DULY NOTED

Saturday, Jan. 6, 2007 | 7:01 a.m.

BULLISH ON LAS VEGAS

Man, there sure is a lot of bull around here.

In October and late November, the Pro Bull Riders tour held its world championships at Mandalay Bay and the Thomas & Mack Center.

Last month, bull riding was a featured attraction at the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack.

This weekend, it's the Findlay Toyota Championship Bull Riders World Championship presented by B&W Trailer Hitches - try saying that in eight seconds without being bucked off - at the South Point Equestrian Center.

Just call us Pamplona West. If this Bucking of the Bulls continues, it should be a good year for Las Vegas' bull market - with or without a Don King-promoted prize fight.

The FTCBRWCpbB&WTH - you didn't actually think I was going to spell it all out again, did you? - featuring newly crowned NFR world champion B.J. Schumacher finishes up at 7:30 tonight . Tickets are scaled from $35 to $75 and can be purchased online at www.southpointcasino.com.

STRIKE UP THE BANDWAGON

As I sit here writing this, I have been interrupted three times hold on a sec OK, I'm back. Make that four times, by callers wanting to talk Rebel basketball. The e-mails are running twice that since Wednesday's pulsating 97-94 double-overtime victory against Utah in front of a raucous season-high crowd of 12,369 that tried to wake up the echoes, or whatever Jerry Tarkanian's last team left behind 15 years ago.

If you haven't figured it out by now, the bandwagon has re-entered the building.

While the Rebels' 14-2 record and 10-game winning streak are the chief reasons for renewed interest in the program, at least one caller said that if UNLV played more 8 p.m. games, such as Wednesday night's made-for-TV tip time, he never would have jumped off in the first place.

Sam DeAndre said 8 p.m. is shift-change time at most local casinos, the reason the Rebels traditionally started games at 8:05 during the Tarkanian era, when the athletic department didn't take its marching orders from cable TV.

"If I heard that once, I heard that 10 times," DeAndre said in a voice message about the later starting time making it easier for Strip workers to get to Wednesday's game.

THE READERS SOMETIMES E-MAIL

Ron:

I am a manager at Pure nightclub so it is often hard for me to make it to UNLV basketball games, although I never miss a game on TV. But I bought 15 tickets (for the Utah game) for a bunch of guys from work and myself. We were the row with tattoos covering 85 percent of our bodies, one Mohawk and probably more body piercings than the rest of the crowd combined. We also brought the four best-looking girls in the place.

Anyway, what I saw was a crowd that was dying to hop back on the bandwagon. I know for sure my friends are hooked for the rest of the year. They wouldn't stop talking about the game.

Brandon: Tell Dennis Rodman I said hello. And can you get me a line pass?

AROUND THE HORN

4

The 2000 NFL overall draft position of former Florida State star Peter Warrick, who signed with the Las Vegas Gladiators on Thursday.

23

Consecutive home basketball victories by Air Force and BYU, the nation's current third-longest streaks.

12,644

New Mexico's average home basketball attendance. The Lobos are the only Mountain West team averaging more than 10,000 fans at home.

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