THE OPENING LINE

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Monday, Aug. 7, 2006 | 7:01 a.m.

ESPN has been taking a lot of grief from people in my business, who point out that it keeps shoving poker and darts and spelling bees down our throats and telling us they're sports.

People in my business seem to be having an especially hard time with accepting darts as a sport. They will have you believe that anything you can do while drinking a beer and/or holding a cigarette cannot be considered a sport, even using the most liberal definition of the word.

Well, I guess they've never seen John Daly play golf.

If golf is a sport, and a widely accepted one at that, why isn't darts? It takes the same skills to compete at the highest level: years of practice and tremendous eye-hand coordination.

In golf, with the possible exception of Caddies Day at the local muni and the Scottsdale Open, the gallery even shuts its collective pie hole when you are lining up a shot. Try to get the pub to do the same when you're throwing darts.

And what about NASCAR? I love it when the good ol' boys trade paint because rubbin' is racin' - at least according to Robert Duval, who really isn't a crew chief, but played one in the movies. But is rubbin' also a sport? Well, judging from the reams of column inches that are devoted to it, I would say so.

But there are some places where driving like a bat out of hell before slamming on your brakes to make a left-hand turn isn't called sport. It's called the morning commute.

As for spelling bees, I'm still ambivalent. A-M-B-I-V-A-L-E-N-T. Ambivalent. No, I'm not going to use it in another sentence, although it might be fun to ask John Daly or Darrell Waltrip to.

But as for bagging on ESPN for showing darts or spelling bees when Tiger Woods isn't playing golf or Danica Patrick isn't driving the wheels off the No. 16 Cheesecake Special, let's not forget what those four letters stand for.

Entertainment - that's Entertainment with a capital "E" - and Sports Programming Network.

I rest my case.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to run to play a game of baseball, which is a real sport.

Just as soon as I turn my dart board around.

THIS WEEK'S BEST BET

Hasim Rahman vs. Oleg Maskaev 4 p.m. (first bell) Saturday Thomas & Mack Center

Maskaev hails from Kazakhstan, which might be bad news for Americans' "Last Line of Defense," which is what promoter Bob Arum calls Rahman. Guys from the Stan countries are dominating the heavyweight division these days.

Tickets: $100-$600

On the Web: www.unlvtickets.com

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

Dodge Weekly Racing Series 7:15 p.m. Saturday, The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Saturday night's all right for fighting it out in a late-model stock car.

Tickets: $10

On the Web: www.ticketmaster.com