Vegas hockey team to play game in Blago prison uniforms

It's not just late-night comics who view Rod Blagojevich as a target of ridicule. So does the world of sports.

A minor league hockey team in Las Vegas will honor Gov. Rod Blagojevich at a game in January, but the honor will be a backhanded one.

The Las Vegas Wranglers, the ECHL affiliate of the NHL's Calgary Flames, have announced the team will wear vintage prison uniforms in recognition of Blagojevich for its game on Friday, Jan. 30. The Wranglers will face the Victoria Salmon Kings on "Rod Blagojevich Prison Uniform Night," according to a release from the team.

The uniforms will feature broad, horizontal black and white stripes and a prison issue number that begins "ILLGOV" with the last two characters representing a specific player's regular uniform number. In keeping with the "locked up" theme, the team also will auction a seat between the two benches to the highest bidder.

Two close Blago associates got in trouble in Las Vegas. In May, Nevada officials issued an arrest warrant for Antoin "Tony" Rezko for writing bad checks. What the mainstream media has largely overlooked is that those checks were drawn from Chicago's Broadway Bank, which is owned by the family of Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois' state treasurer and a Barack Obama associate.

Chris Kelly is another former member of Blagojevich's inner circle. He agreed to plead guilty earlier this month to tax charges related to gambling misdeeds, some of which occurred in Las Vegas.

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