The latest in Las Vegas

A baseball tragedy

2011-07-06T02:30:43Z

Owner, league should be ashamed of Los Angeles Dodgers' downfall

Professional sports leagues in this country are anchored by storied franchises such as the New York Yankees, Boston Celtics and TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Blue Jays starting pitcher Brett Cecil has been optioned to Las Vegas of the Pacific Coast League follow...

Showtime planning reality TV series on gigolos

2011-01-14T15:30:13Z

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Showtime is planning a new series about gigolos in Las Vegas as part of plans by the fast-growing premium cable channel to expand its slate beyond award-winning dramas.

"I want to have a broader palate," Showtime's new entertainment preside...

Holiday draws oodles of celebrities

2011-01-05T02:31:11Z

Click through New Year's Eve holiday photo galleries at lasvegassun.com/photos.

Las Vegas rang in 2011 in celebrity-studded fashion as more than 320,00 revelers hit The Entertainment Capital of the World for a final farewell to 2010. Savile Row opened at the Luxor, but it was the White House says Obama is Christian, prays daily. A new poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, believe Obama is Muslim.

2. Mayor: American League baseball team looking at Las Vegas. He's not saying which team is talking...

Number one MLB pick Harper could team with Strasburg for battery of the future

2010-09-09T04:41:51Z

The Washington Nationals selected catching wunderkind Bryce Harper with the first pick of the 2010 draft Monday, creating fantasies of the Las Vegas native, who hit a 576-foot home run when he was just a freshman in high school, team with 2009 top pick Stephen Strasburg in the not so distant future.(dell latitud...

Even after one year, ÔKingÕ roaring through the jungle on the Strip

2010-10-22T12:55:07Z

Catch-and-pitch time from the Field of Notes:¥¥¥ÒDisneyÕs The Lion KingÓ celebrated its one-year anniversary Saturday. Clearly, it was the time to ponder the late Michael Jackson.

ÒThe Lion KingÓ has survived in an...

LASVEGASSUN.COM

2010-05-14T02:33:07Z

The Kats Report

After SaturdayÕs celeb-laden Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley bout at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, Golden Boy Promotions chief ...at least that's the plan being resurrected by a Chicago businessman who floated the notion of selling arena seating six years ago when Las Vegas tried to lure the Montreal Expos

In 2004, when Las Vegas had perhaps its closest brush with landing a professional sports team as the city pursued baseballs Mont...

Phoenix Bus Tours

2010-10-24T15:32:47Z

...

Media, fans are clamoring for access to Bryce Harper, the young baseball prodigy, but his CSN coaches are ...

2010-06-12T01:57:47Z

Keeping him safe at home

This is how carefully the baseball coaches at the College of Southern Nevada are protecting their prodigy catcher and hitter, Bryce Harper: Not even CBSs 60 Minutes is getting a crack at the kid.

The national news program has been after Harper ...

A weekly snapshot of creative people living in the Las Vegas Valley

2010-06-12T02:02:10Z

KAREN McKENNEY

Name: Karen McKenney, artistic director of the Rainbow Company

Age: 55

Education: BachelorÕs in performance, University of Rhode Island; masterÕs in child drama, Arizona State University

Who she is: McKenney is...

Revitalizing urban centers, the developerÕs specialty, is badly needed in Las Vegas

2010-06-12T04:17:02Z

The Las Vegas City Council voted Wednesday to give exclusive rights for two years to a Baltimore developer to come up with a plan for an arena, entertainment district and casino-hotel on a 20-acre site that includes the current City Hall.

The Cordish Co., a family-owned company founded in...

The new faces of day labor

2010-06-12T02:08:38Z

U.S. citizens are joining immigrants in store parking lots

It sounds like a George Lopez joke.
Times are so bad that I saw an Anglo day laborer standing outside Home Depot the other day.
Except its true.

In the latest sign of the Las Vegas Valleys economic free fall,

Put those brooms away

2010-06-16T11:54:09Z

Odds have Yanks as favorite, but donÕt bet on a sweep this year against Phillies

The five most recent World Series have lasted only 22 games combined — three sweeps and two that ended with Game 5.

