Duly Noted: UNLV, NASCAR, and feedback

Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005 | 8:08 a.m.

UNLV men's basketball coach Lon Kruger made at least 11 new friends at last Saturday's Mountain West Conference women's soccer championship game featuring UNLV and New Mexico.

It's usually a big development when a head coach from one of the school's revenue-producing sports takes time out from his busy schedule to come out and support one of the non-revenue ones.

But spotting Kruger and wife Barbara at various UNLV sporting events is becoming a fairly common occurrence.

After the game, Lon Kruger made his way down to the field to hug and congratulate first-year Rebels women's soccer coach Kat Mertz on her team's first conference title.

That's a far cry from the narrow attitude of a certain towel-chewing predecessor, who once remarked that his idea of women's sports was to let 'em play a couple of games, throw 'em a banquet and be done with it.

Progressive ... to a point

UNLV was one of five schools, joining Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Western Michigan, on the short list of NCAA Division I members receiving an "A" from the Black Coaches Association for their hiring practices this year, which is great.

But service after the sale apparently isn't among the criteria considered for the BCA report card.

In September, when the athletic department whimsically awarded a bunch of one-year contract extensions, Kruger got one. Women's basketball coach Regina Miller, who is black and had an almost identical record to Kruger's and has been successful in turning around a moribund program into one of the Mountain West's best, did not.

That's something the BCA should know before it whimsically awards "A" grades for hiring practices.

Injury, or lyrics?

See if you can figure out which of the following are injuries to heavyweight boxer Vitali Klitschko, and which are lyrics from the Beatles' "Come Together:"

1. Twisted knee.

2. Joo-joo eyeball.

3. Pulled thigh muscle.

4. Toe-jam football.

5. Rotator cuff.

6. Walrus gumboot.

7. Torn meniscus.

8. Spinal cracker.

9. Mysterious "jogging" injury.

10. Monkey finger.

Answer: Odd numbers: Klitschko. Even numbers: Lennon-McCartney. -----------------------------------

Litter Bug

Sparks native T.J. Bell, driver of the No. 36 Heathcliff Cat Litter Chevy in the NASCAR Busch Series, said the NASCAR-style chase for the championship that the PGA Tour will institute in 2007 just might work, although he does have some reservations.

"Golf is just different," said Bell, who will be racing in Phoenix this week. "How much excitement can you generate in a sport where the announcers whisper and it's considered impolite to boo?"

My take is that anybody who drives the Heathcliff Cat Litter car for a living should probably not draw attention to it.

Feedback

* John Masqueda, pastor at the Las Vegas Bible Church, called to say he enjoyed a story on the origin of Washburn University's nickname and that the original "Ichabod" even predates Ichabod Washburn, the school's first major benefactor in 1868. Ichabod was a biblical figure in the Old Testament whose name essentially means "no glory." In that case, perhaps the Chicago Cubs should adopt Washburn's nickname.

* The other Washburn: Former Las Vegas high school referee Joe Cross said a reference to former Cardinals pitcher Ray Washburn in that same story brought back some old memories. Cross and Washburn were teammates at Whitworth College in Spokane, Wash., during the 1950s.

* An item in Wednesday's "Elevator" feature referred to Bishop Gorman's DeMarco Murray as DeMarco Murphy. Credit this writer with a fumble. Also credit DeMarco with a fantastic tumbling one-handed pass reception in the Gaels' 20-7 loss to Palo Verde Thursday night.

23,187

Total attendance for two Seattle Mariners vs. Chicago Cubs games at Cashman Field this year. Those two along with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres have agreed to play in next spring's Big League Weekend in Las Vegas.

117

BYU points in victories over Air Force (62-41) and UNLV (55-14) the past two weeks.

The number of coaches (2) and players (4) who received suspensions for their part in a brawl at the end of Tuesday's Wranglers-Fresno hockey game at the Orleans Arena.

Wyoming football coach Joe Glenn:

"There's a lot of people in western Wyoming that don't want much to do with the Cougars."

on the Wyoming-BYU rivalry.