Duly noted for October 15, 2005

Saturday, Oct. 15, 2005 | 9:42 a.m.

MIDDIES OF THE ROAD

NBC has Notre Dame, ESPN has just about everybody else and College Sports TV has ... the Naval Academy? If Roger Staubach had any eligibility remaining or if this were 1963, when Navy was good, then perhaps UNLV's new television partner would have an anchor for its Saturday afternoon programming schedule.

It would appear CSTV's strategy includes signing up as many Commander in Chief Trophy teams as it can. The fledgling college sports network's exclusive deal with the Mountain West that kicks in next year also will give it access to Air Force.

CEDRIC THE RACE TEAM OWNER

While I'm not sure what Calvin and the rest of the "Barbershop" crew would make of it, Cedric the Entertainer has become the latest entertainer to enter the high-speed world of major league auto racing. A new partnership between the actor/comedian and the Champ Car World Series' HVM race team will result in the team being renamed CTE Racing-HVM.

"CTE Racing is going to kick some (butt) in a way that is fun, exciting and extremely fast -- so watch out," CTE said.

Rodolfo Lavin and Bjorn Wirdheim drove the HVM cars to fifth- and sixth-place finishes in the recent Champ Car race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. No word yet on whether Dinka the barber will get a test drive.

GOOD GLOVES MAN

Next to knocking excellent boxers such as Diego Corrales onto the seat of their pants, one of Jose Luis Castillo's favorite pastimes is baseball, specifically the Mexicali Eagles of the Mexican winter league. Castillo often takes batting practice with the team and sits on the bench in full uniform with his name stitched on the back of his jersey.

"The team likes me being there just in case a fight breaks out," Castillo joked.

PRAYERLESS MEETING

The Air Force football team doesn't have a prayer against UNLV Saturday. Nor, for that matter, against TCU, BYU, Army and New Mexico. The pregame prayer has been eliminated from the Falcons' routine amid allegations of anti-Semitism and other forms of religious harassment at the academy.

Instead, Fisher DeBerry, the Falcons' devout head coach, now presides over a moment of silence during which praying is optional.

As a footnote, Air Force's "Hail Mary" play has been renamed "The Really Long Desperation Pass at the End of the Game."

The number of Thompson Twins. Three comprised the pop music band of the 1980s while two, former Bishop Gorman standouts Catrina and Christian Thompson, gave Notre Dame its first national tennis championship with a doubles victory at the Riviera/ITA All-American Championships in California.

24,795

The number of spectators who attended the three-day Grand Sumo Championship Las Vegas tournament at Mandalay Bay.

$11,000,000

The amount of money the Michelin Championship at Las Vegas PGA tournament has donated to Las Vegas community organizations since 1982.