JohnF:

No, sorry I'm gonna miss the CWS. Unless, of course, UNLV signs Roger Clemens between now and June. But yes, it's on my things to do list.

But just in case the Rebel baseball team catches fire -- and now that I have been 86'd from Omaha for making fun of it -- I have an old friend in Elkhorn I could probably stay with it.

Well, gotta run. There are a bunch of Elvis impersonators in our (sometimes) fair city that need defending from a bunched of crazed Nebraskans.

If you ever get to Las Vegas, lemme know. I'll buy you a 99-cent shrimp cocktail downtown and we'll ogle some showgirls.

Ron K.

Wow, where did everybody's sense of humor go? Why is it when David Letterman or Jay Leno makes a joke about a city everybody laughs? And when a newspaper columnist does it, everybody wants to send him there on permanent vacation?

Things about Omaha I actually liked:

-- Johnny's Cafe

-- Kari Zawa-Harding

-- Zio's Pizza

-- The people (all were friendly, except for our cab driver)

-- The Qwest Center

-- Walls made of brick

-- It's not Des Moines

I think she was only the coach at Pacific for a half-season after inheriting a bunch of bad players that she didn't recruit.

Yeah, a lot of the guys on press row mentioned that New Mexico game after the Rebels and Horned Frogs finally stopped making 3-pointers. Not as many people remember that Wyoming game, but it was something special, too.

Don't know about the glib part but I confess to the sideswipe. The talent of these young players aside, they are still relative unknowns (to the average sports fan, at least) and Las Vegas traditionally doesn't get excited about watching relative unknowns do much of anything.

Without an influx of marquee talent, I fear the long-range viability of the tournament is negligible at best.

rk