Columnist Ron Kantowski: UNLV pitcher should give lawyer the hook

bf Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.

Unless he has had a change of heart, Mike Lopez still wants to play baseball for UNLV.

If that's the case, he should pick up his glove and drop his attorney -- and not necessarily in that order.

Lopez, a seldom-used senior pitcher from Diamond Bar, Calif., last week retained a lawyer, Douglas H. Clark of Las Vegas, to represent him in the event he decides to pursue legal action against coach Rod Soesbe and the university following an early morning incident during a recent road trip to College Station, Texas.

Soesbe was suspended for one week by the university, for -- according to UNLV's interpretation of the incident -- grabbing Lopez around the collar while trying to determine the pitcher's part in a prank that woke Soesbe up in the middle of the night.

Lopez claims it was more forceful that that. He says Soesbe put both hands around his neck.

Apparently, there was only one witness, Rebel pitcher Billy Barker, who sided with Lopez. But Barker was anywhere from 100 feet (Soesbe's claim) to 40 feet (as Lopez estimated) from the incident.

Subtract the difference, and you get roughly 60 feet, 6 inches. That's the distance between the pitcher's mound and home plate -- the distance from where Lopez and Soesbe should be viewing each other today.

Especially after they met face-to-face in an attempt to hash things out the very next day.

Lopez said Soesbe apologized to him. They should have shook hands then and there. End of story.

What upset Lopez the most is that Soesbe accused him of being party to a prank in which trash cans apparently were overturned in another player's room. Lopez and Barker were hanging out with a couple of former junior college teammates who now play for Texas A&M and just happened to be pulling up to the motel after the initial disturbance.

"Everybody thinks I'm a bad kid and that's not the case," Lopez said.

That's not the impression -- that Lopez is a bad kid -- that I got upon chatting with the pitcher for about 20 minutes last Thursday. For that matter Clark, his attorney, seems to be a nice guy, too. And I've always liked Soesbe. He's a bulldog, but a friendly bulldog. He could have been the Georgia mascot.

The amazing irony about all this is that a few hours before they encountered each other in the parking lot, Soesbe might have ordered Lopez to throw a 90-mph fastball under the chin of an opposing hitter and Lopez might have complied. And the actions of both men would have been dismissed as "part of the game."

* TRAINER'S HIT LIST: In deference to Opening Day, here's a bunch of things that will get you on the 15-day disabled list or a mention in the Beatles' "Come Together:"

-- Joo Joo Eyeball

-- Pulled Hamstring

-- Monkey Finger

-- Turf Toe

-- Toe Jam Football

-- Pulled Groin

-- Spinal Cracker

-- Charley Horse

-- Walrus Gumboot

-- Athlete's Foot

-- Ono Sideboard, Early Warning or Mojo Filter

-- Sore Arm

-- Feet Down Below Your Knee

* AROUND THE HORN: A caller said Saturday's meet that dedicated UNLV's new track and field stadium might have been the worst idea for a live event since Geraldo Rivera took a peek inside Al Capone's vault. Apparently, the running events fell about 90 minutes behind schedule and there were no public address system announcements to keep the fans apprised of what was happening. ... A source within the organization said head coach Bob Bourne is the only Las Vegas Thunder employee whose contract does not expire at the end of the current season. Prediction: the franchise goes in mothballs for a year until the IHL and co-owners the Stickneys and Mandalay Sports Inc., can decide what to do with it. ... The best thing on ice other than a cold one on Opening Day is the NCAA hockey championship game. Maine beat New Hampshire 3-2 in a Saturday night overtime thriller featuring 87 shots on goal, no two-line passes and no fighting. ... Cool idea for a 1999 proposition bet: Number of Major League Baseball complete games vs . number of Evander Holyfield illegitimate children. The champ (I guess) admits to fathering five children out of wedlock with four women, including two of each last year, when he still was married to his second wife, from whom he recently filed for divorce. ... Speaking of divorce, Joe and Tatiana Namath are splitting up after 15 years. I guarantee it.

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