From Little League to big business, sports had it all

It is tradition, much like debating which of the few games UNLV’s football team might be favored to win in a given season or the Thomas & Mack Center being overtaken for 10 days each December by folks wearing boots and plaid shirts, to compile a list of the year’s top local sports stories.

You don’t get more local than Little League.

Mountain Ridge united the community as few teams have, a group of 14 players who became the first team in Nevada history to make the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.

The Las Vegas side advanced to the United States championship, eventually finishing fourth overall among 16 teams.

Overnight, a young man like Austin Kryszczuk and a manager like Ashton Cave and so many other players and coaches that helped lead Mountain Ridge to the World Series became stars in Las Vegas.

Great local stuff, is right.

GREG MADDUX AND A CERTAIN PLAQUE

Cooperstown opened its doors to the Las Vegas resident and Valley High alumnus in July, when Maddux entered the baseball Hall of Fame as arguably the smartest pitcher ever to be enshrined.

He also went in logo-less.

Maddux couldn’t choose between the Cubs and Braves as to which organization should be represented on his plaque’s cap, so the man who received 97.2 percent of the vote — seventh highest in history — and won 355 career games became one of 11 Hall of Famers not to have a logo.

He is the only pitcher to record more than 300 wins, 3,000 strikeouts and fewer than 1,000 walks, was the first pitcher in history to win four consecutive Cy Young Awards (1992 to 1995) and is the only one to win at least 15 games in 17 straight seasons.

When you’re that good, you don’t need a logo.

ROLLER-COASTER OF UNLV BASKETBALL

Rebels coach Dave Rice asked for a contract extension after his team failed to the make the NCAA Tournament in March. He was denied.

He then interviewed for the head-coaching job at South Florida and reportedly was offered a six-year contract, even though the chances of him leaving his alma mater for Tampa, Fla., were roughly comparable to the chances of him saying something controversial.

Rice went back to UNLV, this time carrying that beautiful concept known as leverage.

He wasn’t denied a second time.

He was granted a two-year extension through 2019 and then finished signing one of the nation’s top recruiting classes. UNLV was chosen fourth in the Mountain West preseason poll and yet picked up its biggest win of the year in defeating No. 3 Arizona on Tuesday.

The Rebels are giving five freshmen consistent minutes but do have needed experience in transfer Cody Doolin, a fifth-year senior point guard who could pass as a member of “One Direction.”

Which means if he can’t lead UNLV back into the NCAAs, maybe Doolin can sing them into the field.

IF YOU BUILD IT, WE HAVE NO CLUE HOW MANY WILL COME

Shovels are in the ground at some spots in Las Vegas and others are being prepared. Arena/stadium projects are no longer along the fantasy lines of a certain show at Luxor.

Construction began in May on the $350 million MGM-AEG Arena and the 20,000-seat structure is scheduled to open in 2016, with reports continuing to suggest an NHL team will be the first major professional sport to call the place home.

There also is the $1.4 billion All Net and Resort Arena at the Strip’s north end, a hotel and arena project being developed by former UNLV and NBA player Jackie Robinson. It is scheduled to open in 2017, but Robinson still faces obstacles in terms of funding and reaching a development agreement with Clark County.

The city counsel also recently approved a public subsidy for a soccer stadium, but only if Las Vegas is awarded a Major League Soccer team.

As for the UNLV NOW stadium project … not NOW.

Probably not EVER.

RUN, DeMARCO, RUN

Never say DeMarco Murray doesn’t perform well in a contract year.

The former Bishop Gorman High standout and now Dallas Cowboys star leads the NFL in rushing this season, sitting at 1,745 yards entering today’s regular-season final at Washington. He is 29 yards shy of passing Emmitt Smith’s season team record.

Dallas owner Jerry Jones has rewarded players with whom he has a close relationship, even at relatively advanced stages of their careers. Murray is just 26 and in his fourth season with Dallas, but the tread on running backs tends to wear much faster than any position.

Murray showed some serious toughness in playing last week, just days after undergoing hand surgery, a game in which the Cowboys clinched the NFC East Division.

That sort of commitment has to be worth a few more zeros on his next contract, no?

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on “Gridlock,” ESPN 1100 and 100.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.