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Saturday, June 24, 2006 | 7:52 a.m.

TOUGH LOVE 3, GETTING OFF EASY 0

In a couple of weeks, the annual golf outing and barbecue known as Mountain West Conference football media day will be held at a ritzy resort on Coronado Island in San Diego. The "working" part of two days of fun in the sun occurs when the head coach and a star player from each of the schools meet the press for cliche-filled interviews.

I doubt that Utah's Kyle Whittingham is going to bring Joe Giuliani, a redshirt freshman linebacker for the Utes. But he should. And he also should invite Giuliani's father, Mike. Then there would be at least one story worth telling.

Giuliani of Simi Valley, Calif., was charged with misdemeanor assault after using a golf club to strike a player from Oak Park High School, a rival of Giuliani's Oaks Christian team, during a May 28 street fight between players of the schools.

Naturally, Mike Giuliani felt compelled to bail his son out of jail after three days.

"I purposefully left him in there for three days so he could sit in there and think about everything,'' Mike Giuliani told the Los Angeles Daily News. "He had a chance to look at the other side of the world and see what he doesn't want to be a part of, and what he isn't a part of."

Whittingham said Giuliani will keep his scholarship, as long as he isn't convicted of a felony. If he's found guilty of the misdemeanor, Giuliani will be suspended for two or three games.

I have a feeling his old man will be OK with that.

KRUGER'S WED TO MODESTY

I'm not saying UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger is the most humble guy you'll ever meet. But if he were taking trumpet lessons, and every instrument at band camp had his name on it, he'd probably switch to piano.

The man simply refuses to blow his own horn.

We were sharing an anecdote about Topeka, Kan. his and my wife's sort-of adopted hometowns over lunch Monday when he said he was headed back to the Kansas capital for a wedding.

Well, perhaps he really is going to a wedding. But he also went into the Topeka and Shawnee County Sports Hall of Fame Wednesday night as part of its inaugural class.

Others feted included former major leaguers Ken Berry and Mike Torrez.

Miroslav Klose

"Once I broke a vase, another time a painting."

Germany's World Cup star on why he only practices kicking soccer balls off the light switches in his living room when his wife isn't home

MORE CHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK

Last week, in a column on the coaching Gerbers, I noted that Dave and Matt Gerber were the first second-generation head high school football coaches in Southern Nevada, as far as anybody knew.

But Sun reader Mike Peters called to say that the Farnsworths beat them by a few months on the basketball court.

Tom Farnsworth retired from Valley High School last year after an illustrious 33-year coaching career. He was succeeded by his son, Brian.

THE OYSTER INVADES HIS WORLD

NASCAR driver Scott Riggs was injured Monday while unloading his jet ski in an oyster bed in Myrtle Beach, S.C. He wasn't wearing a helmet. Or a seat belt. Or, more importantly, shoes. Riggs suffered 12 stitches on his foot and eight stitches in his right big toe.

On a positive note, nobody from Pittsburgh called to threaten the oysters.

SHE MUST BE IN THE FRONT ROW

This week's example of two nouns you'd never expect to use in the same sentence: "Bob Uecker" and "stalker."

The former major league catcher, better known as the voice of the Milwaukee Brewers for the past 35 years and for his work in beer commercials and movies such as "Major League," has filed a restraining order against Ann E. Ladd. Uecker claims the Illinois woman has been sending him gifts, driving around his home and following him around baseball for the past six or seven years.

A hearing was scheduled this week but was postponed when Ladd couldn't be found.

I would have checked "Wild Thing" Vaughn's place.