Tark makes sure NCAA, HBO don’t get last word

I was pulling off Jerry Tarkanian Way and onto the 215 when I noticed Jodie Diamant — who used to be Jodie Tarkanian — had left a message on my phone. Would I be interested in attending a private screening of "Runnin’ Rebels of UNLV," the upcoming HBO documentary about the basketball team her dad coached from 1974 to 1992 with a certain amount of swagger, aplomb and disdain for authority?

Had I been traveling on Roy Horn Way, perhaps I could have said no. But this was just too much coincidence.

Tark’s daughter expressed mild trepidation that the television special, which debuts March 12 on the eve of March Madness, would portray her dad and the Rebels in an unsavory light.

I told her it wasn’t TV, it was HBO. Not to worry. HBO will be fair. It might even mention that a guy named Sam Gilbert was buying cars for UCLA’s players during John Wooden’s reign and that everybody cheated back then, or at least fudged on the rules. And that heavy fudging continues to this day.

After Friday’s screening at the Palms, I got Diamant’s attention. I flipped my hand to and fro, like we did on press row at the Hoosier Dome in 1991 when Greg Anthony fouled out against Duke.

Block or charge?

Mostly good, she said.

A little charge? Yes, a little charge: There should have been more contempt for the NCAA.

Roughly 45 minutes of the hourlong documentary was an homage to her dad and the in-your-face, take-no-prisoners ethos his UNLV teams espoused while winning 509 games and losing only 105 and advancing to four Final Fours, winning the one played in Denver in 1990.

For the other 15 minutes, Rebels fans might want to borrow the hockey helmet and face mask Anthony sported after he broke his jaw against Fresno State. HBO did not exactly sugarcoat the controversy that followed Tarkanian and his teams like a perpetual shadow.

The Rebels, as the documentary recalls, pulverized opponents while polarizing the public amid their coach’s recurring battles with the NCAA over matters such as recruiting, illegal benefits and, finally, the players’ association with a tawdry character known as "The Fixer." 

"At the end of the day, all we wanted to do was tell the truth," HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg said in his remarks to the audience.

At the end of the night, Tarkanian was asked to say a few words. He said a few hundred. Maybe a few thousand. Virtually all were personal pronouns for the NCAA uttered with utmost astringency. In other words, he’s still not over it.

"I could go on and on but that’s enough," he finally said.

Tark and his entourage were the next-to-last group to leave the theater. I just so happened to walk out behind him.

He was still complaining about that charging foul on Anthony that should have been called blocking.

THREE UP

■ New Daytona 500 golden boy — and I’m not just referring to the color of his uniform — Kurt Busch blew the collective mind of the NASCAR media when he used the word "pecten" after winning his qualifying race Thursday. "I didn’t mean to confuse everyone — the Shell logo is called a pecten," the Las Vegas leadfoot said in deference to his new sponsor. Asked to use the word in a sentence, TV analyst Darrell Waltrip said he’s "pecten" Busch to win today’s race.

■ Austin Nelson, who recently set Coronado High’s basketball career scoring record, had a rare off night Thursday, sinking only 1 of 13 field-goal attempts in a loss to Eldorado in the Sunrise Region semifinals. Nelson also is an Eagle Scout. You don’t hear nearly enough about combination point guard/Eagle Scouts these days. 

■ Tweet of the week, from RebsRmylife: "I have been at UNLV practice for 15 (minutes) and Kendall Wallace has hit more 3s in a row than the team has hit the entire season."

THREE DOWN

■ The Lady Rebels lost to Air Force 91-87 to fall to 9-17 on Wednesday. But who cares about the awful record? They scored 87 points. In one game!

■ "Who’s gonna play BYU now?" then-San Diego State coach Brady Hoke cracked after Brigham Young declared football independence from the Mountain West. A few hours later, Texas said it would. Now Texas Christian says it will, too — in a nationally televised game at Cowboys Stadium on Oct. 28. The Cougars have 12 opponents lined up for 2011, including Oregon State, Ole Miss, Utah and Central Florida, which was 11-3 last year and beat Georgia in a bowl game.

■ The Harlem Globetrotters, who will play at the Orleans Arena on Wednesday night — prediction: The other team will fall for the confetti-in-the-water-bucket routine as if seeing it for the first time  — has unveiled a new 4-point shot for its 2011 tour. Pssst! Don’t mention a word of this to the Rebels.

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352. Follow him on Twitter: @ronkantowski.