Columnist Dean Juipe: Golf Channel is available, for a price

Dean Juipe

Friday, Dec. 7, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Notes today, in part to pacify a couple of Cox Cable executives who hit the roof after I wrote earlier this week that the Golf Channel wasn't available on its system.

Well it is available, of course, and I knew it, yet I was referring to the company's basic cable package.

A visit to the firm's website indicates that Cox subscribers can get the Golf Channel as part of an expanded digital package for a one-time hookup fee of $30 and $44.99 per month.

But there's still a bone to pick with Cox and it's this: A call to the Golf Channel's office in Orlando, Fla., confirmed that the network is part of many basic cable packages throughout America. ... Someone with a more legitimate complaint may be the topless dancer from the Centerfold Lounge who took exception to a cheap shot I directed the girls' way in a column on the Centerfold being the Las Vegas home of Detroit Lions fans. I actually do apologize for that.

But I deserve an apology, too, and it's from the guy who used every word in the book to insult me after an August column on the value of taking the New England Patriots to exceed six wins this season, as was up in many Las Vegas sports books as an over/under proposition bet. Amid the swear words I remember him saying "You're a good example of why I never listen to mainstream sportswriters when it has anything to do with gambling." Well, with four games to play the Patriots have already won seven times, meaning anyone who took the "over" will be going back to the window to collect. ... Unbeaten at home and 16-1 this season, the Los Angeles Lakers look as dynamic as ever, with the offseason addition of Samaki Walker a noticeable plus.

Area high-school football coaches should be embarrassed if not ashamed for keeping Foothill running back John Ford off their all-conference team. Ford, who appeared to be the best or perhaps second-best player in the city this season, received only second-team Sunrise Region honors for some inexplicable reason. ... Checking is so tight in the National Hockey League this season that only two teams, Detroit and Ottawa, are averaging as many as three goals per game. ... The new UNLV softball stadium looks real nice but comes with this caveat for head coach Shan McDonald: No more complaining about poor facilities impeding recruiting, etc.

Rancho High alumnus Steve Kazor's Division II Wayne State (Mich.) football team finished 3-7 this season, but he said Thursday that things are looking up. "They're raising our scholarships from 28 to 36," he said before heading out the door to a scouting combine in neighboring Windsor, Canada, "and we've got our eye on some California junior college players who may have fallen through the cracks." ... A tip: The Oakland Raiders, beaten last week by Arizona, are 12-2 against the spread the week after a straight-up loss. ... Gold Sheet proprietor Mort Olshan writes this week that he believes numerous states will begin offering legalized sports gambling within the next five years, but I just don't see any sign of that happening.

In the aftermath of Sept. 11, TV's shallow golf analysts have agreed to quit referring to a boldly struck putt at a crucial time as "courageous," for which we're all thankful.