The Elevator

By Ron Kantowski

Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 | 2 a.m.

Who’s going to the penthouse in local sports — and who’s getting the shaft:

GOING UP

Rain checks

The 51s’ game against Fresno on Monday was canceled because of wet grounds caused by the downtown downpour. It was the first rainout at Cashman Field since the game on Aug. 29, 2000, also vs. Fresno. But there was a good reason why none of the 51s ran around the field and did belly-flops on the tarp, as you sometimes see during major league rain delays. The 51s don’t have a tarp.

Oscar De La Hoya vs. Manny Pacquiao

Every once in a while boxing puts two guys in the ring you’d pay good money to see fight. I’m not convinced that Dec. 6 at the MGM Grand will be one of those nights, because I saw De La Hoya fight Felix Sturm on free TV. But I’m almost convinced.

Kyle Busch vs. Carl Edwards

The two best drivers in NASCAR this year have been placed on double-secret probation (i.e., six races) by Dean Wormer after running their stock cars into each other at Bristol Motor Speedway last week. As if that’s never happened before. Like I was saying, every once in a while auto racing puts two guys on the track you’d pay good money to see fight — er, race.

Adam Jones

The NFL has cleared pro football’s Pacman to play for the Dallas Cowboys this year. Jones had been arrested six times and was involved in a dozen incidents in which somebody called the cops (including one here) since the Tennessee Titans drafted him in the first round in 2005. In a related note, the NFL decided not to lift the suspensions of Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde, the ghosts in the video game “Pac-Man,” who currently form the defensive backfield for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League.

GOING DOWN

The 2008 Express Employment Professionals Bricktown Showdown Championship Game

That’s the official name of this year’s winner-take-all game pitting the Pacific Coast League champion against its counterpart in the International League for minor league baseball supremacy. One of the promotions this year is that any fan who can repeat the name of the game without coming up for air receives a year’s supply of rubber baby buggy bumpers and dinner for four at Peter Piper’s Pick a Peck of Pickled Peppers. (Gratuity not included.)

Mike Sanford and Brent Guy

The two men who will oppose one another when UNLV hosts Utah State at Sam Boyd Stadium tonight are sitting on the fourth (Sanford) and ninth (Guy) hottest college football coaching seats in the NCAA, according to Rivals.com. Both have been on the job three seasons and both have 6-29 records. So why the discrepancy? The only thing I can figure out is that Sanford must be sitting on the sunny side of Sam Boyd Stadium.