Coach with heart — Kruger’s bypass surgery was one year ago Saturday

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, July 30, 2008 | 5:13 p.m.

NOW

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger's sextuple bypass surgery. It was just a couple of months after his Rebels put a knife in Wisconsin's back at the NCAA tournament when Dr. V.C. Smith put one in Kruger's chest at St. Rose Dominican Hospital -- and Rebels fans held their collective breath.

"V.C. and his team at St. Rose were amazing," Kruger said in his newsletter. "It was a life-altering experience -- fortunately for us, in a positive way."

Within the week, Kruger was back in the office. That was amazing, too.

He said Dr. Joe Johnson gets a big assist for knowing his family history and detecting the coronary blockages.

"I've tried to lead a healthy lifestyle but when it came to heart disease, heredity could not be overlooked," Kruger said. "Our hope is that people learn from this experience. Get tested. If someone is reading this right now and has been thinking about getting tested or knows a loved one who should get tested, do it immediately before it is too late."

----- Two years ago Rancho High was practicing football in a city park. This year, Bishop Gorman will open the season by playing Arizona's Brophy Prep in a battle of state champions at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale -- the same place the Arizona Cardinals play their games. The same place they played last year's Super Bowl. It's not exactly kicking field goals through makeshift goal posts made of PVC pipe now, is it?

----- Because the game is scheduled early, on Aug. 23, Gorman will be allowed to begin practice 10 days before the other Nevada high schools. I'm sure many of the Gaels' rivals will have a problem with that, because they have a problem with everything Gorman does. But in this case, put me down with the yea-sayers. Playing in a Super Bowl stadium is great exposure for a Las Vegas high school team.

----- Tim Donaghy, the rogue NBA referee (at least according to commissioner David Stern), said he would have spilled the beans, or at least told the "good, the bad and the ugly" about the way NBA zebras call games, if he were given probation instead of 15 months in the cooler. Darn it, now we're gonna have to wait for the book.

----- Maybe by then, I will have finished the Cliff Note -- singular -- to Jose Canseco's book.

----- Apparently, Texas Motor Speedway general manager Eddie Gossage could not close the deal, so Las Vegas Motor Speedway won't be getting next year's Indy Racing League season finale. That may or may not be news to the LVMS staff, which apparently didn't know these negotiations were happening in the first place.

----- If and when -- hopefully it will be the latter -- Danica Patrick, Helio Castroneves and all those other lead foots with funny-sounding names return to Las Vegas, it should be on the downtown street circuit the defunct Champ Car series used on Easter weekend in 2007. That was the most fun you could ever have on top of a parking garage. At least during daytime.

THEN:

----- "The referees have requested that no matter how bad this officiating is, do not throw stuff on the floor."

-- Billy Tubbs, speaking on the public address system at referee Ed Hightower's insistence during the Oklahoma-Missouri game, 1989.