Thursday, May 11, 2006 | 7:25 a.m.
As I listened to Coach K talk about putting together a team of NBA millionaires capable of beating Puerto Rico - not to mention Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil and any other soccer-playing nation that might have beaten Team USA the last time the world gathered for a friendly game of international basketball - I began to wonder if all this conjecture about bringing a pro sports franchise to town is necessary.
Actually, I began to wonder that even before Mike Krzyzewski, the Duke coaching legend, stepped up to the microphone during the USA Basketball news conference at Wynn Las Vegas, where the restrooms don't have sinks, but marble troughs.
Coach K and marble troughs - it simply doesn't get any bigger than that.
This week, at least.
Last week, it was Oscar De La Hoya and Mike Metzger, the crazy cycle dude who jumped the fountains upside down at Caesars Palace on national TV. And the Supercross tour, which filled nooks and crannies at Sam Boyd Stadium that the UNLV football team never knew existed.
Last month, it was Greg Maddux and Ichiro and Big League Weekend at Cashman Field. And the unveiling of the NBA All-Star Game logo with Dominique Wilkins. The month before that, it was all those guys named Dale and Ricky and Rusty running around in circles with the NASCAR crowd - and I do mean crowd - at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
In February, Lleyton Hewitt and James Blake were here, pounding the tennis ball around center court. In December, on the other side of town, and south of it, guys were running 26.2 miles in their own shoes, at the Las Vegas Marathon, which is quickly morphing from a Sunday morning jog in the park (Sunset) into a world-class event with lots and lots of Kenyans.
It's not even Memorial Day, and we've already had a sports year to die for.
On second thought, Kansas City can have the Royals. And the NBA can find another home for the Nickel Slots, or whatever the expansion team that everybody around here seems to think we can't live without will be called.
You know those bright lights and "21" tables and slot machines and Cirque du Whatever and showgirls with feathered bonnets and Clint Holmes and Carrot Top and the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay and the 75-cent imported beers that you can toss back while walking down the Strip in full view of the cops and all the other things that keep our hotels filled to 95 percent capacity, even when it's hot enough to fry the Bacon Brothers on the sidewalk?
That's our pro franchise.
"And you know what?" said Las Vegas Events President Pat Christenson as we compared our "Things to Do in Las Vegas" lists before Coach K did his thing in Las Vegas on Tuesday morning. "Our pro franchise is more valuable than any other pro franchise out there."
He might get an argument from George Steinbrenner, Jerry Jones or Malcolm Glazer (now that Glazer owns the Manchester United soccer team on the other side of the pond). But just a small one.
Heck, there's so much good sports happening in Las Vegas that Mayor Oscar Goodman couldn't even grace Coach K with his presence. He was across town, listening to plans that will make the marathon even bigger and better. Or attract more Kenyans.
So before you jump on the mayor's major league (or giant furniture outlet) bandwagon, ask yourself what would you rather have? Box seats for 81 Royals or Pirates games, or a Las Vegas sports season ticket that would include - but not be limited to - the following special events?
Throw in UNLV basketball and football, the ArenaBowl, the Mountain West basketball tournament, NHL and NBA exhibition games, the World Series of Poker and the piece de resistance , the Rock, Paper, Scissors championships at Mandalay Bay, and local ticket brokers could retire to an off-shore island while there are still Social Security checks.
"I think we are, first and foremost, a special events city," Christenson said of a local economy that is not driven from within, or by people who live here, but by people on the outside, who only visit here. "So events like this make all the sense in the world."
And yet, City Hall has commissioned a study to determine if it makes sense to add not-so-special events to the local sports calendar. Such as 81 Royals or Pirates games at a stadium that doesn't exist. And, more important, that nobody seems willing to pay for.
I guess what I don't quite understand is that we're Las Vegas, and everybody knows it. Yet, when it comes to live sports, we talk like we'd rather be Cleveland or Green Bay.
Why would you want to build a stadium or an arena and commit to a Royals-Pirates or a Hawks-Timberwolves game on Friday night when Mick Jagger, Bono or Madonna are looking for a place to play?
That's the question city leaders should be contemplating - not, if we build a new stadium or new arena, will they come?
Of course they'll come.
Heck, they already do.
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