THE ELEVATOR

Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 | 7:22 a.m.

Who's headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene - and who's getting the shaft.

GOING UP

Rebel football

At long last, UNLV woke up the echoes oops, wrong moribund program with an impressive 27-0 victory over Utah, which had blown out then-No. 11 UCLA 44-6 the week before. So bring on the Bruins. Bring back Wisconsin. But Hawaii, you can just stay out there in the middle of the Pacific and listen to Don Ho records while Colt Brennan continues to strum his ukulele.

Frank "The Tank" Summers

Remember in "Kellys Heroes" when Sgt. Oddball said a Sherman tank can give you a very nice edge? Well, UNLVs Sgt. Oddball, tank commander and head football coach Mike Sanford can now relate to Donald Sutherlands character, thanks to running back Frank Summers. The Tank swiveled his turret and battered the Utah defense for 190 yards on 29 carries and caught a 29-yard touchdown pass when the Germans er, Utes weren't minding the gold bars in the end zone.

Hu's on first

That would be Las Vegas 51s shortstop Chin-lung Hu, at least after a single. But it was his penchant for extra-base hits 14 homers, 40 doubles, six triples, .325 batting average that resulted in Hu being named the Los Angeles Dodgers' Minor League Player of the Year.

Bigfoot and pals

They did the Monster Truck Mash at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and, although Bobby "Boris" Pickett and the Crypt Kicker Five didnt show, thousands of others did. Track offi cials working in the lab late Friday beheld an eerie sight an overflow crowd of monster truck enthusiasts that forced the speedway to open an auxiliary grandstand to accommodate them all.

GOING DOWN

Grocery cart trophies

Travis Kvapil, the winner of Saturday's Smith's Las Vegas 350, received a trophy patterned after a grocery cart, which was appropriate, if not overtly stylish. I'm not saying the trophy was ugly, but when Kvapil tried to give it away on his way out of town, a homeless guy said no thanks, that he'd just carry his stuff around in a paper bag.

The Eagles' throw up - I mean back - uniforms

Forget what I said about Oregon having the most unsightly uniforms in sports. Those light blue and bright yellow throwbacks the Eagles wore against the Lions on Sunday have to be the worst uniforms I've seen since Hot Dog on a Stick's.

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