John Burkett was an excellent major league pitcher, but his true love was bowling. Now he’s a part-time pro bowler on the PBA Tour and just missed the cut at the GEICO World of Series of Bowling at South Point.
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Ron Kantowski

Ron Kantowski is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
rkantowski@reviewjournal.com … @ronkantowski on Twitter. 702-383-0352
The football coach was run out of UNLV after posting back-to-back 5-7 seasons and then out of Louisville. But he’s doing fine at Indiana State, which is 5-3 with three wins over ranked teams.
They played their first game in the new and improved MASL, which stands for Major Arena Soccer League, which is supposed to be a step up the pro soccer ladder for the Las Vegas Legends, an indoor team embarking on its third season.
Young Christ Trickle won Oct. 4 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring in just his third start in a Super Late Model stock car. The 14-year-old driver has a heavy right foot and a famous name.
Breakaway leagues usually end up as broken dreams. But the Pro Bull Riders started 21 years ago in an Arizona motel room with $12,000 in a cowboy hat, and this week the riders compete for $2.2 million in the World Finals at the Thomas & Mack Center.
This was believed to be the first time that swimming pools had flanked fairways and greens at a PGA event. Golf and swimming pools go back a long way, however. At least back to 1980 in the movies.
The Washington Nationals tied for the best record in baseball this year, and they’re out of the playoffs, too — but at least they were knocked out by another playoff team.
Here it is, the middle of October, and there’s no baseball today. This is what baseball fans get when the Royals — the Royals?! — and Giants take care of business early, albeit in the most dramatic of fashions.
Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton finished tied for second in the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. Fowler is the guy who plays pro golf with the sort of shaggy haircut style you may have sported in high school. Compton is the guy who plays pro golf with a transplanted heart.
Mississippi State is the new darling of college football. The Bulldogs hail from “Stark Vegas,” according to a stenciled logo on their footwear.
Brisk northern winds wreaked havoc with the inflatable pylons, causing a long delay and ultimately the cancellation of the penultimate race of the 2014 Red Bull Air Race World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday.
Kirby Chambliss stands 11th in points among the 12 adrenaline junkies who will race airplanes through pylons at speeds approaching 230 mph today in Round 7 of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
It may not be the most scientific poll, but jersey sales at Dick’s Sporting Goods say Nevadans root for Andrew Luck and the Indianapolis Colts.
It has been 49 years since James Dean, one of the first actor-turned racers, died in a crash while chasing his need for speed in California.
Growing up in an Spanish-speaking neighborhood in Southern California, retired U.S. Army Cpl. Wesley Leon-Barrientos wasn’t much of an ice hockey player. He didn’t follow the Kings that much, even after they traded for Gretzky.
