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Press Box
Dave Reardon
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WAC clash no big deal at sportsbooks
RENO, Nev. » The action was pumping at the sportsbook in the Eldorado in downtown Reno last night. People wagered on anything and everything having to do with the baseball playoffs and the NFL Monday Night Football game.
You didn't even have to actively make a bet on the Chargers and Steelers tussle to get some gamble on it ... if you filled a house while playing poker, your boat sailed straight to the bonus of a free block in the points-scored pool.
But what about the big game this Saturday -- the early-season showdown between the two teams atop the Western Athletic Conference standings? Shouldn't there be a lot of loony loot riding on this game here, since Nevada is hosting Louisiana Tech and both are 2-0 in the WAC, above Fresno State and Boise State (for now, anyway)?
Ray, the guy behind the counter, fashioned a disinterested shrug when asked if Wolf Pack Fever had infected the local gaming public.
"Nothing," he said. "People just aren't into it."
They changed the law a few years ago here, so that you may now bet on games involving Nevada and UNLV. Not too many seem to care, though.
Chen Penn likes to bet on football, but after getting soaked last week, he's shying away from action involving even Top 25 teams, much less taking a ride with the home team.
"They're not a major college," Penn said. "And even that is getting too unpredictable. I'll stick to the NFL."
Perhaps someone should remind Penn that predictable is what the house likes, as long as it can set a line that draws action on both sides.
And that's something that favoring Nevada by 1 point didn't seem to be accomplishing here last night. Maybe its because LaTech has won all four times the teams have met.
WHILE THE gamblers don't give a rip, this is still a big game because it gives the winner the front seat in establishing itself as the replacement for Hawaii -- at least for this year -- in the conference's Big Three, with Boise and Fresno being the other bullies.
UH would have to win six of its remaining seven games for a sixth consecutive winning season and bowl-game eligibility. The 2001 team made an 8-1 run to close the season after starting 1-2, but had nowhere to go for the holidays.
Four teams -- Boise State, Fresno, LaTech and Nevada -- look like legitimate bowl possibilities. If more than two qualify, commissioner Karl Benson will probably go over the limit on his cell phone minutes next month, making sure they all get in somewhere. The WAC has just two bowl-game tie-ins.
The Poinsettia Bowl (San Diego) and Liberty Bowl (Memphis) "are tracking" the WAC, Benson said.
"I'm confident we'll have three of four bowl-eligible teams and will be able to place them all," Benson said.
Well, if LaTech or Nevada play in the Hawaii Bowl, maybe that will finally generate some gambling action here. After all, it will be one of only a few events on the night before Christmas.
As for a crowd of more than 20,000 at Aloha Stadium?
Don't bet on it.
Dave Reardon is a Star-Bulletin sportswriter who covers University of Hawaii football and other topics. His column appears periodically.
E-mail him at
dreardon@starbulletin.com