Columnist Ron Kantowski: Rebels, Wolf Pack played nice if not well

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005 | 8:51 a.m.

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

RENO -- I went to a college football game Saturday night -- and a Richard Pryor concert broke out. But, I am both surprised and delighted to report, a hockey game did not break out. Nor anything resembling a prize fight. Or even a night at Pam and Tommy Lee's place.

Other than a steady stream of expletives emanating from the potty-mouthed student sections and all those F-UNLV T-shirts -- the "F" not standing for "Forgiven" in this case -- this year's UNR-UNLV game literally was a mild-mannered affair.

Based on the tawdry and often distasteful history of the Silver State football rivalry and the trash-talking and head games that gave the media something to talk about during the practice week, a hurricane warning was issued for Mackay Stadium.

But save for a steady shower of obscenities and vulgarities from the MTV types in attendance, there was little need to board up the windows and batten down the hatches.

Following UNR's sloppy 22-14 victory, a university police official said there were only a handful of arrests and ejections for disorderly conduct. From my vantage point, only one fight was witnessed, and the guys throwing the fisticuffs both wore blue.

Only a handful of arrests and ejections? What an embarrassment. When did the "Battle for the Cannon" turn into "Leave It To Beaver?"

"Gee, Chris, that's an awfully becoming defense you have."

"Aw, shucks, that's awfully nice of you to say, Mike. Have you heard from Eddie Haskell or Lumpy Rutherford recently?"

If this nice guy stuff persists, the winner should just paint the cannon pink.

All kidding aside, it was nice to see the teams just play football -- or what passed for football, as watching the game was sort of like listening to a second-grader play Handel's "Messiah" on the piano -- and their fans by and large behave themselves.

"That was definitely the case," UNLV coach Mike Sanford said about the players letting bygones be bygones.

It was Sanford who fired the first salvo in this latest fusillade of name-calling between the not-so-friendly rivals. On his coaches show last Sunday night, he adamantly referred to the Wolf Pack only as "the team up north," adding that UNR would have to gain his respect before he referred to it by those three letters -- and that that would never happen.

His counterpart Chris Ault, now in his fifth or sixth stint as UNR coach, stirred the pot a little more when he told boosters the Pack had to figure out a way "to kick UNLV's (backside)" after having its (backside) royally kicked by Washington State last weekend. And that was before he learned of Sanford's little affront on the Wolf Pack's manhood.

Well, I guess grown men will be grown men where football is concerned.

True to his word, Sanford didn't refer to UNR by its name after he and the Rebels were cannon-ized, preferring the generic "that team we just played." But he certainly was complimentary of the team he and the Rebels had just played.

Ault took the high road, too, even if it's still -- like most things around Mackay Stadium -- under construction.

"That's one ticked off cannon in there," the three-time UNR coach said after returning the rivalry heirloom to what he and the Wolf Pack nation consider its rightful home, Cashell Fieldhouse just beyond the south end zone at Mackay. "It's been gone for five years."

There has been a lot of blood spilled in the series since then, with a lot of it belonging to former UNLV coach John Robinson, who was conked in the head by a bottle at halftime here two years ago. But between the lines, the plasma bank was left wanting Saturday night.

I even had to wipe my glasses when I saw what appeared to be Rebels wide receiver Donnell Wheaton patting what appeared to be a Wolf Pack defensive back on the rump on their way back to the huddle.

"The closer we got to game day, the mouths started opening up," Wheaton said. "(But) both sides just came to play. Nothing crazy, no batteries being thrown."

I'm not sure what part a letter that University Regent Mark Alden sent to UNR president Dr. John Lilley and athletic director Cary Groth had in producing the spirit of detente in which the game was contested, although Alden -- gotta love the guy -- wasn't bashful in taking some of the credit for the ceasefire.

In so many words, Alden said he warned UNR officials that if there was a major incident at the game, heads would roll.

"I told John Lilley I would personally see to it that he was fired," Alden said.

Well, in that many words, the desired effect was achieved.

A beefed up security force that included Washoe County sheriff's deputies, Reno cops, UNR and UNLV campus police and dozens of stadium security personnel wearing bright yellow jackets kept the powder keg from igniting.

Alden's letter and not-so-veiled threat wasn't exactly well received. But afterward, he said he would write another one, to congratulate the UNR wardens -- er, administrators -- on successfully executing their peace-keeping responsibilities.

So let's hear it for the Wolf Pack and the Rebels. If they couldn't play well, at least they played nice, and that's a four-letter word that is much more acceptable.