For fans, it’s the most wonderful time of the year

Steve Marcus

Fans wait for Oscar De La Hoya’s official “arrival” Tuesday at the MGM Grand. De La Hoya and Manny Pacquiao will meet for a 12-round welterweight fight Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Las Vegas has had its share of big sports weeks over the years but it’s hard to remember a two-week period as busy as this one.

This just may be the perfect storm. This might be George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg trolling for swordfish off the Flemish Cap--or at least trolling for tickets for Saturday night’s boxing blockbuster at the MGM Grand pitting arguably the sport’s biggest attraction, Oscar De La Hoya, against arguably its best fighter, Manny Pacquiao.

Actually, those A-list celebrities shouldn’t have trouble scoring a couple of ringside tickets for the fight, if they are so inclined.

The National Finals Rodeo, on the other hand, might be another story.

Tickets for the Super Bowl of rodeo are so hard to come by that about the only way you get one is to sing the national anthem before that night’s performance.

Did I mention the NFR begins its annual 10-day run at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday night?

Though I’m not sure what’s going to happen when all those Mexicans and all those Filipinos coming in for the fight meet up with all those cowboys when the punches stop flying and the dust clears on Saturday night, it might take a mighty sailing man like Clooney to navigate the cultural tidal wave brewing on the Strip.

So we’ve got the rodeo beginning Thursday, and the biggest fight in many moons (at least based on the cost of the pay-per-view telecast) on Saturday night--and the Las Vegas Marathon on Sunday morning.

So you can add a bunch of Kenyans to the Mexicans, Filipinos and cowboys.

Fortunately, the official after-fight parties and buckle presentations at the honky-tonks will still be going full strength when the runners begin lining up. But if I were those Kenyans, I’d still watch out for empty cans and bottles of Coors, Tecate and San Miguel.

On the out-of-town scoreboard, there’s a lot going on in Reno on Saturday, too. Palo Verde of Las Vegas will collide with McQueen of Reno in the state championship football game in the afternoon, and the UNLV basketball team will trade jump shots and elbows against UNR in the evening.

The UNLV-UNR basketball game used to be sort of a big deal around here. It must not be anymore, or one of the 39 channels currently carrying Mountain West Conference games would be broadcasting it. But you probably wanted to have some friends over--you’re going to need them to offset the $54.95 price of the pay-per-view--to watch the fight, anyway.

This weekend is actually just the eye of a local sports storm that began with the Rickey Hatton vs. Paulie Malignaggi fight at the MGM Grand the Saturday before last. They’re probably just now removing the last of Rickey’s fans from Hatton Wonderland, also known as the end of the bar at the Crown & Anchor pub.

There also were two major college basketball tournaments played in Las Vegas over Thanksgiving.

The Rebels lost to California and Cincinnati at the Thomas & Mack Center in the seemingly never-ending Global Sports Challenge, which was contested over four rounds and 11 days.

Kentucky and West Virginia were the finalists in a similar event at the Orleans across town, with the Wildcats prevailing, thus making the thousands of fans who sneaked little bottles of Kentucky bourbon into the quaint horseshoe arena very happy indeed--while making the veins in Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins’ neck bulge and his face turn crimson.

There will be another college tournament at the Orleans this month featuring DePaul, Saint Louis, Creighton and Fresno State. That one is set for Dec. 22 and 23. On Dec. 20, one of the Mountain West’s three-lettered teams, either TCU or BYU, is scheduled to play one of the barely bowl eligible teams from the Pac-10. If it’s Arizona, it might help fill a few more seats--the Wildcat basketball team will play UNLV a few hours earlier at the Thomas & Mack Center.

That’s one of four home games the Rebels will play in December--which is four fewer than the hockey Wranglers will play at the Orleans.

Oh yeah--the major league baseball winter meetings begin on Monday at the Bellagio.

Yes, I know there are a lot of local sports fans who won’t be happy until they’re paying $80 for a mezzanine seat to watch our yet-to-be-named NBA franchise play the Oklahoma City Thunder at our yet-to-be-broken-ground-on NBA arena.

But in the meantime, there’s plenty for them to do.