Ron Kantowski

Story Archive

The Elevator: Sanford edition

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009

Sounds like an old Saturday morning cartoon, doesn’t it? When Steve “Chopper” Jones and freshmen Anthony Marshall and Justin Hawkins checked into the game in the second half against Nevada-Reno on Wednesday night, UNLV trailed by 12 points. When they went back to the end of the bench, the Rebels led by seven. Heavens to Murgatroyd, Snagglepuss!

Schumacher adds star power to go-kart finals’ horsepower

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009

When I heard from an old racing pal that Michael Schumacher would be racing go-karts on the parking lot at the Rio this weekend, I told him I wasn’t interested, because I was covering Tiger Woods’ putt-putt match against Phil Mickelson. Then it was over to the Laughing Jackalope where U2 was playing a benefit for a school chum who had lost it all by hitting a hard 16. And after that, Pele said he’d give me a chance to get even on the foosball table.

Tina Kunzer-Murphy won't be next UNLV athletic director

Kunzer-Murphy might make a great athletic director for UNLV, but now is not the time

Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009

Tina Kunzer-Murphy is out of the running to become UNLV’s next athletic director before the real running even begins.

Two paths to improvement for UNLV's football team

One way, but maybe not the only way, is to spend millions more

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009

The hills are alive with the sound of ... well, that isn’t exactly music now, is it? It’s the cacophony of UNLV football fans suggesting cures for what has ailed the program since the advent of the face mask and two platoons.

The Elevator: Arum back on top of boxing after being written off

Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

Who’s going to the penthouse in local sports — and who’s getting the shaft. For those who wrote Las Vegas promoter Bob Arum off boxing’s relevant list a few years back, do you know he has the contracts of both Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto, the antagonists in this year’s Fight of the Century, in his hip pocket? Don King would be proud. And envious.

Gondo’s pal tries to fill void on Rebels air

Thursday, Nov. 12, 2009

The final chapter of Glen Gondrezick’s career as a UNLV Rebel was written Tuesday night, 104 feet beneath where his jersey hangs from the rafters at the Thomas & Mack Center.

A name for those who want to see Sanford gone

UNLV could do a lot worse than a 10-time national champion

Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009

Should Mike Sanford be fired as UNLV’s football coach, one name already has surfaced in conjunction with the potential opening.

Rebels’ win raises a few what-ifs

Imagine what would happen if UNLV were to win its last two scheduled games

Monday, Nov. 9, 2009

As I sat in the Bono seats — the rickety bleachers at the summit of the stadium, which, with rare exception, get occupied only when U2 is in town and never, ever get occupied when the UNLV football team is in town — I had a thought that might be frightening to whatever devoted Rebel football fans remain.

A venue for all types of pros

Even if a big corporation does build an arena downtown, that’s no reason to pursue a sports team. Is it, Mayor?

Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009

One more reason why I love Las Vegas: I can get the mayor on the phone even when I don’t leave a message.

Letting the good ol’ times roll

Roller derby on banked track returns to valley, bruises and all, after decades-long hiatus

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009

They got started late, and when the recording of “The Star-Spangled Banner” kept malfunctioning, I thought the couple sitting in the front row dressed out of “A Clockwork Orange” was going to sing Jim Croce’s “Roller Derby Queen” — the roller derby national anthem — so the match could get under way. Or assault somebody.

The Elevator: Halloween edition

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

A special Halloween edition of who’s going to the penthouse in local sports — and who’s getting the shaft: One stale Zagnut bar — To Mayor Oscar Goodman, who is and always will be the one Las Vegan I would most like to party with. That said, the next time he pitches an idea about a 20,000-seat downtown arena during an economy that is softer than the University of Florida’s nonconference football schedule, he must do it wearing fake nose and glasses, lest somebody take him seriously.

Rolling with the punches

Despite setback, derby to skate in this weekend

Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

The last time anybody saw the banked roller derby track in Patrick and Lali Outhoummountry’s back yard in northwest Las Vegas it looked like a pretzel, or an ampersand with twisted metal hanging from it. It was virtually destroyed by a mighty wind storm in June 2008.

Agassi's book puts ’97 in perspective

Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009

I don’t know Andre Agassi, the Las Vegas tennis legend and, as of Tuesday, admitted former crystal meth user. But I have liked him since the day he started losing his hair and responded by shaving it off.

5-foot-1, 90-pound pitcher manages to make bigger hitters helpless

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009

Ryan Popowcer does not a throw a baseball with a great deal of velocity like Nolan Ryan, Don Drysdale or Roger Clemens did, mostly because those guys stood 6-foot-2, 6-foot-6 and 6-foot-4 respectively, and weighed 200, 216 and 220 pounds.