In this yearÕs World Series, which opens today, the Yankees have been installed as a favorite of about 2-1 on the series line. Oddsmakers are asking bettors to lay a fairly steep price with New York against a Las Vegas home would be full of photos of boxers, books on the sweet science and perhaps gloves signed by former champs.

After all, Bernstein has been the broadcast face and voice of some of the greatest fights of the past three decades.

But Halloween decorations, a headless mummy filled with candy and a small, friendly dog greet guests.

...

THE ELEVATOR

2010-04-16T09:44:43Z

GOING UP

Uniform behavior

I, too, like UNLVÕs new basketball

uniforms. But as for resembling

the gear the Rebels wore

during the programÕs glory years,

sorry, IÕm not seeinÕ it. For starters,

the jerseys worn by the 1990

NCAA championship team said

ÒREBELSÓ on front, not...

Beware faltering relief

2010-06-16T11:57:02Z

Phillies enter series as Õdog, expert says for good reason

The Philadelphia Phillies, the defending World Series champions, are aiming to become the first National League team to repeat since the Big Red Machine of the mid-1970s.

They enter todayÕs NL championship series opener at

Vegas likes Yankees, Cards to meet in World Series

2010-10-22T12:55:06Z

Las Vegas oddsmakers like Yankees, Cardinals to meet in World Series; Twins a 25-1 underdog

Oddsmakers in Las Vegas have picked the New York Yankees and the St. Louis Cardinals as favorites to meet in the World Series and think New York has an overwhelming chance to win its first tit...

This week in baseball WhoÕs favored, and by how much, in todayÕs extra game and beyond

2010-04-16T09:56:47Z

WhoÕs favored, and by how much, in todayÕs extra game and beyond

The Minnesota Twins opened as a minus 155 favorite (risk $1.55 to net $1) against the Detroit Tigers (plus 145), with an over/under of 8Ê runs, in todayÕs ÒGame No. 163,Ó a one-game playoff to determine which team will face the Former Boulder City Council member to serve 25 days after showing up drunk for hearing

It was Òdo not pass goÓ for a former Boulder City councilwoman who showed up drunk at a court hearing related to her 2007 drunken driving arrest.

The hearing was supposed to be the start of a yearlong program under which

51sÕ season ends in whimper

2010-04-16T10:23:16Z

In Triple-A, itÕs a cyclical slog

The end of a baseball season should always come on an afternoon when the shadows are long and the weather is crisp. Long shadows and crisp weather on a baseball diamond in late September can make one feel melancholy.

The 51s ended their season in Portland, Ore., on Monday. Their last home game of 2009 was Thursday at Bruce Springsteen is fond of saying, youÕve just got to stand back and let it all be.

The Boss was talking about the poets in ÒJungleland.Ó

IÕm talking about the flame war I innocently started Monday by mentioning UNLV would not be playing Minnesota...

Yes/no wagers on future winners gain foothold in casinos

2010-09-08T13:26:23Z

SUPER BOWL

Yes/no props on various teams to win the Super Bowl (odds from LuckyÕs Race and Sports Book):

Yes/No

Patriots: plus 450/minus 600

Steelers: plus 900/minus 1300

Giants: plus 1200/minus 1800

Eagles: plus 1300/minus 1850

Ravens: plus 2200/minus 3500

Cowboys: plus 1800/minus 2500

Chargers: plus 1100/minus 1600

Bears: plus 1400/minus 1900

Vikings: plus 1800/minus 2500

Colts: plus 1800/minus 2500

Packers:...

ASK MR. SUN

2010-04-16T10:57:36Z

Mr. Sun,

Is it true that the streets named for cities near the Stratosphere reflect the

Major League Baseball standings of the teams in those cities at the time?

Local lore says thatÕs why Las Vegas has those short avenues named for New York, Chicago,

New respect for UFC

2010-04-16T10:57:40Z

Philadelphia All-Star finds MMA workout is no walk in the park

Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Shane Victorino isnÕt the only professional athlete who admits heÕs a fan of the UFC, but he is probably the most dedicated.

Victorino watched some of the organizationÕs earliest events in 1993. But his interest went through the ...

