Dec. 13, 1999

Darnell Arceneaux is not going to retire after all. He doesn't know if he'll switch positions next season, but he will wear a Ute uniform in some capacity, he said Friday as the Utes practiced for the Dec. 18 Las Vegas Bowl.

"I've thought about it a lot," Arceneaux said, admitting he's gone back and forth on the issue. "No, I'm not going to retire. I'll be back next year."

His reasons for choosing to keep playing, rather than retiring due to the concussions that he's suffered, include how much he hated being on the sidelines for the BYU game and his dedication to his infant son, Cole.

Arceneaux says that if he quits football early, it won't be a good example for his son. When Cole is 15 and wants to give up some pursuit, Arceneaux says it would be hard to advise him to keep plugging away if he quits football now.

There is speculation that Arceneaux might play another position for the bowl game because T.D. Croshaw is the starter at quarterback, but neither player would comment about that, and Arceneaux has been practicing at backup QB.

FESTIVE: Stevonne Smith won't play in the bowl because of a slightly cracked cervical vertebrae, but he was the life of the party at Friday's practice, roaming about in his neck brace.

KTVX-Ch. 4 was there asking players to sing Christmas songs for an on-air feature, and Smith was ready to sing "Jingle Bells" but then didn't want to be seen in his brace and then really didn't want to sing when he found out defensive end John Frank would also be shown. Frank sings professionally with his family's band. "I can't compare to John Frank," Smith protested loudly. "John Frank's got a contract!"

However, Smith could critique coach Ron McBride's singing, which included the lyrics, "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way — right in my sleigh." Smith got on McBride about the words as both tried to recall the next part of the verse, and McBride amended it to "in my Chevrolet."

Then Smith noticed a wet, brown stain on the back of McBride's red sweatpants, caused by his sliding down a snowy hill on the way to the practice bubble from the Smith football center. "He's 130 years old," Smith said to McBride, suggesting the coach might need better bodily function control.

CROWDED HOUSE: The Mountain West Conference team in the Las Vegas Bowl is the designated home team, according to rules written and published in August. That means the Utes should wear the home red uniforms.

But Fresno State called the Utes' equipment manager Robert Wiscomb recently and tried to say it had already gotten its bowl-game uniforms made up in red and could the Utes please change to white. The Utes refused and took it all the way to the bowl directors to ensure that they will be the home team.

Apparently both teams think they look better in red — or have some sort of superstition about how they play in red uniforms.

Fresno later requested the Utes fax a list of other things it will wear, like sweatsuits and such.

"Sounds like a gymnastics meet," said Ute sports information director Liz Abel, used to gymnasts taking note of everything opponents wear.

TICKET CENTRAL: Utah has sold about 7,000 of its 12,500-ticket allotment for the $750,000 Las Vegas Bowl, says Ute ticket manager Dave Copier. That's more than it sold at this time-frame for other bowls in which it has participated, Copier said. He was surprised that there wasn't a huge sale the day after it was announced that Utah would be in the bowl, but he said a steady 500-600 tickets are sold every day, some buyers inquiring even at 2 a.m., and that's unusual.

He expects that, with Las Vegas such a short drive, many people will decide at the last minute to go and rush to buy tickets late next week. He said that those who are interested in helping the U. should buy their tickets through the www.utahutes.com Web site or call 581-UTIX so that the school will get credit. Those who buy tickets through sources in Las Vegas won't be counted when the bowl gauges Utah's response, and that's important for future bowl considerations, Copier said.

Copier said a sign someone placed on the window of the ticket office before the Utah State-Utah basketball game Tuesday night confused a lot of people. Someone taped up a handwritten sign saying bowl packages were sold out. Many thought that meant all the tickets were gone. Copier said the sign was taken down quickly and that other bowl packages are still available, as are game tickets.