Shock waves still being felt from upset heard ’round college football world

A show of hands, please: "Rants & Raves" wants to know how many readers really thought that after the first week of the college football season a struggling UNLV program would be 1-0 and nationally prominent Michigan would be 0-1?

Of course, it wasn't a real shock that the Rebels beat Utah State on Thursday night in Logan, although UNLV had dropped back-to-back games to the Aggies in 2004 and '05. Even coming off a 2-10 season, UNLV was a touchdown favorite. Still, it took a late drive to get the Rebels their 23-16 victory.

But Michigan losing -- at home! -- to Appalachian State, a Division I-AA (now Football Championship Subdivision) team? Talk about an incomprehensible stunner.

Next thing you know, someone will tell us Paris Hilton actually graduated from high school and Lindsay Lohan once took driver's ed. ...

• Appalachian State is located in Boone, N.C., which we presume is somewhere near the fictional Mayberry and Mount Pilot of "The Andy Griffith Show" fame.

If so, we can imagine town drunk Otis had some company in the Mayberry jail cell once the partying began after the Mountaineers' 34-32 victory Saturday. ...

• Reader Ken Waddle listened to Atlanta quarterback Michael Vick's apology on Aug. 27 and came away somewhat impressed with his sincerity.

"But if he wanted to really make his words mean something," Waddle said, "he should have announced that not only was dogfighting a terrible thing but that he was donating $2 million to start a program to help stop it. If he had pledged that, then there would've been no question in my mind about his remorse."

We can't argue with the logic -- especially at a time when Vick's financial career not only has hit the skids but, if Falcons' management has its way, will be in multimillion-dollar reverse. ...

• Is the two-week FIBA Americas Championship finally over?

We ask not because a local TV commercial for tickets aired around 6 p.m. Sunday, right about the time U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski was emptying his bench in a gold-medal victory over Argentina, but because never have so many needless games been played to determine two berths into the Olympics -- with still another tournament next summer where a third Americas team could get in.

Nine days of 38 games starting with 10 teams for two Olympic spots equates to OVERKILL. Then, throw in meaningless gold-medal and bronze-medal games? ...

• When the Los Angeles Dodgers signed a player development contract with our hometown Triple-A franchise starting with the 2001 season -- ending an 18-year relationship with the San Diego Padres -- we applauded the move even though as diehard San Francisco Giants fans we understood we essentially were giving a standing ovation to Satan.

That said, we knew it was the right call when the terribly renamed 51s (which we once wrote we would never call them, but obviously had to give in to because writing "Las Vegas" in every reference became too awkward), posted winning seasons in 2002 and '03.

But, oh, have things broken down since. Even with this year's team winning its final two games to finish on a blip of a high note, the 51s are a collective 58 games under .500 over the past four seasons, including 67-77 in '07.

Granted, Triple-A ball is about player development for the big club, more so than winning games. But somebody in the division has to finish first, and the Sacramento River Cats (affiliate of the Oakland Athletics) have become fairly proficient at it over recent seasons.

Hey, Dodgers, why not the 51s? ...

• An effort is under way to have an elementary school in the Clark County School District named after two of our all-time favorite people in our 30 years of being around sports in Southern Nevada: former UNLV athletic director Brad Rothermel and his wife, Suzanne.

While Brad Rothermel was publicly known for running a steady and financially buoyant ship at UNLV from 1981-1990, what wasn't well-known was that Suzanne was in the midst of a 44-year elementary school teaching career -- 24 in the CCSD, working primarily with first- through third-graders.

When the school naming committee meets Monday, we hope it will give strong consideration to honoring the Rothermels. If so, be sure to get it right, folks: Suzanne and Bradley Rothermel Elementary School.

After all, Suzanne Rothermel had the greater impact -- and dealt with much more whining.

Joe Hawk's "Rants & Raves" column is published Tuesday. He can be reached at 387-2912 or jhawk@reviewjournal.com.