The graffiti whodunit: Wingspan (check), motive (well ..)

2010-04-16T11:16:50Z

A colleague thinks heÕs cracked the infamous Las Vegas Sign Graffiti Case.

Did you notice, he said, that the initials ÒLNÓ are scrawled at the bottom of the sign where, letÕs say, a 7-foot guy could easily reach it? And that Luke Nevill, the 7-foot-2 former Utah standout, is in town for the NBA Summer League?

Quick, somebody get me D...

Another Toronto starter to make big league debut

2010-04-16T11:28:39Z

Marc Rzepczynski to become 5th Blue Jays starter to make big league debut

Left-hander Marc Rzepczynski will be brought up from the minor leagues by the Toronto Blue Jays to make his major league debut Tuesday night at Tampa Bay in place of ...

Making his pitch, finding his niche

2010-04-16T11:36:35Z

Las Vegas 51s left-hander Davis Romero hopes someday to be interviewed by ESPN commentator Orel Hershiser. Romero, who grew up in the small agricultural city of Aguadulce, Panama, remembers watching Hershiser pitch on TV. T...

Bet here, not there, for a reasonable house edge

2010-06-16T12:00:57Z

Bettors in Las Vegas can wager on the Chicago Cubs to win this yearÕs World Series at odds of 7-5 at any HarrahÕs property.

A strong argument can be made that this is the worst possible bet anyone could make in Nevada — not just in sports betting, but in any form of state-sanctioned gambling.

The crux of the argument ...

Obituaries in the news

2010-06-16T12:01:03Z

Obituaries in the news

Hortensia Bussi

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Hortensia Bussi, the widow of Chilean President Salvador Allende who helped lead opposition to the military dictatorship that ousted him in a bloody 1973 coup, has died. She was 94.

Bussi died T...

Chosen one? Well, one SI chose

2010-04-16T11:53:37Z

Gifted Las Vegan about to find new obstacles in his path

I have only one prediction about the future of Bryce Harper, the Las Vegas High baseball wunderkind.

HeÕs never gonna see another fastball.

Not after Sports Illustrated put him on the cover of its magazine this week.

I...

CORRECTION

2010-04-16T11:59:49Z

In an article Friday — ÒMajor League Baseball: As not seen on TVÓ — the Sun reported that Las Vegas-based fans of the San Francisco Giants are unable to watch most broadcasts through MLBÕs Extra Innings package, a subscription service. Some fans are, however, able to watch games if they pay for D...

Major League Baseball: As not seen on TV

2010-04-16T11:59:49Z

As recently as last winter, hope emerged that Major League Baseball would finally lift its archaic territory maps, which deny Las Vegas fans of three Western teams televised action of most of their games.

In December, MLB executive Bob DuPuy told the Review-Journal: ÒYou can tell the fans in Las Vegas that the...

Can’t wait for road trip as fan

2010-04-16T12:11:43Z

A lot of people think I have a pretty neat job, and most of the time I agree there are worse occupations than writing about sports.

In fact, other than the time I saw Bob Horner naked in the Atlanta Braves’ locker room, I really can’t think of a day where I regretted becoming a scribe, which is what baseball managers called sports writers when they wore fedoras and smoke...

Whose heads bobble best?

2010-06-16T12:12:01Z

With the Las Vegas 51s now part of an organization less celebrated, finding suitable tribute dolls gets tougher

On Sunday about two dozen guys calling themselves Las Vegas 51s will travel from Dunedin, Fla., to Las Vegas, meani...

Presto change-o, it’s a drive-in

2010-04-16T15:57:14Z

Magician transforms warehouse into movie theater, auto showcase

AMAZING CAR COLLECTION

1948 Pontiac Silver Streak

1961 Chevy Impala convertible

1963 Ford Thunderbird convertible

1964 Lincoln Continental with suicide doors

1967 Ex-NFL coaches Dennis Green, Jim Fassel, Jim Haslett to coach in new United Football League

Former NFL coaches Dennis Green, Jim Fassel and Jim Haslet...

