Columnist Ron Kantowski: Did Rebels look good? Negative

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

Two things I never thought I would read in Wednesday's paper: "Ottawa Senators' leading scorer Radek Bonk" and "... the Rebels continued to chip away at the High Point lead."

While the Senators are down on offensive firepower, it's nice to see Bonk, the former Las Vegas Thunder teen idol, finally is living up to notice in the Canadian capital.

While the Rebels are down on offensive firepower, it's nice to see they still have enough of it to dispatch an opponent that sounds more like a kitchen appliance company.

Following the latest in what is become a succession of unimpressive performances (Eastern Kentucky, Cincinnati and now High Point), Rebels coach Bill Bayno said "I have nothing negative to say about this game."

Maybe that's the problem.

There was plenty of negative to say about the game, starting with why it was scheduled in the first place.

But when they insisted on tipping it off, at about the time Virginia Tech took a 29-28 lead over Florida State in a compelling battle for college football's national championship, the Rebels fell behind mighty High Point 17-4.

I'd say that's pretty negative.

The Rebels were outrebounded 48-39 by a team whose best player is named Mantas Ignatavicius.

I'd say that's pretty negative.

Trevor Diggs, who is mired in a slump so dreadful that not even Mario Mendoza could appreciate it, went 2-for-19 from the field. To put it in perspective, he made just two more baskets than I did, and I was sitting on my couch watching football, which means I took 19 fewer shots.

I'd say that's pretty negative.

Then there's the continuing saga of Lou Kelly, the highly touted recruit who has yet to play his first game, even though he technically was eligible to do so (provided his papers were in order) back on Dec. 18. I guess they don't "post" grades at Los Angeles City College. They carve them out of granite.

Afterward, a deluded Bayno blamed the press -- local newspaper coverage, not the 2-2-1 -- for most of what ails his team.

Had I been him, I would have said every team has a bad outing -- or three -- and that unlike Michigan State against Wright State last week "at least we won."

Leave it to a media guy to point out the positive.

But getting back to Lou Kelly. Provided the Pony Express finally does arrive with his passing grade, and Kelly is as good as ... say, Michael Jordan, there's no reason the Rebels can't pull out of their funk and salvage an NCAA Tournament berth.

* HIGH TECH DEFEAT: If you would have told Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer going in that the Hokies would outrush Florida State 278 yards to 30 and outgain the Seminoles 503 yards to 359, he would have liked his chances in Tuesday's college football national championship game. But in the aftermath of the Seminoles' 46-29 victory, can there be any dispute that special teams are every bit as critical as offense and defense?

You would think that college football programs would start hiring special teams coordinators to go along with their offensive and defensive ones. The two touchdowns Tech allowed on a blocked punt and a Peter Warrick punt return were exactly the difference in one heck of an exciting Sugar Bowl.

Other Sugar Bowl observations:

Former Chaparral High standout Daniel Nihapali, a backup offensive lineman for Virginia Tech, got in for at least one offensive series in the first half. ... A six-week hiatus prior to the biggest game of the year is a travesty. Both teams looked rusty early and exhausted late. ... The most ineffective performer of the night, next to belligerent Tech All-American defensive end Corey Moore (no tackles following the game's first play), had to be former NFL quarterback Joe Theismann, who managed to throw only one of four passes through a huge hole in a sheet of plywood. Had Theismann "completed" all four tosses, Bob Moderhak of Longmont, Colo., who showed Theismann how it's done in his only try, would have won $2 million during a halftime promotion sponsored by Nokia. Instead, the retired school administrator settled for $500,000.

* OFF HIS ROCKER: The ethnic slurs made by Atlanta Braves closer John Rocker in a recent Sports Illustrated article were so outrageous that not even a politically correct guy like teammate Greg Maddux could put a decent spin on them.

"Obviously, what he said is not a reflection of the team," Maddux said during an appearance at a Las Vegas charity golf outing this week. "It is a reflection of his own individual beliefs. Hopefully, he was just trying to be funny and it got taken out of context a little bit.

"It was biting, Obviously, he went too far. You always have to be careful what you say and who you're talking to and he used poor judgement. Poor judgement. I just hope that deep down, he doesn't feel that way. You know, maybe he was just ...

" ... Who knows what was going on when he said those things."

* ONE OF ARIZONA'S BEST: Las Vegas businessman Bill Rosado was named one of Arizona's Top 100 Athletes of the Century by the Arizona Republic newspaper. Rosado was a standout 105-pound wrestler at Arizona State and competed on two U.S. Olympic teams. But he missed out on a chance to win the gold medal in the 1980 Games when the U.S. boycotted.

As far as we know, Rosado has never climbed a utility pole during a New Year's celebration.

* SNAILING A SERVE: German scientists have named a new species of snail for their countryman, former tennis great Boris Becker. Naming the slippery sea snail after Becker -- its scientific name is "Bufonaria borisbeckeri -- was designed not only to pay tribute to the big-hitting Becker, but to develop a new way to make money for research.

The Munich Institute and four others last month established an association that will sell sponsorship rights on naming news species for a minimum of $5,000.

That got me to thinking that if they find some heretofore unidentified crustacean aimlessly roaming the desert, perhaps the UNLV athletic department could ante up the five grand and name the little bugger after the Rebel basketball team:

I'd call him Schedulus lightus. Or Rebeli underachievous.

* AROUND THE HORN: That fire suit that Dr. Jack Miller donated to Las Vegas' Race Rock restaurant downtown would have come in handy on New Year's Day when a fire broke out in the Indianapolis home of the lightly regarded Indy 500 veteran, better known as "The Racing Dentist." It caused $5,000 in damage before the fire trucks showed up and put Miller another lap down. ... This from Ventura County Star sports columnist Woody Woodburn: "Las Vegas plans to add a new San Francisco attraction complete with a replica Fisherman's Wharf, Alcatraz restaurant and miniature Golden Gate Bridge. No word if it will also include a decaying NFL dynasty." ... And finally, here I thought my next door neighbor was tardy in taking down his Christmas lights. The marquee at the Las Vegas Convention Center still has a huge Las Vegas Bowl banner tacked up on one side, despite the fact the game was played on Dec. 19.

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