The Elevator: Up and down the Vegas sports scene

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, Oct. 11, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Who’s headed toward the penthouse on the local sports scene — and who’s getting the shaft.

GOING UP

UNLV basketball ticket sales

Season tickets are up nearly 20 percent over last year, thanks mainly to a second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance ... and CoachKruger.com. That’s the name of Rebels coach Lon Kruger’s Web site, which, combined with the success of his team, has created a buzz around the program that hasn’t been heard since the Jerry Tarkanian days. Kruger’s marketing his own program this year, and, as with everything else, he’s apparently pretty good at that, too.

James Cammack

One of the most exciting high school football players in the city this year is Rancho quarterback James Cammack, who told me he patterns his game after Michael Vick — except the part about the dogs. Cammack is such an excellent passer and shifty runner that it’s a miracle one of the bigger schools didn’t try to recruit him during the summer.

GOING DOWN

Shots on goal ...and the chin

Former Las Vegas Thunder goalie and fan favorite Clint Malarchuk accidentally shot himself in the chin Tuesday with a .22-caliber rifle at his home in Fish Springs in Douglas County. Clint had been out back shooting rabbits when the gun went off and a bullet struck him instead of the varmints. When deputies arrived, Malarchuk was sitting on a bench, bleeding profusely from his chin and mouth — which, if you know Clint, is pretty normal. He apparently was belligerent with paramedics, refusing treatment — which also is pretty normal for the former rodeo cowboy from Alberta, whose throat was once slashed open by a skate blade when minding the net for the Buffalo Sabres.

Spin doctors

According to a televised report, the flat-lining economy has had absolutely no effect on Las Vegas sports. Not true, according to an official at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, who said track officials are “working harder than usual” to sell tickets to next spring’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race weekend. It also should be noted the speedway has a ton of tickets to sell and there’s a lot of time between now and then, but anybody who doesn’t think the sluggish economy will have a trickle-down effect on local sports has an elevator that doesn’t go to the top of the grandstand.

Mike Sanford

After his Rebels suffered consecutive losses to UNR and Colorado State, the UNLV coach went from the edge of the hot seat in the Coacheshotseat.com rankings to back in the fire. But he’s only No. 28. That’s barely warm considering he was No. 7 at the start of the season.