Rock on ...

$5 HATE RATE

The Utah Grizzlies are staging a "Skate for Hate" tonight when they host the Ontario Reign.

In a nod to the BYU-Utah rivalry, and last week's "hate" remarks by Cougar quarterback Max Hall, the Grizzlies are selling $5 tickets on the north side of the arena to anyone wearing Ute apparel. Same goes for those wearing BYU gear, except they'll sit on the south side.

Here's assuming those who hate soccer will sit in the east seats and those who hate basketball will sit on the west.

And those who hate hockey will be sitting at home.

MAX PUNISHMENT

Hall drew an official reprimand from the Mountain West Conference on Monday.

Exactly what that means is anyone's guess.

Sounds a lot like the p.a. announcer ordering fans not to leap over the wall and run onto the field after the game.

RIM SHOTS

With stories appearing that Allen Iverson is retiring from basketball, the inevitable un-retirement stories have also popped up. The latest say he's going back to Philly.

Among the suggestions on TBS last week was that A.I. could help the Jazz.

Just what they need — a guy who doesn't play within the system.

Meanwhile, praise for A.I. rolled in from around the league. Among those expressing admiration was Jerry Sloan.

"I think he's a tough guy," Sloan told Deseret News beat writer Tim Buckley. "I thought he's a great layup shooter. John (Stockton) was a great layup shooter, and so was he."

True, but isn't everyone a great layup shooter?

By that standard, Dwayne Schintzius should be in the Hall of Fame.

DOG DEALING

Reports say a woman in China identified only as "Mrs. Wang," purchased an 18-month-old Tibetan mastiff in September for a reported 4 million yuan (about $585,000).

That is almost four times the previous high for the purchase of a dog, unless you count what Al Lerner paid for the Cleveland Browns.

OUR WORLD

The hyperbole got pretty deep last week, as Real Salt Lake fans celebrated an MLS championship. Team owner Dave Checketts called it "one of the great runs in sports history to become champion of the world."

Which may come as news to the rest of the world, but let's not be persnickety.

Checketts also jokingly noted that there are other, bigger leagues, "but they don't matter today."

Which nicely offsets the feeling in most countries that MLS doesn't matter on any day.

e-mail: rock@desnews.com