The Elevator

By Ron Kantowski (contact)

Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008 | 2 a.m.

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

GOING UP

Ryan Ludwick

The former Durango High and UNLV slugger had been stuck on 99 RBIs — until he hit his 33rd home run of the season Wednesday night for the St. Louis Cardinals, off the Cubs’ Kerry Wood. Now he has 101. Ludwick’s average finally dipped below .300 following a 3-for-22 road trip, but this is going to be the season he tells his grandchildren about years from now.

Baby Bilobeau

Former Las Vegas Wranglers assistant coach Brent Bilobeau and his wife, Cass Bauer-Bilobeau, are proud parents of a new emergency goaltender — er, 9 pound, 6 ounce baby girl. Actually, considering Brent and Cass both stand 6-foot-4 and Cass played in the WNBA, baby Alexa might wind up playing the point for Bill Laimbeer. Brent recently was named head coach of the Central Hockey League’s Wichita Thunder and he — and his twin boys, Tyler and Jacob, who entertained the media during lulls at the practice rink — will be missed.

Cool graphics

I know this sounds crazy, but now that College Sports TV has become CBS College Sports, and started using the CBS Sports graphics and theme music when it breaks for commercials, even an Air Force vs. Wyoming football game looks and sounds legit. Maybe you can’t put lipstick on a pig, but it works pretty good on a pigskin.

GOING DOWN

Ordinary graphics ...

And weird camera angles and bad overall production detracted from the UNLV vs. Utah game on The Mtn. I thought they were bringing back the old Gothic daytime drama “Dark Shadows,” because that’s what the Utes and Rebels appeared to be playing in at Rice-Eccles Stadium. It was so shady I couldn’t tell whether that was Frank Summers or Barnabas Collins running with the ball.

Hurricane Ike

The storm bearing down on the Gulf Coast is wreaking havoc in the Mountain West. Air Force’s game today at Houston has been switched to Dallas and will be played at Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the Southern Methodist University campus, and TCU will host Stanford at noon instead of at 6 p.m. in an attempt to beat the wind and rain. And you thought Trev Alberts was a blowhard.

Punting by committee

I remember reading during two-a-days that UNLV had found a walk-on to handle punting duties. This might explain why the Rebels had an 8-yard punt and other special-teams breakdowns at Utah. If special teams are as important as offense and defense, then why are coaches so reluctant to offer scholarships to punters and kickers?