The Elevator: College GameDay edition

Saturday, Oct. 24, 2009

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

If the Rebels can’t win this one ...

Coach Sanford can’t possibly stay at UNLV, unless he can

Friday, Oct. 23, 2009

For those Rebels fans who haven’t moved on to basketball practice season — all four of you — this column is for you. It’s about how this game Saturday against winless New Mexico, quite possibly the worst college football team in the land, if not the entire solar system, is the most crucial game in the UNLV coaching career of Mike Sanford. Provided, that is, he wants to stay on as Rebels coach. Perhaps his spread offense would play better on Pluto.

For a spot with Yanks, he’ll take a little hazing

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009

During September, Cimarron-Memorial graduate Mike Dunn appeared in four games for the New York Yankees, and once as The Riddler from “Batman.”

Members of UNLV's 1984 football team converge for reunion

Monday, Oct. 19, 2009

At a little before 7 Friday night the old Rebels began to congregate in the banquet area at South Point.

The Elevator: Uniform edition

Saturday, Oct. 17, 2009

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

Hockey on a budget

Wranglers open season with the economy a continuing challenge

Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

In a few hours they will drop the puck on their seventh consecutive campaign of slashing, high-sticking and roughing at the Orleans Arena, thereby breaking the defunct Las Vegas Thunder’s record of slashing, high-sticking and roughing longevity in Las Vegas, which stood at six seasons.

Ten questions on Justin Timberlake’s annual golf tournament

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2009

If this is Las Vegas and it’s the third weekend of October, it can mean only one thing.

UNLV's Mike Sanford running out of excuses

Fifth-year coach drops to 13-40 overall with Saturday's 59-21 loss to BYU

Monday, Oct. 12, 2009

To paraphrase Spike Lee, it’s gotta be the socks. One of the exasperated fans who wrote on the Sun’s Internet site more or less blamed the Rebels’ latest humiliating football defeat, a 59-21 demolition by Brigham Young at Sam Boyd Stadium Saturday night, on the Rebels’ black socks. Really. Their socks. You gotta give this fellow named Gregory some credit. He may have come up with the one excuse that UNLV coach Mike Sanford has yet to use.

Instant analysis: Loss to BYU leaves Mike Sanford hanging by a thread

Cougars rack up 613 yards of total offense on way to 59-21 victory over UNLV

Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009

I suppose it was never a matter of whether UNLV was going to beat Brigham Young tonight but whether the Rebels would play well enough for embattled head coach Mike Sanford to keep his job another week. Hmmm. I suppose that remains to be seen.

The Elevator: Failing football editions

Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009

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

A card, gala with a cause

When boxing legends are honored in December, retired fighters down on their luck will benefit

Thursday, Oct. 8, 2009

I went to the “World’s Greatest Ever Boxer” news conference at Paris Las Vegas on Tuesday afternoon, mostly to hear what Mike Tyson thought about being one of those so nominated.

Meditations on UNLV’s beleaguered football coach

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2009

Here are 773 thoughts — one for each yard UNLV allowed in the 63-28 debacle at Nevada-Reno on Saturday — about Mike Sanford’s tenuous status as Rebels head football coach.

For Rebels, loss to UNR a new low

Humiliating loss renews calls for coach’s ouster, but trading up would be no small task for program

Monday, Oct. 5, 2009

It was just three weeks ago that the UNLV football team almost beat Oregon State of the Pac-10. Two weeks ago, it did beat Hawaii. Both games were close, and exciting. Sure enough, the defense looked suspect. The defense always looks suspect at UNLV.

The Elevator: Fremont Cannon edition

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009

A special Fremont Cannon edition of who’s going to the penthouse in local sports — and who’s getting the shaft:

The Mtn. vexes fans who’d like to watch UNLV

Saturday, Oct. 3, 2009

What does it say when Bishop Gorman has a better TV deal than UNLV? Friday night’s Gorman-Green Valley High game was televised nationally by CBS College Sports. Today’s UNLV-UNR game in Reno will not be televised. Last week’s UNLV-Wyoming game in Laramie was not televised. And even if it were, how many would have seen it? The Mtn., the Mountain West Conference’s almost around-the-clock TV network, has roughly the same number of viewers as the public access channel in Aurora, Ill., that carried Wayne’s World.

Bowl game luncheon has variety fit for Vegas

Friday, Oct. 2, 2009

To paraphrase the old joke, I went to the Maaco Las Vegas Bowl VIP Community Ticket Kickoff Luncheon on Thursday ... and “The Ed Sullivan Show” broke out.

Easing away from coaching

Final season to hold new thrill: Helping his son’s team in game on national TV

Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009

When he started coaching high school football at Bishop Gorman, Dave Gerber probably never imagined a day when the Gaels would be playing football on national TV.

