The Elevator: Gonzaga and those other teams

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, June 27, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Going up

Gonzaga and those other teams: The Western Athletic Conference made news this week when it announced it will move its men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to the Orleans Arena beginning in 2011. But it was the West Coast Conference that showed the WAC and everybody else that you can play postseason hoops in a building connected to a casino without the risk of going straight to H-E-double hockey sticks.

Cheesy promotion: If you bring a Kraft Singles package wrapper to Cashman Field on Tuesday night, you’ll get two tickets for the price of one for the 51s game against the dreaded Sacramento River Cats. Though I’m not exactly sure about the idea behind this promotion, I think it may have something to do with the 51s’ offense. What the team really needs is for the cheese people to come out with a product called Kraft Doubles With the Bases Loaded.

The other Kruger kid: UNLV coach Lon Kruger and wife Barb are in Florida to celebrate their daughter, Angie, completing her obstetrics and gynecology residency. “Many UNLV fans have had the chance to get to know our son, Kevin,” Lon says. “As much of a leader Kevin is on the court, Angie is in her world.” In other words, when it comes to crunchtime, you want the ball in Kevin’s hands. With Angie, it’s the forceps.

Going down

Money for (almost) nothing: Let me see if I have this straight: The Justin Timberlake Shriners Open is seeking volunteers who not only must work for free, but must pay $40 for the privilege? Supposedly, the money goes to charity, and they do give you a golf shirt and a hat and a badge with your name on it. But I might point out that when I came home from college one summer and couldn’t find a job in the mill, McDonald’s gave me a shirt and a hat and a badge with my name on it absolutely free.

Manny being like the rest of us: I’m probably just upset that the Dodgers left the 51s holding the bag last year, meaning that Manny Ramirez’s rehab assignment was in Albuquerque instead of at Cashman Field. But other than learning he procrastinates like the rest of us — Manny apparently logged on late and wound up stuck in the middle seat on his Southwest flight — there wasn’t much to report. According to one wire report — or was it a Twitter tweet? — Manny “grounded out and walked and ... ran to catch a fly and fielded a ball off the left-field wall.” I wonder what he did with the little bag of peanuts.

Cheaper seats: You can tell what UNLV thinks of its football opponents by what it charges for admission. A sideline ticket to the Sacramento State, Colorado State and San Diego State games costs $29. It’s $32 for Oregon State and Utah and $35 for Hawaii and BYU. I can almost hear the CSU pep talk now: “If they respected us, they wouldn’t knock $6 off admission. Now get out there and knock their heads off.”