Tuesday, Aug. 22, 2006 | 7:16 a.m.
GAME ON IN RENO; GAME OFF IN LAS VEGAS
Caleb Spencer, UNR's standout wide receiver, recently was asked the difference in mind-set coming off a 9-3 season and a bowl-game victory.
"We're not on ESPN2 any more. We're on ESPN, so that's pretty cool," Spencer said, alluding to the Wolf Pack's Sept. 1 nationally televised opener against Fresno State.
At least one of Nevada's two football-playing institutions has a good TV deal.
UNLV isn't on ESPN2 anymore, either. But the problem is the Rebels aren't on ESPN, either. They are on (for three games, anyway) College Sports TV, the Mountain West's new broadcast partner. But 10 days before the start of the season, CSTV still isn't on here, at least not on Cox Cable.
There's still hope, though. I heard that Wayne and Garth are going to set up a video camera on top of the press box at the Idaho State game and pitch it to the public access folks.
DRIVEN TO INFURIATE
Noted auto racing columnist Robin Miller has announced his Top 5 Most Hated Drivers for Speed TV. Forty percent were either born in Las Vegas or live here now.
Maybe's there's something in the asphalt on U.S. 95 that turns guys into Wacky Racers who would do Dick Dastardly proud.
Kurt Busch, still persona non grata among NASCAR fans, tops Miller's list. "The guy is a helluva talent, but also has a talent for bringing out the worst in himself," Miller wrote.
Paul Tracy, the longtime Summerlin resident, is on Busch's rear spoiler at No. 2 for running into anything that moves on the Champ Car World Series circuit.
NASCAR's Tony Stewart and the Gordons, Jeff and Robby, round out Miller's not-so-hot rodders. Kyle Busch, Kurt's kid brother, received a dishonorable mention.
"Kyle Busch possesses his older brother's ability and, at times, that condescending tone of voice and should be able to crack the Top 5 in another year or two," Miller wrote in his condescending tone.
Miller, a self-proclaimed "degenerate gambler" who spends most nonrace weekends in Las Vegas, has one of the most refreshing Web site bios you'll ever read.
"During the past 35 years," says Miller's Speedweek disclaimer, "he has also been a contributor for Autoweek, Autosport, Car & Driver, ESPN The Magazine and several publications that folded and still owe him money."
ALLEN FUMBLES WITH RACIAL SLUR
Last year, after he extracted himself from a Mario Andretti Driving School Indy car at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I asked Sen. George Allen, R-Va., about his career as a quarterback at the University of Virginia.
"I made the all-academic team, probably because there was less competition," he said.
I think Allen, son of the late NFL coaching legend George Allen, was making a joke. But after the younger George Allen used a racial slur in public last week, maybe he wasn't.
Allen called a man filming his speech for James Webb, the Democratic challenger in his Senate re-election bid, a "Macaca," which apparently isn't a Mexican restaurant but a common slur used by French Tunisians.
Although he didn't fess up to knowing that, Allen should know. His mother is of French Tunisian descent.
During our conversation, I also recall Allen loading up a Walt Garrison-sized wad of smokeless tobacco into his lower lip and that his daughter called him a "redneck" for driving around a big honkin' pickup truck with the late Dale Earnhardt's number in back.
Yes, Virginia, there is a 2008 presidential candidate from Virginia.
Or at least there was.
CHESTNUT ROARING WITH LOCAL GIRL ON BOARD
As Muhammad Ali once told Howard Cosell, "I'm not sure what truculent means. But if it's good, then I'm that."
While I'm not sure what the Reining Reserve World Championship is - that's "reining" without the "g" - it sounds like a pretty big deal.
For the sake of this column, it's an even bigger deal considering a Las Vegas girl, T Sharnai Thompson, has won it.
Thompson and her horse, Dun Its Chico, a 2002 chestnut American Quarter Horse gelding, took the top honor at the Ford American Quarter Horse Youth Association World Championship show competition in Fort Worth, Texas.
As a result, my wide world of sports just got a little wider.
"Probably the Beatles' White Album."
Steve Largent, former Seattle Seahawks All-Pro wide receiver
when asked which of his records he will treasure most.
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