Wednesday, March 16, 2005 | 9:53 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
It probably wasn't the first time the name of a NASCAR sponsor was mispronounced, but then this was no ordinary sponsor.
During Sunday's driver introductions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, guest announcer Robin Leach boomed that Morgan Shepherd would be driving the No. 89 Racing With Jesus Dodge in the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400. Only he pronounced it "HAY-soos."
With the exception of car owner Felix Sabates, who was born in Cuba, there was a groan from the sellout crowd of 156,000. But you could also make a case for Leach's apparent gaffe being appropriate, given most of the real estate within a three-state radius of LVMS was founded by Spanish missionaries.
I believe that American-born baseball announcers referring to the great Roberto Clemente as "Bob" and two-thirds of the Alou brothers as "Matty" and "Jay" instead of their Spanish birth names of Mateo and Jesus -- er, HAY-soos -- were more grievous sins, but then what do I and Geraldo Rivera know?
Shepherd didn't make that connection, but at least he was smiling when somebody asked him about it.
"I guess it shows how much work we have left to do in evangelism when somebody who can tell you all about the rich and famous has trouble with the Son of God's name," Shepherd said. "I thought for a moment he (Leach) had just gotten in from the Mexico City race (Busch Series) last week.
"My thinking is you would be better off messing up 'Budweiser,' " Shepherd added in regard to Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s sponsor, "than 'Jesus.' "
With Jesus riding shotgun, or at least on the quarterpanels of his car, Shepherd, usually the slowest of the slow, led two laps of Sunday's race by staying out under the caution flag caused by Earnhardt's accident.
You don't think somebody way up there in the sky boxes decided to set things straight, do you?
By George -- or at least Jim Bob -- I think they've done it.
As Las Vegas Motor Speedway publicity chief Jeff Motley pointed out, of all the column inches dedicated to coverage of Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, none concerned getting in and out of the track before Memorial Day. It was actually the second year in a row there were few spectator complaints about arriving early and staying late.
Traffic flow is no longer an issue at LVMS and I have to say that next to "Morgan Shepherd pulls into Victory Lane," that's the last thing I ever expected to say in the context of our NASCAR stop.
And here's another revelation: There's nothing wrong with the quality of the racing at LVMS, either. There was one stretch during Sunday's race where the racing journalists based in the Southeast walked around the press box complaining about the single-file racing. But then they put out another plate of oatmeal cookies and the racing journalists based in the Southeast went back to what they do even better than complaining.
From where I was sitting, there appeared to be two distinct racing grooves and both were being used. The reason there wasn't a lot of passing out front is because Jimmie Johnson's car was faster than everybody else's.
That happens sometimes. And sometimes Illinois wins by 20.
The 14,000 seats that Las Vegas Motor Speedway will gain with the construction of the Richard Petty Terrace in Turn 1 next year will probably absorb the overflow crowd at next year's NASCAR stop and might nip a couple of potential LVMS traditions in the bud. Or with a Bud.
After all reserved tickets for Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 were sold, the speedway decided to offer standing-room-only tickets. Many of those fans gravitated to the inside fence in Turn 4, forming a five-deep throng resembling the infamous Turn 1 Snakepit at the Indy 500.
Only I didn't see any naked farm girls from rural Indiana being tossed into the air with a blanket, like you do at Indy.
In addition to the infield crowd, dozens of other enterprising fans without a seat negotiated the unmanicured hillside fronting the portable general admission bleachers in the middle of Turns 3 and 4 where they watched the race on blankets or from lawn chairs.
And, kudos to security, nobody ran them off.
It's not often that backup catchers find themselves in the spotlight during spring training but after Monday, former Valley High star Doug Mirabelli is probably ready to return to the shadows.
"Doug Mirabelli and I are getting married," said Carson Kressley, the funny blond-haired member of the "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy" Fab Five. "After a small ceremony in Naples, we're honeymooning with the Marlins."
Not that there's anything wrong with that. But Kressley was just having a little fun at Mirabelli's expense during a news conference to promote the season-opening June 7 episode of the popular show, in which five heterosexual members of the world champion Red Sox -- Mirabelli, Jason Varitek, Johnny Damon, Kevin Millar and Tim Wakefield -- will undergo makeovers.
You can expect a lot of clogged drains at the day spa as a lot of beards are expected be sacrificed in the name of fashion.
Having just finished 11-17, former Bishop Gorman coach Mike Adras, still the head man at Northern Arizona, had more problems than usual with the likes of fellow Big Sky members Idaho State and Weber State this season.
But he knows what NCAA tournament team he would not want to be playing this or any week -- Bob Knight and Texas Tech.
"I've never seen our guys, in the locker room after the game, feel so drained from the physicality of the ballgame," said Adras, whose Lumberjacks were beaten by Tech 81-65 in December. "The reason is they set a million screens in their offense, so you're constantly running into guys. As much as you're trying to avoid screens, it's inevitable against those guys."
That's something he no doubt shared with his former NAU boss, UCLA coach Ben Howland, whose Bruins drew the Red Raiders in one of the more intriguing first-round matchups.
Lady Rebels coach Regina Miller was "surprised" that her team was sent packing to Arkansas for its first-round NIT game Friday, but not nearly as surprised as I was last year when they were awarded three consecutive home games in the women's Little Dance despite not being able to draw flies to Cox Pavilion.
Although there wasn't a lot of noise in the arena, the Lady Rebels' familiarity with the rims and the dead spots on the floor -- along with not having to spend most of March at an airport commuter terminal -- were instrumental in UNLV making it all the way to the championship game against Creighton.
In other words, the Lady Rebels really don't have that much to complain about to the tournament committee.
New UNLV football coach Mike Sanford apparently isn't too thrilled about next year's schedule that has the Rebels playing four of their first five games on the road. But at least none of them is at Tennessee and Wisconsin, an even bigger scheduling snafu last year which hastened predecessor John Robinson's retirement announcement.
The season opener, a conference game at defensive-minded New Mexico, will be a "challenge," as Sanford called the schedule, before the Rebels return home to face mighty Idaho. Then they go on the road to play mighty Nevada-Reno, mighty Utah State and Wyoming, which is getting closer to mighty (just ask UCLA) but was a Mountain West pushover as recently as two years ago. Besides, UNLV has won three in a row at Laramie.
No, the schedule isn't exactly Lazzeri, Combs, Ruth and Gehrig, now is it? It's more like Jaywalkers Row instead of Murderers Row. Even with a young team and a new offense, a 4-1 start might not be out of the question.
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