Broussard's RBI single in 9th lifts White Sox

2010-04-16T16:13:16Z

Broussard's RBI single in 9th lifts White Sox past Cubs 7-6

Ben Broussard's single drove in Josh Kroeger from second base with the winning run in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago White Sox to a 7-6 win over the Chicago Cubs on W...

Museum in Henderson a step closer to reality

2010-04-16T16:14:48Z

The 15-year-old idea to build a science museum in Henderson has taken a baby step closer to reality.

The Henderson City Council on Feb. 17 approved an initial plan — called a visioning book — for a 51,600-square-foot museum on 150 city owned acres near U.S. 95 and Galleria Drive. The site is adjacent...

Why Triple-A baseball isn’t leaving Las Vegas

2010-04-16T14:01:29Z

City’s location makes travel schedule work for far-flung league on budget

One of the more interesting rumors making the rounds during the Microwave Oven Circuit — because Triple-A baseball and betting against the Yankees is as good as it gets in Las Vegas, the Hot Stove League doesn’t play here — is that we might be in jeopardy of losing the 51s, maybe even sooner than later.

These rumors began right after t...

It’s a swing of beauty

2010-04-16T14:37:43Z

Vegas High slugger with modest streak is able to belt dingers that are anything but

“In order to fully understand and appreciate long-distance hitting, a frame of reference should be established. Any drive over 400 feet is noteworthy. A blow of 450 feet shows exceptional power, as the majority of major league players are unable to hit a ball that far. Anything in the 500-foot range is genuinely historic.”

— Las Vegas broadcaster who had moved on to The Mtn., the Mountain West Conference’s full-coverage sports network, and Versus, which also covers the Mountain West, has been named ...

A true sportsman

2010-04-16T13:53:50Z

Classy Greg Maddux leaves baseball as one of its greatest pitchers and role models

In an era tainted by Major League Baseball players who took steroids to improve on-field performance and who acted like prima donnas outside the ballpark, pitcher Greg Maddux of Las Vegas proved that it was...

Vegas odds favor Rays to win Series over Phillies

2010-06-16T12:06:02Z

Vegas oddsmakers favor Tampa Bay, 200-1 shot before season, to win World Series over Phillies

Las Vegas sports books favor the Tampa Bay Rays to win the World Series over the Philadelphia Phillies and would owe huge payouts if the Kurt Busch, who has become the forgotten of the two NASCAR racing Busch siblings from Las Vegas, used to race home to watch the Chicago Cubs play baseball.

“I’d hurry home after school and turn on the TV to WGN in Chicago — it was Channel 16 on the...

Test your Blue Jays knowledge

2010-06-16T12:09:13Z

Did you know that the Toronto Blue Jays, the new major league parent club of the Las Vegas 51s, played their first game April 7, 1977? And that it snowed?

Even more unusual is that the Blue Jays won, something they would do only 53 more times in their inaugural season.

Other questions and answers about the 51s’ new partner from north of the bo...

Support for a new stadium with fancy batting cages could emerge from messy Dodgers-51s breakup

2010-04-16T13:14:38Z

It was a week of change at Cashman Field.

Barack Obama on Wednesday. The Toronto Blue Jays on Monday.

I’ll give you 14,000 guesses which drew the bigger crowd to the Little Ballpark That Couldn’t, at least in the estimation of the highfalutin’ Las Vegas theater company, rather grandly titled the British National Theatre of America, put on its first show, a Vegasized version of “Cinderella,” in which the heroine meets her prince on the golf course and drives to the Palace Casino Ball in a Lamborghini

51s may end month as orphans

2010-04-16T13:30:33Z

If Dodgers go for site with more amenities, local minor leaguers will need new parent

Goodbye, Dodger Dogs.

Hello, fish tacos.

Actually, they quit selling Dodger Dogs at Cashman Field last year. But if the Dodgers don’t hurry up and change their mind about retaining Las Vegas as their Triple-A affiliate, it could be fish tacos — as in Milwaukee Brewers in baseball’s postseason play took a hit in the past week after the team’s big trade for left-hander C.C. Sabathia from the Cleveland Indians.

The odds on the Brewers to win this year’s World Series were as high ...

