John Kastilometes on the very winning ways of ‘Phantom’ Anthony Crivello, who picked them best in a football contest

By John Katsilometes (contact)

Friday, Jan. 12, 2007 | 7 a.m.

In June, when it came time to determine which actor would portray the lead character on opening night for "Phantom - Las Vegas Spectacular," producers simply flipped a coin. The winner was Anthony Crivello, who splits time with Brent Barrett as the Phantom in the $40 million production at the Venetian.

But for more important decisions - such as determining his picks for the weekend's NFL games - Crivello leaves little to chance. And his homework has paid off (but not literally, as Crivello does not actually wager on the NFL) as Crivello beat back nine other challengers to win this year's NFL celebrity handicapping contest in Las Vegas Weekly. He hit 60 percent of his picks against the spread, going 30-20-1 and beating second-place Penn & Teller (29-21-1) by a single game. Pro handicappers consider 55 percent very good, so Crivello is ... better than very good. (Disclosure alert! LV Weekly is owned by the Greenspun family, which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.)

"I look at the schedule every week and pick the six games I might like," Crivello said during a phone interview Thursday morning. "From there I'll try to do a bit more research and whittle it down to the three games I like. I just know the teams and follow it through the year. I check the injury reports, matchups, coaches, home-field advantage, records. Once in a while I get hunches, I see a team primed for an upset." But Crivello likes a favorite - the San Diego Chargers - to win the Super Bowl.

Crivello has been a Green Bay Packers fan since he was a kid growing up in Milwaukee. He is rare among Tony Award-winning performers in that he is also part-owner of an NFL franchise, having purchased a single share (at the going rate of $200) of the publicly owned Packers. Crivello can converse at length about his team and the league - he spent 40 minutes doing just that on Thursday - and could host a sports-talk show.

Crivello's magic touch has not gone unnoticed. He related that once when friends visited Las Vegas, they told a cab driver they were in town to see "Phantom" and had a friend in the cast. When the cabbie learned it was Crivello, he said, "I've made a lot of money piggybacking his NFL picks."

NoteMart

It wasn't a priceless moment after all: Steve Wynn is suing Lloyd's of London for $54 million, claiming the insurance company failed to pay for reimbursement and restoration costs for Picasso's "Le Reve" after Wynn plunged his elbow through the painting Sept. 30. The painting was reportedly worth $139 million before the accident and no more than $85 million afterward; the $54 million figure represents the lost value of the 1932 painting. Lloyd's has agreed to pay $90,000 to restore the painting and a $21,000 consultant fee used for the restoration and increased security during that process, according to the Associated Press ...

"No plans to date," is how Luxor President Felix Rappaport responded, via e-mail Thursday, to rumors that the Luxor will be renamed the Pyramid as early as Memorial Day. Ever-present party inhabitant Robin Leach trumpeted this possibility on his Luxe Life Vegas column on Thursday ...

Taking a trance, producer David Saxe is bringing a new show, "Mesmerized," into the V Theatre at the Desert Passage mall at the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood. The show stars hypnotist Marc Savard, but is not a traditional one-man hypnosis production. Saxe describes it as "Beacher's Madhouse" meets hypnosis (maybe we'll see some hypnotized topless unicyclists). "Mesmerized" debuts Feb. 24 and will run nightly at 10:30 (dark Fridays) ...

"Foam is nice, but it's not for every dish:" Las Vegas cast members Elia Aboumrad and Marcel Vigneron (who does not play well with others) have survived and are among the final six contestants in Bravo's "Top Chef." Packing his knives after Wednesday's episode was affably overmatched line cook Michael Midgley. One theory about Vigneron, whose cocky and aloof disposition has been hard for fellow competitors to digest: He uses foam so often because, subliminally, it reminds him of hair mousse ...

More on Rita Rudner's copyright infringement lawsuit against joke-book author Judy Brown and several publishers, which we reported Thursday: Rudner is concerned with protecting more than just the stand-up material she uses during her show at Harrah's. She also has a licensing agreement with Mary Phillips Designs, which has partnered with Hallmark to market napkins, plaques and greeting cards featuring jokes written by Rudner, who is fighting to keep those jokes from being published elsewhere. Along with Rudner, those named as plaintiffs in the suit are Jay Leno, comic and former "Tonight Show" writer Jimmy Brogan, comic Diane Nichols and Sue Pascoe, widow of late comic Ronnie Shakes. They also are claiming false endorsement, saying their names have been used to promote the book series ...

With far less fanfare than when it was constructed, the dazzling holiday display at the Bellagio Conservatory is being disassembled. The process began Saturday and will be finished Sunday. On Tuesday night workers using lifts and power tools were busy dismantling the crimson-and-white display as a half-dozen tourists looked on ...

Shannon Bilbray-Axelrod was treated to the mother of all baby showers on Sunday afternoon. More than 50 friends and family turned out to shower Bilbray-Axelrod, the daughter of former Rep. Jim Bilbray and a partner in the interior design firm Lair Design Lab. The event was held at the home of Bilbray-Axelrod's sister, Erin Bilbray-Kohn, who is the executive director of Emerge Nevada, a new grass-roots organization seeking to recruit and train candidates for the Democratic Party. Also on hand was Bilbray-Axelrod's other sister, Bridget Phillips, the former principal at Bilbray Elementary School and now the director of Clark County School District's School-Community Partnership Program ...

Reader in Summerlin jotted down this plate on a white Yukon GL, LUV2SUE. It's either litigious, or a gift lovingly presented to someone named Sue.