The Elevator

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Saturday, Sept. 6, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Who’s going to the penthouse in local sports — and who’s getting the shaft.

GOING UP

Cashman Field attendance

Las Vegas’ Triple-A franchise, to be named later, attracted 374,780 fans this season, an average of 5,279 per game. It was the third-highest attendance in its 26-year history and the best since 1993, when the Stars drew 386,310 for an average of 5,441. Apparently, the parent Dodgers weren’t all that impressed by the local support, because they want new batting cages — like they have in Albuquerque.

Safety first

The Air Force football team recorded two safeties in its victory over Southern Utah last Saturday, setting a Mountain West Conference record. Unfortunately, the Falcons also scored a bunch of touchdowns and gave up one, which prevented the final score from being 4-0, which would have been really cool.

DeMarco Murray

The former Bishop Gorman star rushed for 124 yards on 15 carries — or 8.3 yards per touch — and scored two touchdowns in No. 4-ranked Oklahoma’s 57-2 victory over Chattanooga. Both touchdowns came on 1-yard runs, or his per-carry average would have been preceded by a timpani roll. But chicks dig touchdowns. So do offensive coordinators.

GOING DOWN

Dan Abdalla

The former UNLV women’s soccer coach, who left for the purpler pastures of TCU, was kicked out of the Lady Frogs’ game against Ole Miss and received a one-game suspension. The Mountain West tacked on another one-game ban, because this was the second game Abdalla had been kicked out of in the same calendar year. In a related note, Bobby Cox and Earl Weaver have adopted the Lady Frogs as their favorite NCAA women’s soccer team.

Playing on Sunday

According to ESPN.com, there are four former Rebels on NFL rosters: LB Beau Bell and CB Eric Wright (Cleveland), TE Greg Estandia (Jacksonville) and LB Adam Seward (Carolina). The only MWC member with fewer pros is Air Force, which has one — most of the Falcons’ good players must first go to Iraq. San Diego State leads with 25, followed by Utah (20), BYU (15), TCU (13), Colorado State (11), Wyoming (10) and New Mexico (8).

Bogus UNLV salesmen

UNLV put out a news release stating it is not using a third-party company to sell advertising. UNLV athletics does not solicit donations or advertising through any third-party company. But considering the lack of money coming into the university from Carson City, perhaps it’s not such a bad idea.