Columnist Dean Juipe: Alamo issue has run its course

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 | 9:08 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

When he was appointed to the Nevada State Athletic Commission 19 months ago, Tony Alamo Jr.'s appointment raised barely a ripple of interest, let alone protest.

If anything, it was greeted with a shrug and a silent critique. "Politics," one could say, knowing that this board's appointees more often than not are tight with the reigning governor.

It wasn't until Alamo was elevated to vice-chairman of the NSAC that I gave the matter any thought at all, and then only because of the obvious divisiveness the move created within the audience at the commission meeting that day last month.

"It has the potential for a conflict of interest," I wrote the following day, pointing to Alamo and his father, Tony Sr., who is the senior vice president of the Mandalay Bay Resort Group and Mandalay Bay's obvious links to professional boxing.

I didn't say there was a conflict of interest or that one was inevitable, and gave the issue little more than cursory thought. No one else was writing or talking about it.

Yet as anyone who watches boxing on the cable networks knows, Alamo, his father, the commission, the state and Mandalay Bay have been subjected to belittling accusations of late. The worst offenders: ESPN's punch drunk collection of broadcasters and talking heads, who have orchestrated a campaign and produced one tirade after another in an attempt to turn the matter into something it is not.

They've promised to do it again this week in Las Vegas, given that ESPN2 is in town for its weekly Friday Night Fights telecast.

They should do their audience a favor and save their breath. The state, through its attorney general's office, has looked into the matter and its supplemental allegations and come to a rational conclusion: No harm, no foul.

Neither the intertwining relationship of the Alamos, Mandalay Bay and the NSAC nor the fact NSAC chairman Luther Mack gets a discount when he needs a room at the hotel are ethical violations. In Mack's case, the reduced rate he receives is because he holds a "players card" and gambles at the facility.

"Media stooges," promoter Bob Arum said last week, referring in large part to the HBO and ESPN2 boxing crews and the belief they are doing the bidding for Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has written Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn about the Alamo issue.

Nothing the TV boys can say -- and one of them repeatedly mispronounces the word "Nevada," so how much credibility can he have? -- is going to lead to Alamo resigning or Guinn giving this so much as a second look.

Alamo wasn't making any missteps prior to being singled out and he's not about to make any now that his role on the NSAC has received such widespread attention. In fact the only mistake he and his father have made is in demanding an apology from the cable networks and threatening legal action if they do not, as even the most dense of announcers enjoys the right of free speech and personal opinion.

I'd give the Alamos the same advice I'm giving the networks: Let it drop and move on.

Focus on the legitimate issues -- like whether Cliff Etienne took a dive -- and leave this inconsequential stuff behind.