Santoro: A Knights’ win would be state’s biggest

Sports Fodder:

The state of Nevada is just two victories away from its most important, prestigious and significant sporting achievement in its history. The six-year-old Vegas Golden Knights are up 2-0 in the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers with Game 3 scheduled for Thursday night. Just 12 states (13 if you count Washington. D.C.) have ever won the Stanley Cup. Las Vegas wasn’t even founded as an official city when Lord Stanley’s Cup was first presented in 1892. We understand that there are those in Northern Nevada, of course, who still won’t acknowledge Las Vegas as an official city. But don’t let your Las Vegas animosity get in the way of celebrating a Stanley Cup coming to Nevada. If the Knights seal the deal and beat the Panthers two more times, do yourself a favor and appreciate the greatest sporting accomplishment in Nevada history. When the Knights bring the Cup to Reno this summer (they will, won’t they?), go get your picture taken with it and place the photo in a cherished spot in your home next to your photo with the Fremont Cannon. The Cannon is Wolf Pack pride. The Stanley Cup is state of Nevada pride.

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A Stanley Cup champion in Nevada would give the state sports legitimacy. Yes, of course, Nevada has hosted numerous championship fights the last 100-plus years. Bob Fitzsimmons beating Jim Corbett in Carson City in 1897 and Jack Johnson beating Jim Jeffries in Reno in 1910 quickly come to mind. And, we’ll admit, there’s been a few significant title fights down south, too. An ear was even bitten off in one of them. But those events really don’t belong to Nevada for more than a few hours. The title belts certainly didn’t. The 2023 Stanley Cup will belong to Nevada forever. The Fremont Cannon is the closest Nevada has to a Stanley Cup right now. The Stanley Cup has the names of the NHL’s champions engraved on its side. The closest the Fremont Cannon came to the Cup was when someone connected with the Wolf Pack wrote “University of Notta Lotta Victories” inside the barrel. Lord Stanley would not approve.

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The Wolf Pack football team went from thrilling its fans with one of the most explosive and exciting offenses in the nation in 2021 to boring its fan base to tears with one of the worst offenses in school history in 2022. The Wolf Pack passed for just seven touchdowns last year after tossing 38 in 2021. Expect the offense to rebound this fall. Colorado transfer Brendon Lewis or Shane Illingworth will run the offense at quarterback. Oregon transfer Sean Dollars should excel at running back in the defenseless Mountain West. Isaiah World will lead the offensive line. Just having kicker Brandon Talton healthy for a full season should guarantee the Pack will be able to eclipse its sad output of a mere 19 points a game last year.

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Talton could use his fifth year of eligibility (thank COVID 19) this year to become the most prolific kicker in Wolf Pack history. That is saying something for a university that has produced kickers such as Tony and Marty Zendejas, as well as Damon Shea, Brett Jaekle, Anthony Martinez, Kevin McKelvie and others. Talton already owns the Pack record for most kicking points in a season with 118 in 2021. His 68 career field goals are just four away from Marty Zendejas’ record of 72. Talton’s 326 points are also knocking on the door of Marty’s school-record 385. Talton has had a storybook college career, starting in his first game his freshman year when he beat Purdue with a 56-yard field goal in 2019. He’s enough of a reason alone to buy Wolf Pack season tickets this year.

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The Golden Knights, which were born in the 2017-18 season, became Nevada’s first big-time sports franchise. The NFL’s Raiders came to Las Vegas in 2020. Major League Baseball’s Athletics might start playing in Las Vegas in a couple years. There is already talk of the NBA granting Las Vegas an expansion team. That would give Las Vegas teams in the four biggest sports leagues (NHL, MLB, NFL and NBA) all in a span of about a dozen years. Rome wasn’t built in a day but Las Vegas’ pro sports teams, it seems, certainly could be. The last time Las Vegas had such an entertainment explosion in such a short time was in the 1950s, when casinos such as the Sahara, Sands, Desert Inn, Showboat, Riviera, Fremont, Binion’s Horseshoe, Tropicana and others were built. Now all Las Vegas needs is to find its Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. for the Raiders, A’s and NBA team. The Knights are sort of the anti-Vegas team, winning without superstars.

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Can the Triple-A baseball Las Vegas Aviators survive financially in Las Vegas with the A’s in town? Probably not. The plan now is for the Athletics (if they move to Las Vegas) to share the Triple-A stadium with the Aviators while the $1.5 billion major league stadium is built in time for the 2028 season. Can the Aviators survive without any fans in the stands? They might have to. Who would go to a Triple-A game with a major league team in the same building? Is Las Vegas big enough to fully support 82 major league games and 75 Pacific Coast League games? Of course not. Would you spend money to see the Reno Aces if the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox or Los Angeles Dodgers are coming to town a week later? The Aviators average under 7,000 fans a game now. They’d be lucky to get half that (maybe just a third) with a major league team in town.

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Former Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore is on the ballot for the College Football Hall of Fame for third year in a row. Moore certainly deserves the honor, winning a college football-record 50 games as well as turning in three 3,000-yard seasons at Boise. But what about Nevada’s Colin Kaepernick, who had three memorable battles with Moore from 2008-10 (Moore played from 2008-11 while Kaepernick played from 2007-10)? Kaepernick, the only college football player to ever pass for 4,000 yards and run for 10,000 yards, was certainly as prolific a college football quarterback as Moore. Kaepernick, though, is not eligible for the College Football Hall of Fame because he was never named a first-team All-America. Kaepernick made two All-America teams (The Sporting News in 2009 and Sports Illustrated in 2010) but was never on the first team. Moore was first-team All-America by the Football Writers Association of America in 2010, despite the fact that Kaepernick beat Moore and Boise State that very same season. So, yes, blame it on the writers.