Ed Graney is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
egraney@reviewjournal.com … @edgraney on Twitter. 702-383-4618
Playtime is over for now. UNLV has won its first two basketball games to open what should be a highly successful season, and yet we have learned just a couple of things about the Rebels, neither of which will mean anything when Wisconsin visits Saturday.
A moment of pause here for good thoughts sent to Robert Herron, the Wyoming football player taken from Sam Boyd Stadium in an ambulance Saturday night with 1:49 remaining in what would be a loss to UNLV.
You knew what kind of UNLV basketball opener it was going to be when the biggest question had nothing to do with the Rebels’ opponent, but rather whether a kid who has never played a minute of college ball would see action.
It might sound crazy today — you know, fresh off an embarrassing 55-7 loss to a Brigham Young football team best described as dead-flat average — but it wouldn’t be in UNLV’s best interest to stop playing the Cougars.
Quintrell Thomas had logged several minutes of basketball Tuesday evening when he raised his hand toward the UNLV bench. He was gassed and needed a break.
Tim Chambers didn’t feel comfortable commenting and left it at that. It’s the reaction you might expect when from a distance you watch a baseball program you built from dust into a national champion turned into one now facing allegations of rules violations and mistreatment of players by a new coaching staff, of allegedly charging kids for mandatory conditioning programs and food while allegedly promoting a culture of drugs and alcohol within locker room walls.
I liked the fake punt down 21-6 late in the second quarter from the 47-yard line of Texas Christian. I like trickery on Halloween Eve.
Mike and Linda Babin named Shriners Hospitals as owner and beneficiary of a $1.8 million life insurance policy collectable upon their deaths for the care they provided to their son Michael, who was burned on more than 85 percent of his body.