Las Vegas 51s a way station for big league talent

2010-04-16T16:57:10Z

After Eric Stults tossed a four-hit shutout against the Chicago White Sox last week, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre announced he was taking the unorthodox step of going to a six-man rotation to keep Stults in the starting cycle.

A day aft...

BEST BETS IN BASEBALL

2010-08-04T12:14:12Z

Jeff Haney crunches the numbers to help bettors pick the right casino

HOUSE EDGE

Charting the house edge in 2008 World Series future books (the bigger the house edge, the worse it is for gamblers):

Casino

House edge

Las Vegas Hilton
28 percent

Cal Neva 32 percent

Palms

35 percent

Venetian
36 p...

A lifelong love for baseball

2010-04-16T16:25:42Z

Q+A: Derek Stevens, owner of the Las Vegas 51s

ONLINE

Listen to audio clips from an interview with Derek Stevens, www.lasvegassun.com.

Despite stories to the contrary, Derek Stevens did not buy a ticket to a Las Vegas 51s game last season, watch a few innings at Cashman Field and then — on the spu...

lucky rituals

2010-10-19T10:02:57Z

...

World Serious

2010-09-10T22:35:19Z

The players reported to spring training in late February and leisurely started playing games in March. Each team has endured the rigors of a 162-game regular season that began in April. Each team has survived the division series and coped with the white hot pressure of the league championship series. And, Oct. 21, the World Series begins. If you can’t be at one of the games, the next best place to be is in one of Las Vegas’ ma...

The Intersection: There's a Stadium in My Arts District!

2010-09-10T20:58:40Z

The Charleston Boulevard-Main Street intersection is many things—congested nexus of east-west traffic, Downtown's struggling epicenter, beating (and, some say, bleeding) heart of the arts district and ... the perfect spot for a 22,000-seat sports stadium that'll (hopefully) house whatever pro sports team we'll (hopefully) land in the future?

For now, only the first three descriptions apply, but the fourth could come to fruition if ...

Out to Lunch: East Coast Pizza to Roll Out New Lunchtime Options

2010-09-10T17:51:58Z

The new owners of East Coast Pizza in Boca Park plan to make the restaurant even more East Coast.

Father-son team Gerry and Brian Conboy are introducing more specialty pizzas by the slice. Walk-in customers will be able to just grab a wedge featuring baked ziti, buffalo chicken or chicken marsala.

"Back east, everybody has specialty pies," said Gerry Conboy , the father, a former New York restaurant owner who moved to Las ...

Incentive Reward Travel Growing in Population

2010-09-10T17:45:57Z

The Chunichi Dragons baseball team of Nagoya didn’t win the Japanese Series this year, but players still got a nice consolation prize — a trip to Las Vegas.

Team executives decided to reward players for winning the Central League pennant and even though they lost the best-of-seven Cashman Field this spring.

Patrons might also be lured to an expanded choice of sausages and microbrews, too.

The stadium’s four-year food contract was approved Dec. 12 by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Aut...

Gadget Show Future of Chips

2011-01-04T14:01:51Z

FILE - In this Sept. 13, 2010 file photo, Intel CEO Paul Otellini gives the keynote address at a conference in San Francisco. Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc., whose processors are the “brains” of PCs, are bot...

Las Vegas Snow

2011-01-05T08:05:30Z

A thin layer of snow sits on rooftops west of The Strip, Monday, Jan. 3, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nev. Between one and two inches of snow fell on the west side of town. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

...

Toshiba Tablet

2011-01-04T08:31:01Z

An image provided by Toshiba shows the Toshiba Tablet. The Japanese computer and flat-screen TV maker is set to unveil the tablet at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week. (AP Photo/Toshiba)

Copyrigh...

UFC 125 Mixed Martial Arts

2011-01-02T00:00:58Z

Frankie Edgar reacts as his fight against Gray Maynard is declared a draw shortly after their UFC lightweight mixed martial arts title match Saturday, Jan. 1, 2011 at The MGM Grand Garden Arena in

Nevada Pot Shops

2010-12-29T15:01:29Z

In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 9, 2010, empty bottles for cola containing THC, known as consumables, are pictured in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

...