Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
‘Las Vegas, let’s welcome your Neon Knights!’
The suspense should end in September. All signs point to that as the time for the unveiling of the team name for the Las Vegas expansion entry in the National Hockey League.
Owner Bill Foley hinted on June 22 he might be wavering on the team name he favors. That was the day NHL commissioner Gary Bettman announced Las Vegas was getting a team.
“I love Black Knights,” Foley said at the news conference. “I’m an Army guy, but maybe that’s not the right name for this team at this time.”
He’s probably heard and read reports that the fan base isn’t wild about Black Knights. No small consideration: Las Vegas’ first major professional sports team would be adopting Army’s team name in an Air Force town.
I’m here to help and humbly offer a compromise: Neon Knights. It keeps part of Foley’s team name intact but with a nod to what helped put Las Vegas on the map.
Our city’s first major pro sports team should reflect the truly unique global brand that Las Vegas has become.
I mentioned it on Twitter and Facebook last week. A reader pointed out “Neon Knights” was a song by Black Sabbath in 1980. I admit that was news to me. Metal wasn’t my music.
But I’ve been here long enough — nearly 17 years — to know that Las Vegans love their legendary lights. It represents what we want in our teams: electricity, energy and pizzazz.
Going with the Knights name honors the values of one of our great military academies.
Neon embraces what made Las Vegas the excitement capital it is today.
CAESARS PALACE OPENING
Jay Sarno Jr. didn’t make it to the star-studded opening of Caesars Palace on Aug. 5, 1966.
But then, he was only 8 years old.
Sarno and his three siblings, September, Heidi and Freddie, are attending the 50th anniversary celebration, an invite-only affair, on Aug. 6. Their father and hotel co-owner Jay Sarno was the concept and design man behind Caesars Palace and Circus Circus.
Young Sarno is bringing a special souvenir with him.
“I’ve been speaking with them. I have the original elaborate scrolls that were used as invitations. I’m bringing them up (from San Diego) to display,” he said.
Most scrolls were sent by mail, but “top of the list” guests had the scrolls delivered to their doors, he said. Men dressed as Roman centurions would be sent across the country to knock on doors and hand-deliver the Old World scroll.
Many of Hollywood’s biggest stars were among the 1,800 special guests invited to the three-day opening weekend.
They included John Wayne, Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Doris Day, Gregory Peck, Jack Lemmon, Danny Kaye, Charleton Heston, Kirk Douglas, Robert Taylor, Anthony Newley, Robert Cummings, Eva Gabor, Donna Reed, Susan Hayward and Ann-Margret.
The celebration set a record for a major hotel opening, he said. “They spent $1 million,” said Sarno Jr.
According to a Review-Journal article from Caesars’ opening week, the menu included two tons of filet mignon, 300 pounds of lump Maryland crabmeat, “the world’s largest Alaska king crab, a dozen of the largest king salmon and the largest order of Ukrainian caviar ever delivered to a single party.”
The lavish anniversary gala will honor some of Caesars’ icons. “No names to announce — just yet,” a Caesars’ rep said.
Sarno said the anniversary celebration will be a special occasion, “especially in a city that celebrates blowing up its history.
“Caesars Palace created a brand sensation immediately. It became known across the world faster than any brand and Evel Knievel’s (1967 fountain motorcycle) jump broadened it.”
THE SCENE AND HEARD
July Fourth marks the 35th anniversary of the arrests of The Hole in the Wall Gang, run by mob hitman Tony “The Ant” Spilotro. They specialized in robbing hotel rooms and the homes of rich gamblers. They were caught breaking into Bertha’s, a Las Vegas furniture and jewelry store, after one of the gang members ratted them out. The Mob had Spilotro killed five years later.
SIGHTINGS
NFL All-Pro Richard Sherman of the Seattle Seahawks, ordering a custom suit Thursday from Stitched (The Cosmopolitan).
THE PUNCH LINE
“Just yesterday, Rio’s acting governor warned the Olympics could be a ‘big failure,’ which is actually an improvement, because until yesterday, it looked like a massive catastrophe.” — Stephen Colbert