Columnist Ron Kantowski: Fans cry foul after Hard Rock jocks bail

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

Any time a press release contains the caveat that "more names will be added" you can assume one of two things:

One is that the original names aren't that impressive to begin with. Two is that the original names and the persons who use them aren't committed to appearing.

I was only cracking wise in this space when I noted the "more names will be added" line, taken from a press release announcing a celebrity 3-on-3 charity basketball tournament at the Hard Rock hotel-casino, and wondered if "more names also would be subtracted."

Sure enough, they were.

A couple of callers were chagrined to find out that after they spent $25 on tickets, many of the advertised stars failed to show. These included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Even some with modest credentials -- I speak of Connie Hawkins -- stayed away. That upset at least one reader, who wanted A, to see if The Hawk could, indeed, palm Sunday with his massive right hand; or B, reminisce about Hawkins' epic 1-on-1 battle with diminutive singer Paul Simon that aired on the very first "Saturday Night Live" in 1975.

"Unfortunately, a lot of people cancelled at the last minute," said Tanya Huisenfeldt, a spokesperson for the Hard Rock. She added that the resort wasn't given enough time to publicize the cancellations.

"I can understand people being upset. But overall, we were happy with the (celebrity) turnout."

In retrospect, the no-shows probably were like "one of them racin' deals" -- an accident in which it is difficult to say who is to blame.

Giving the Hard Rock the benefit of the doubt, it can be assumed that Kareem and Arnold, et al, had planned to attend. And while you can sympathize with their fans who paid good money to see them up close and personal, there's really no money back guarantee on something like this.

For instance, if you bought a box seat to a Cubs game and Sammy Sosa were to pull a muscle during batting practice, you wouldn't be entitled to a refund.

Or in the case of the Hard Rock, even lunch with one of the Baldwin Brothers.

* A LA CART: If Las Vegas Motor Speedway doesn't loosen the purse strings and part with some of its fans' hard-earned cash to satisfy Championship Auto Racing Teams' sanctioning fee, it would be doing both itself and local and regional open-wheel race fans a disservice.

This week's inaugural CART event in Chicago -- a market whose last exposure to open-wheel racing was some 80 years ago -- drew a crowd of 70,000 spectators. Even Jim Litke, the somewhat cynical -- at least when it comes to Indy-style racing -- Associated Press sports columnist was impressed.

"Everything about the show -- the drivers, the product, the backdrop -- was big league," Litke wrote in his national column on Monday.

LVMS and CART apparently want to do business, and given CART has delayed announcing its 2000 schedule in light of the ongoing merger talks with the Indy Racing League, a race here next year still isn't totally out of the question.

When you check the turnstile counts (100,000 plus) for CART events at Long Beach and Fontana, Calif., -- areas from which LVMS draws a majority of its customers -- it should be a no-brainer.

One way or the other, it will be.

* AROUND THE HORN: On the topic of false advertising (see Hard Rock note above), ABC Radio Networks has terminated its sports talk show contract with The Fabulous Sports Babe, who is not a babe in the Letterman sense, but more like in the Ruth sense. ... Must see TV (especially for those of us who were either too young, too misguided or too misinformed to understand the message): HBO's "Fists of Freedom" documentary focusing on the defiant black-glove salutes by American track and field stars Tommie Smith and John Carlos during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. ... The $45,000 that Las Vegan Kim Adler pocketed for winning the U.S. Open earlier this month is thought to be a women's pro bowling record. First-place paid $35,000 and Adler received a $10,000 bonus from Columbia, her bowling ball manufacturer. ... Spotting rubbing elbows recently: Mayor Oscar Goodm an and former Miami Dolphins coach Don Shula. Word is that Shula would like to open one of his steak houses in downtown Las Vegas. ... New research suggests that heading the ball in soccer may cause brain damage. Adult soccer players appear to suffer a loss of some mental abilities over time, and it has been suggested that heading the ball might be to blame. Too bad that those awful looking soccer knee socks don't cause shin splints. ... And finally, next month's Oscar De La Hoya vs. Felix Trinidad bout here is so big back in Trinidad's native Puerto Rico that it may even be shown in the prisons back there. Perhaps that's so that promoters and pay-per-view executives can see it.

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