Las Vegas, Cardinals didn’t feel spark

By Ron Kantowski

Friday, Jan. 30, 2009 | 2 a.m.

It’s conceivable, although highly unlikely, that the Arizona Cardinals could become America’s New Team if they upset the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XLIII.

A few years ago they couldn’t even become Las Vegas’ team. The jury’s still out on whether they are Phoenix’s team. It mostly depends on whom the Cowboys are playing.

The Cardinals were so desperate to build a fan base in 2003 that they loaded up the Cardinal Caravan and drove to Las Vegas in an attempt to close radio and exhibition TV broadcast deals here while tapping into what they hoped would become a new group of Cardinal converts.

Dave McGinnis, who was the Cardinals’ head coach, made the trip. So did one of those kicking Zendejas brothers — I think it was Luis, the team’s community relations director. And Dave Pasch, the play-by-play man.

The Cardinal Caravan rolled up to the Red Hawk, the new “Cardinal Bar” in the Las Vegas Valley, on West Horizon Ridge. The visitors were greeted by an enthusiastic gathering of three.

Birds of a feather may flock together in Philadelphia or Atlanta or Baltimore. But not here.

Everybody in the Red Hawk got a bumper sticker, a schedule magnet and a Christmas ornament. Everybody, in fact, got as many bumper stickers, schedule magnets and Christmas ornaments as he wanted.

Maybe the Cardinals should have brought Jim Hart and Mel Gray along. Or Rod Tidwell, Cuba Gooding Jr.’s character in “Jerry McGuire.”

“We developed a relationship with the Cardinals, who wanted to get into the Las Vegas market. They were very cooperative; they bent over backward to get their preseason games on TV,” said Alex Shelton, whose company, Nevada Sports, negotiated on behalf of the Cardinals.

But nobody in Las Vegas bent over backward to greet the Cardinals upon their arrival. Nobody bent over in any direction, really. Shelton said he was embarrassed for McGinnis and the others.

I remember that day, for two reasons. For starters, I told Shelton I’d come out and talk to those Cardinals on my day off. Didn’t happen. I think I wound up mowing the lawn, which seemed a little more interesting.

I wasn’t the only no-show. Mike Pritchard, the former Rancho High star who had a nice NFL career with the Falcons, was trying to break into broadcasting then, so Shelton invited him out to Lake Las Vegas to play golf with Pasch and the others. Pritchard decided to mow his lawn, too.

Looking back, Shelton said local disinterest in the Cardinals was the least of his worries. A newspaper article trumpeting the TV deal caused a fair amount of outrage among local fans, who thought they were going to get stuck watching every Cardinals regular-season game on Fox.

The members of that angry mob weren’t very much interested in a complimentary Cardinals Christmas ornament.

“Everyone was freaking out,” Shelton said. “We said, ‘No, it’s just four preseason games. We’re giving you more football.’ ”

He thought that was a good thing. He didn’t expect it to blow up in his face like Bill Romanowski on a steroid cocktail.

To make matters worse, the Cardinals’ Las Vegas appearance coincided with Kobe Bryant being indicted on a charge of rape. That’s the other thing I remember about that day. Shelton said he and the Cardinals hung out at the Red Hawk for about an hour and a half, but it was as useless as the prevent defense and an 8-track tape player. So they hit the golf course early.

As for the Red Hawk, it didn’t remain a Cardinal bar for long, even though it had the perfect name for one (if you discount “Conrad Dobler’s Personal Foul & Grill”).

“By game four, nobody knew what was going on,” Shelton said of bartenders who didn’t know what to do with all the free stuff the Cardinals had left behind.

They were supposed to share it with patrons when the team scored a touchdown.

There weren’t a lot of those in 2003. The Cardinals went 4-12, costing McGinnis his job.

As for that TV deal, Shelton somehow managed to get the Arizona preseason games on the air. They’re still on today, on Gold 33.

A lot of people who worked down at the station apparently were quite fond of those Cardinals Christmas ornaments.