The Elevator

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Saturday, Nov. 22, 2008 | 2 a.m.

GOING UP

Take this job and ...

I love news conferences where coaches raise their voices and start swearing, which is what Rocky Long did in resigning as New Mexico football coach after one bad season. He said the damn fans need to start coming out to the games. Then he said he wanted to become a Division III coach, because it would be more rewarding teaching those kids how to play where the damn fans didn’t matter. Obviously, Rocky has yet to read Lon Kruger’s new book.

Greatest Show on Dirt

That’s what the World of Outlaws sprint cars series calls itself and it’s returning to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February for the first time since 2006. So it’s only a matter of time until they start running TV ads showing the cars flipping end and over end and somebody named Kinser is kissing a pretty girl holding a trophy.

Q (School) and A

The question is not whether UNLV golfer Seung-Su Han will turn pro and forsake his senior year in college, because he has done that. The answer, yet to be determined, is on which pro tour he’ll play. He has passed the second stage of PGA Qualifying School, granting him conditional status on the Nationwide Tour, which used be the Nike Tour and a bunch of other names. If he plays well in the final stage, he could join the PGA Tour, which has only one name.

GOING DOWN

Coming and going

In an attempt to alleviate parking concerns at UNLV basketball games, Metro Police want Rebel fans to carpool, find alternate routes, find alternate parking in remote areas near campus, arrive early and stay late. They also want UNLV coach Lon Kruger to schedule more home games against Texas-Pan American and North Carolina A&T, which also would expedite traffic.

Not so full house

Of the nine Mountain West schools participating in the NCAA’s Pack the House Challenge in women’s college basketball, three will attempt to do it when BYU is in town. BYU has scheduled mighty UConn, but then it has almost 23,000 seats to fill. The Lady Rebels will try to pack the house Feb. 18 against Wyoming. Colorado State has scheduled Northern Colorado. Unless the Lady Rams are going to play that game in a phone booth, I just don’t see it happening.