This is a Christmas story that has nothing to do with the one that will be shown on TBS on a continuous loop Friday. This one is about UNLV coaches with soft spots in their hearts, and a Rebels basketball player who is much better beyond the 3-point stripe than he is with a Mexican yo-yo, and sick kids in the hospital, and the local sports radio host who brings them all together each year.
The last time I saw Ken Johann, UNLV’s uber soccer booster, was at Johann Field — named for his son, Peter — on Oct. 18. The Rebels were playing Incarnate Word from Texas. Fellow humongous soccer supporter Tim McGarry, a former Rebels player who in recent years has continued what Johann started as a benefactor, asked if I had wandered over to say hello.
It was Friday afternoon at the South Point, and the women’s basketball team from Stonehill College was playing Tarleton State in the annual Division II holiday tournament. That was one way to look at it.
Bryce Harper, the National League’s Most Valuable Player, and Kris Bryant, its Rookie of the Year received keys to the city during a ceremony on the the 3rd Street Stage at the Fremont Street Experience downtown Thursday night.
It’s Brigham Young vs. Utah, which is all the reason you need to watch the Royal Purple Las Vegas Bowl on TV — but only on TV, because the game is sold out, and it will cost a pretty penny to score a ticket on StubHub at this late hour.
Jim Livengood is excited about the upcoming basketball game between UNLV and Arizona. He’s more enthused about the possibility of the women’s Sweet 16 moving to Las Vegas if/when the NCAA lifts its cromagnon ban on official postseason tournament games being played in cities that offer sports wagering.
When I was a senior in high school, the Golden State Warriors were NBA champs. They had Rick Barry and Jamaal Wilkes, with the funky shooting stroke, and Clifford Ray. They also had Al Attles’ leisure suits, and his pointed collars and pants, which often were loud or plaid.
When he was a little boy in Choteau, Mont., Flint Rasmussen said sometimes he would go to bed and not be able to sleep. He remembers hearing a familiar voice, and the laughter of grown-ups coming from downstairs. The grown-ups were his parents, Stan and Tootsie. The familiar voice was Johnny Carson’s.
Clayton Kershaw, the ace of the Dodgers, a five-time All-Star, three-time Cy Young Award winner, and a Most Valuable Player if ever there was one — pitcher of a no-hitter and thousands of strikeouts and possessor of a career 2.43 earned-run average, best of the current era — couldn’t get anybody out.
When the announcement was made Sunday afternoon, he was wearing a dark blazer, pressed white shirt with an open collar, dark trousers and black-and-white crocheted Nikes that seemed a cross between skate shoes and bedroom slippers.
