Falcons fencer receives Hal Rothman Award

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, June 18, 2008 | 5:05 p.m.

NOW:

Usually when you hear the word "fencing" in relation to Las Vegas it's about stolen property. But not in this case.

Peter French, a sophomore on the Air Force fencing team, has been named this year's recipient of the Mountain West Conference Hal Rothman Sportsmanship Award, named in honor of the former UNLV faculty athletic representative -- and Las Vegas Sun guest columnist -- who died of Lou Gehrig's disease.

French, a native of Austin, Texas, is the first Air Force student-athlete to earn the Rothman Award. The previous winners were Wyoming’s Kevin Bretting (men’s diving) and Utah’s Katie Battazzo (women’s soccer).

----- I'm not saying that basketball coach Lon Kruger hiring his own marketing department is an indictment of the UNLV athletic marketing department ... wait a minute, that's exactly what I'm saying.

----- Now that Tiger Woods is out for the season, the rest of the golf year is going to resemble the Quad Cities Open. Somewhere, Calvin Peete must be planning a comeback.

----- People were getting sick at the Red Rock Hotel Tuesday night when somebody apparently left a foreign substance that could have been produced domestically in the parking garage. My first thought: With the senior bowling tour in town at Red Rock Lanes this week, maybe a bottle of Nu-Skin had gone bad. Alas, the harmful agent apparently was left in a pillow case, not a bowling bag.

----- Last night on Letterman, the host did a segment called "Cool-Not Cool." For "Cool," he showed a clip of Barack Obama executing a mean crossover dribble and reverse layup. For "Not Cool" he showed George Bush chucking the basketball at a rim in Northern Ireland as if it were a Molotov cocktail. Well, there's always bowling Mr. President.

----- This just in: Turns out the thing that was making everybody sick at Red Rock was related to bowling after all. It was the scorecard from the night Barack Obama rolled a 37 on the campaign trail in Pennsylvania.

----- Boxer David Diaz, who will fight Manny Pacquiao here on June 28, said he drives around in a 1991 Honda with no air conditioning. Poor guy. Not so much that he doesn't have A.C, but because he has to fight M.P. That guy will knock the Freon right out of you.

----- What's with this infatuation between auto manufacturers and Pacific Coast League cities? There's the Toyota Tacoma (with its nickname Buick Rainier) and the Hyundai Tucson. There's even a Suzuki Reno, waiting for the Sidewinders to move next year. What's next, the Pontiac Fresno?

----- Another NBA season is in the books and my team didn't win. Maybe next year, Syracuse Nationals.

THEN:

----- I received an e-mail the other day from a reader who had never heard of Wheaties. I e-mailed him back and told him to get a Life.