Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2001 | 9:51 a.m.
Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4088.
There's a famous NFL Films soundbite in which former Houston Oilers coach Jerry Glanville tells a young official that he's in the NFL now, which is going to stand for Not For Long, if he keeps making bad calls.
Marc Ratner could have used those same words to describe the length of a conversation between himself and an NFL representative when the league was looking for replacement officials to step in for the locked out NFL refs.
"I was contacted about a month ago," said Ratner, the longtime executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission and a veteran Mountain West Conference football official. "I've worked with 10 or 12 officials in the PCAA (Pacific Coast Athletic Conference), Big West and Mountain West who have gone on to the NFL.
"In deference to them, I would never do it. The rifts that are developing (between the NFL officials and their replacements) are unbelievable."
Ratner, who also serves as commissioner of officials for the local high schools, said only one MWC striped shirt took up the NFL on its $2,000 per game offer, guaranteed for four games. But he said Dave Hettema of Texas is retiring after this year and perhaps thought he had nothing to lose by "turning pro."
"I would love to be an NFL official," Ratner said. "But I want to be there for the right reasons. I hope they (NFL officials) get the door unlocked and themselves unlocked."
The Rebels' announced crowd of 26,000-plus looked more like 30,000 and was great, considering the weird day and hour (5 p.m., to accommodate ESPN). Several sources also said the high school crowds seemed typical.
It's hard to blame exposure-challenged UNLV for switching to Friday night (they'll also host Colorado State this Friday at 5) if that's what it takes to get on national TV. Likewise, you could understand the preps' reluctance to switch to Thursday or Saturday games, just so UNLV could pad its attendance. After all, they were there first.
It's like they say in NASCAR -- this is just one of them racin' deals where nobody is really at fault.
Local high school officials will meet next month to determine the financial ramifications of the competing schedules and what (if anything) should be done to compensate for it.
"There's no place like home."
Suggestion to the UNLV marketing folks: Next time, get an old Judy Garland soundbite so all of us old-timers can understand the message.
I'm getting so old that I couldn't even deduce the genre of the music. A UNLV official said it was a heavy metal/grunge band that recorded the little ditty and not some rap artist, which is what I thought.
Actually, based on the $35 ticket price ($30 plus a hefty $5 service charge at Tickets.com) for seats on the 5-yard line, UNLV should have gotten Tony Bennett to do the voice over. I think his fans are about the only ones who can afford Rebels tickets nowadays.
That spot is now up to a half-acre in Henderson. The Washington Wizards' second-year pro recently paid $2.4 million for an 8,293-square foot residence at the Seven Hills location, which features seven bathrooms.
Rest assured the place also will have guest quarters for his boss and soon-to-be Wizards teammate. Some guy named Jordan.
archive