After 20 games, fans at Detroit Lions bar in Las Vegas can celebrate

Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009

They start rolling in to Meatheads, a watering hole at West Charleston and Decatur that used to be one of those Kenny Rogers Roasters, around 9:30 every Sunday morning during this time of the year.

The Elevator: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Las Vegas 350 edition

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

A special NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Las Vegas 350 edition of who’s going to the penthouse in local sports — and who’s getting the shaft.

Truck racing: So crazy it just might work

Whoever decided that racing pickup trucks would hold fans’ interest might have had a lug nut loose, but here we are, 15 years later

Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009

It’s hard to fathom that men (and a few women) have been racing pickup trucks for 15 years and getting paid for it, as they will at tonight’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Las Vegas 350 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Maybe numbers don’t lie, but statisticians do

Thursday, Sept. 24, 2009

There’s a lot of gray area with sports statistics, especially when it comes to subjective matters such as whether a ground ball to the shortstop was too hot to handle or a pass from a point guard led directly to a basket. I recently came across a story on the Deadspin.com Web site in which a former NBA statistician admitting to fudging numbers, sometimes even with the organization’s blessing.

Frustrated UNLV football fans reveal what keeps them from stadium

Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2009

If Mike Sanford builds it, will they come? Well, apparently not if the parking lots aren’t paved.

UNLV coach Mike Sanford deserves credit for game adjustments

Monday, Sept. 21, 2009

This one is on Mike Sanford. And that’s a good thing.

Instant analysis: What goes around, comes around

Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009

That's entertainment. That's Omar Clayton to Phillip Payne in the corner of the end zone. That's a game-winning touchdown. After losing one they could have won in the closing seconds last week against Oregon State, the Rebels won one they could have lost in the closing seconds Saturday night against Hawaii.

UNLV’s building it; why aren’t they coming?

Friday, Sept. 18, 2009

During his remarks after UNLV’s 23-21 loss to Oregon State on Saturday, Rebels coach Mike Sanford talked about the great crowd that turned out for the game.

Would Hemingway like this farewell to arms?

Bullfights had no weapons, no blood, but did include a favorite pastime of Papa’s: Drinking

Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009

I wonder what Hemingway would have made of the bloodless bullfighting Monday afternoon at the South Point Equestrian & Event Center.

Rebels made mistakes in a game where they couldn’t afford to …

... but also showed a winning season is theirs for the taking

Monday, Sept. 14, 2009

If Oregon State is the 24th-best team in college football, that would make UNLV the 25th-best team in college football, based on the Rebels’ 23-21 snatch-a-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory performance on late-night television Saturday.

Instant analysis: Close game with Oregon State something to build on

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009

Close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, drive-in movies -- and games against nationally ranked opponents during the second week of the college football season.

Oregon State, ranked No. 24 in the land, needed a field goal on the next-to-last play of the game to beat the upset-minded Rebels 23-21.

The Elevator: Mountain West double jeopardy

Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009

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

Las Vegas 51s’ season ends in whimper

In Triple-A, it’s a cyclical slog

Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009

The end of a baseball season should always come on an afternoon when the shadows are long and the weather is crisp. Long shadows and crisp weather on a baseball diamond in late September can make one feel melancholy. The 51s ended their season in Portland, Ore., on Monday. The shadows weren’t long, the weather wasn’t crisp. Yet I sensed a bit of melancholy.

Three locals who might be in the running for UNLV AD job

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009

There’s still no official list of candidates for the vacant UNLV athletic director’s job and probably won’t be until spring.

Chewing over UNLV's search for an athletic director

Wisely or unwisely, regent asks opinion of sports writer

Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009

Other than the night during March Madness a couple of years ago when a bunch of fellow scribes and I shamed Mark Alden into buying us a sack of White Castles after the bars closed in St. Louis, I couldn’t remember the last time I broke bread with one of the Nevada system regents.

Rebels easily won season opener — but then, they were supposed to

Monday, Sept. 7, 2009

All I could think about leaving Sam Boyd Stadium on Saturday night was Blues Magoos, a psychedelic rock band from the 1960s.

Instant analysis: Rebels sorta impressive, sorta not

Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009

So this is what a New Mexico Bowl team looks like. Or doesn't. It was still a little hard to tell. On a gusty night at Sam Boyd Stadium, UNLV did what it was expected to do. It beat Division I-AA Sacramento State of the Big Sky Conference. It was a competitive game for three quarters.

The Elevator: UNLV athletic department goes up — and down

Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009

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

Track discounts NASCAR tickets to fill stands

Friday, Sept. 4, 2009

I had planned to write this column in February, when Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials quietly confirmed that ticket sales for the most recent NASCAR weekend were down 15 to 20 percent.