Can it be three years since Andre lost to B. Becker?

By Ron Kantowski

Monday, Aug. 31, 2009 | 12:34 p.m.

NOW

I can't believe it has been three years since a bartender named Kara, a beefy guy with a red shirt who kept pouring quarters into a video golf game, and I, watched Andre Agassi play the last match of his illustrious tennis career on a big screen TV at Buffalo Wild Wings.

They had the sound turned down. That didn't seem right.

You could see the tears after Our Guy lost to B. Becker -- Benjamin, not Boris -- at the U.S. Open. But you couldn't hear the cheers after Agassi said this was it, time to move on, time to become the greatest philanthropist the world has ever known, although, come to think of it, that Andrew Carnegie was pretty darn generous with his time and money, too.

Tonight, they'll cheer for the Las Vegas ace of style and substance again at center court, where he will be feted on opening night at Flushing Meadows for his charitable work as well as being a pretty good tennis player.

This time, I hope they'll have the sound turned up at Wild Wings.

THEN

I was at Green Valley Ranch Thursday night when Drew Carey joined the Lon Bronson All Star Band on stage and sang the Monkees' ("I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone" almost as well as Micky Dolenz did in the 1960s.

Granted, that may not be that difficult. But being there when "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" morphed into "Guitar Hero" is just one more reason why Las Vegas is the coolest place on the planet. And you should have heard those horns wail during The Who medley.

This sort of thing could never happen in Fresno.