Columnist Dean Juipe: King shuns Tyson look-alike

When the initial press conference for the boxing cards scheduled for this weekend at the Las Vegas Hilton was held earlier this month, Cliff Couser took a seat at the back of the room and waited for a minute with promoter Don King.

Couser, a heavyweight fighter from Las Vegas with a 15-3 record and physically a dead ringer for Mike Tyson, thought King would be interested in signing him to a promotional agreement.

But King's interest was limited and Couser said Monday he was disappointed the promoter didn't give him a closer look.

"It was almost like he didn't want to talk," Couser said. "He offered a contract but it was for no bonus, no nothing. I couldn't see doing it."

Left to his own devices, Couser has taken an Oct. 1 fight in St. Louis.

Leftover note from a Sun story from Monday: the Reno Gazette-Journal is committing an annual $125,000 to the Reno Open's prize fund, should Reno land a spot on the 1999 PGA Tour. Think that will influence the paper's coverage of the event? ... The PGA trade show that was in town over the weekend at the Convention Center fell on dates that many in the industry called counter-productive. "We're trying to get the 1999 dates moved," a representative said, adding that something later in the year would be more favorable for showcasing new equipment. ... The Denver Broncos are the first Super Bowl champion since 1990 not to lose an assistant coach during the off-season. ... The attendance champion in the Women's National Basketball Association, the Washington Mystics, somehow drew an average crowd of 15,898 despite the fact they finished with an unbelievably poor 3-27 record. ... The WNBA's TV ratings were down this season, however. WNBA ratings were off by 29 percent on ESPN, 17 percent on Lifetime and 16 percent on NBC. ... Las Vegan Kim Adler has risen to No. 2 in the Professional Women's Bowling Association rankings. She's also No. 2 in average pins per game (215.93) and money earned ($83,060) this season.

The talk is very quiet and probably doesn't amount to much, but there's some dissatisfaction in town with the local Legion Baseball league charging each team $3,000 per season. A rival league, Connie Mack, doesn't have any teams here but supposedly charges only $40 per season, plus the teams pay the umps. That bill might be only a few hundred dollars annually. ... Those ESPN baseball promos that feature what looks to be old footage of Ty Cobb talking about the merits of the game use an actor, not Cobb, and were taped this year and not in 1920. ... Former Las Vegas Stars infielder Bip Roberts has spent this season with Detroit and Oakland, and he's not too popular with the Tigers. Roberts said Detroit's young players "feel like they know everything" and that they ignored any advice he tried to give. "I'm glad they didn't listen to him," Tigers manager Buddy Bell said after hearing Roberts' complaint. ... It's hard to believe the Los Prados Homeowners Association recently complained about the condition of its golf course, as a round there last week showed the course in excellent shape. Los Prados remains a fun layout, a good value and is in better shape than some areas courses that charge an arm and a leg. ... International Hockey League president Doug Moss says his teams, including the Las Vegas Thunder, need an infusion of youth. "Some people have called this an old man's league," he said. "We have to get younger."

Once borderline cute, TV golf announcer Gary McCord now comes across as dopey and moronic. ... Mike Morgan of Las Vegas is the only pitcher in major league history to win at least one game with 10 different teams. The irony is that Morgan, now with the Minnesota Twins, has never had a winning season. ... A better known pitcher from Las Vegas, Greg Maddux of the Atlanta Braves, has a chance to finish the season with a unique record although giving up seven runs Sunday didn't help him. Maddux has a 1.91 ERA, while the NL average is 4.20. If he can keep that differential, it would be the largest in league history in terms of the league leader vs. the league average. ... Curiously, 13 years after Babe Ruth died, Roger Maris broke Ruth's single-season home run record. Now, 13 years after Maris died, his record is being endangered by Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa. ... From 1900 through 1961, 69 major-league hitters struck out at least 100 times in a season. This year, 82 players are on pace to strike out at least 100 times. Think they're swinging for the fences? ... Good news for George Arias, recalled by the San Diego Padres from the Las Vegas Stars over the weekend: Incumbent San Diego third baseman Ken Caminiti will be a free agent. ... Twenty-one of the last 31 heavyweight boxing world champions have been arrested on crimes ranging from drunken driving, to drug possession, to robbery, to rape, to bribery, to kidnapping, to firearms possession, to steroid use, to solicitation, to menacing, to public intoxication.

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