The Elevator

Sat, Aug 2, 2008 (2 a.m.)

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

GOING UP

Lon Kruger: Today is the one-year anniversary of the UNLV basketball coach’s (above) sextuple bypass surgery. We’re happy to report that his heart, as well as his team’s, is beating stronger than ever.

Greg Maddux: It took him 15 tries, but the Las Vegan finally picked up career victory No. 351 while pitching for the San Diego Padres. If he gets three more, the 42-year-old changeup artist will tie Roger Clemens for eighth place on the all-time win list. Here’s hoping we see him doff his cap — which he did when he left the field Monday — a few more times.

Bob Arum: Most 76-year-old men I know wind up being only a nuisance at Thanksgiving dinner. Not the Las Vegas fight promoter, who is to boxing what Tony Bennett is to singing the standards. Last week’s Antonio Margarito vs. Miguel Cotto brawl was the fight of the year, proving that yesterday Arum was relevant — and today he’s just as relevant.

GOING DOWN

Closed practice: Beginning Aug. 20 and continuing through the season, UNLV football practices will be CLOSED — as the news release stated — to the public. You’ve got to hand it to Mike Sanford and his staff for continuing to find new ways to attract fans to the long-suffering program. The funny thing is, had he not posted a “keep out” sign, the trespassers wouldn’t have come anyway.

Downtown sports arena: A couple of years ago, REI Neon officials announced a $10.5 billion project that would include a downtown sports arena, three casinos, 6,000 hotel rooms, 1,500 condominium units, 1,600 time share units, 785,000 square feet of retail, 4 million square feet of convention space and 500,000 square feet of office space. Plus hotels on Boardwalk and Park Place. The project now seems ready to expire without so much as a single house being built on Mediterranean Ave.

Indy Racing League: Danica Patrick and Helio Castroneves won’t be racing in Las Vegas next year because the sanctioning body negotiated with the wrong group. Instead of Las Vegas Motor Speedway representatives, it should have been talking with the Fremont Street Experience to reconstruct the downtown street course the defunct Champ Cars Series raced on in 2007. That weekend was such a party that Vegas Vic is still smiling.