There’s news about the new arena (kinda, sorta)

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, July 9, 2008 | 4 p.m.

NOW:

Remember that proposed NBA arena behind Bally's they were supposed to break ground on in June?

Well, it lives. Kinda sorta.

I received an e-mail from a loyal Sun reader today saying that I should check out the Anschutz Entertainment Group Web site, that they had put up artist renderings of the Figment of Our Imagination Arena and Poker Palace.

Sure enough, he was right. Kinda sorta.

There are artist renderings on a section of the AEG site dedicated to the company's proposed arenas, but they show Kobe Bryant's mug on the side of the building. They are of LA Live, the four-million-square-foot development that will join Staples Center with the Los Angeles Convention Center.

But there is a section for the Las Vegas arena. It lists a heading "Echelon I," followed by two paragraph signs, and "Echelon II," followed by three paragraph signs. There are no words.

There were no words for me, either, when I called AEG headquarters in LA to ask "Whassup?". I got through the first secretary and the second secretary but when I asked for The Chief, I got the voice mail of Michael Roth, who is a chief all right, but only of the publicity department. Roth did not return a phone call.

Then somebody -- my guess it was Larabee, or perhaps Agent 13, switched me to a voice recording.

So if you need directions to Staples Center, I'm your man.

----- The Kansas City Royals used to have a 5-foot-5 shortstop named Fred Patek who, when asked what it was like to be the smallest player in the major leagues, would say "it's better than being the smallest player in the minor leagues." As they said on "Family Feud," good answer. Which brings us, or at least me, to 5-foot-7 Dominque Dorsey, who used to rush the football for the UNLV Rebels. Dorsey was named the Canadian Football League's special teams player of the week after returning three kickoffs for 82 yards, four punts for 68 yards and a missed field goal for 63 yards. Dorsey also added three carries for 29 yards as a tailback. Alas, Dorsey and the Argonauts lost to the Tiger-Cats of Hamilton. I don't recall the score but I guess it really doesn't matter. It's the CFL. In July.

----- I'm not saying the Hilton's return to boxing smacked of a club card, but somebody said they saw Spider Rico signing autographs in the lobby.

----- OK, I don't want to do a Dennis Miller on you. Spider Rico was Rocky Balboa's first on-screen opponent who returned with a lot more lines in "Rocky Balboa," the last Rocky movie. Spider was played by Pedro Lovell, a real heavyweight from Argentina who threw some heavy punches in the 1970s before running into Ken Norton. After that, his punches weren't so heavy.

----- This just in: The Brewers have signed Rollie Fingers to shore up their bullpen for the pennant race. The Cubs countered by recalling the DNA of Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown from Triple-A Iowa.

----- The Navy is ending its sponsorship of Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet driven by Brad Keselowski. It would be cool if it were leaving to sponsor a boat in the unlimited hydroplane series but I don't think that's the case.

----- Yesterday in this space, I mentioned Buster Crabbe, the former gold medal swimmer who went on to play Tarzan in the movies. Today, it was called to my attention that he also was the grandfather of Nick Holt, a UNLV football assistant under Wayne Nunnely at UNLV and the current defensive coordinator under Pete Carroll at USC. It's official: The world is now the size of a golf ball.

THEN:

Sometimes when I can't sleep at night, I contemplate why the foul pole is called that, when any ball that strikes it is considered in fair territory.

Eventually, the sun comes up. But it seems to take a while.