DULY NOTED

Saturday, Dec. 9, 2006 | 7:09 a.m.

SORRY, CHARLIE

In a frightening development that ranks right up there with Freddie Krueger's last rampage on Elm Street, Rebels fans may be amazed to learn that one of the men deciding who plays whom for the national championship in college football is ...

Charlie Cavagnaro, the former and almost universally despised UNLV athletic director.

(Insert whoopee cushion noise here.)

Cavagnaro is one of two guys with Las Vegas ties who vote in the Harris Interactive poll, which helps determine the BCS rankings. The other is former Las Vegas Thunder and UNLV play-by-play man Tim Neverett, who now works in Denver.

In case you're curious, Charlie's picks weren't as sorry as the job he did here. His final top three were Ohio State, Michigan and Florida.

Neverett's were Ohio State, Florida and Southern Cal, which finished a distant seventh in the final Harris rankings. Apparently, Tim's cable went out just before kickoff of the USC-UCLA game.

Neverett slotted Michigan fourth.

CHANGING CHANNELS

Cox Communications is changing its sports lineup, adding ESPNU and ESPN2 HD beginning Tuesday at midnight.

ESPNU, a college-driven sports channel, is just like College Sports TV, UNLV and the Mountain West Conference's new broadcast partner, with the only difference being that most people have heard of it. It will be carried on Cox Channel 320, with the Fox Soccer Channel moving to 335.

ESPN2 HD will be shown on Cox Channel 705, with ESPN HD moving one slot to 704.

Fans of the History International channel needn't get their timeline in a bunch, as it will move from 335 to 337, an unused channel on the Cox dial.

THE READERS SOMETIMES E-MAIL

Regarding my and Chancellor Jim Rogers' concerns that the UNLV football program is not producing results commensurate with the money being spent on it, one Sun reader notes the following:

"Ron, you and Jim Rogers seem incapable of recognizing the 800-pound gorilla in the room with you. The answer to the question of what is wrong with UNLV athletics can be summed up in two words: Carol Harter. From the time the former UNLV president ascended the throne, she made it quite clear that she was not interested in the university retaining its lofty basketball standards, only in creating a Bohemian atmosphere and creating a bastion of intellectual excellence.

Check the dates of her reign, and you will find they correspond very closely to the decline and collapse of the UNLV athletic program.

Sincerely,

Charles M. Booker

Henderson

Charles: While I'm no Fay Wray, perhaps you are onto something. Perhaps we should summon Godzilla and Mothra before it's too late.

AROUND THE HORN

Combined points (18) and rebounds (11) by former Bishop Gorman star Lauren Hoisington in leading San Diego State to a 74-73 victory over Wichita State and earning Mountain West Conference co-player of the week honors

XXI

The designation of next year's ArenaBowl championship game, which officially was moved from Las Vegas to New Orleans this week

Number of portable toilets, one at each mile marker, lining Sunday's New Las Vegas Marathon course on Sunday (Don't worry, there are 475 portables total at the event.)

Former UNLV great and current New Mexico State coach Reggie Theus:

"I didn't know I was going to have to teach layups and free throws."

Following a 79-76 loss to New Mexico