic stunts for Thing 1 as well.

More recently, Taylor Rice tried out as a stunt double for Dakota Fanning, the child actor who also appeared in "The Cat in the Hat" and stars alongside Tom Cruise in the current blockbuster "War of the Worlds."

Former UNLV and Bishop Gorman soccer star Boomer Arbelaez believes it's just a matter of time before he makes his Major League Soccer debut with Chivas USA.

"It should happen soon," Arbelaez told me by cell phone Wednesday after climbing off the training table. "I've been playing well. So it should just be a matter of time. It's tough being a rookie looking up to all of these guys who have been in the league a long time."

Arbelaez, who played midfield at UNLV, has switched to center back for Chivas and said he prefers the last line of defense. Before Thomas Runge was fired as coach following Chivas' poor start, Arbelaez was on the 16-man traveling squad at Chivas. So now he is having to prove himself all over again to Hans Westerhof, the club's new coach.

"I've had to work my way all the way up again plus we've added a couple of new players," said Arbelaez, who added that despite not playing, he is still having the time of his life in training for Chivas, based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson.

"This is something I've wanted ever since I was a kid. The last six months have been an unbelievable experience."

Arbelaez said he still dreams about playing in the World Cup for the U.S. National Team, although that lineup might prove even more difficult to crack, given the U.S. has vaulted to an all-time high of sixth in soccer's world rankings this week.

Slotted 10th last month, the U.S. moved ahead of noted powers such as France, England, Portugal and Spain, even though the front-line U.S. side looked inept in a friendly match against what amounted to England's junior varsity last month.

And here you thought the BCS standings and Duane Ford's scorecard for the Hopkins-Taylor fight were suspect.

Actually, the world rankings only take into account the results of international matches that count, which is why a couple of World Cup qualifying victories against inferior Central American opponents enabled the Yanks to overhaul some of the world's best sides in the rankings.

Hans and Franz are moving across town.

The Mr. Olympia body building pageant, which previously had been at Mandalay Bay, is moving to the Orleans Arena where the nutritional supplements and body oil will flow Oct. 14-15.

This is the competition that California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won seven times during his "other" life. Orleans Arena director Steve Stallworth is hoping Arnold will be back to hand out the trophies, despite his recent decision to end his relationship with two fitness magazines that rely heavily on advertising from nutritional supplement companies.

Last year, The Governator vetoed a bill that would have regulated the use of performance-enhancing substances in high school sports, leading lawmakers to charge him with a conflict of interest.

I don't know who has what coming back in high school football. But if off-season commitment counts for anything, my money is on Foothill.

As I navigated the I-215 expressway Thursday I noticed at least 30 would-be Falcons, lined up in neat rows, doing calisthenics and stretching exercises in the middle of the football field in 100-degree heat.

No, I didn't spot any coaches. And yes, I am aware that the workouts probably weren't optional.

But I couldn't help but think how times have changed. When I was in high school, the only time we ever set foot on the football field in July was to make out behind the concession stand.

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