Drexler trade opens up hole in Houston
HOUSTON (AP) Clyde Drexler and
Hakeem Olajuwon are together again The
reworked Houston Rockets, however, are far
from settled
Dresler was traded to the Rockets on Tuos
day in a deal that sent power forward Otis
Thorpe to Portland. His 22-point average
gives Houston more scoring punch, hut the
trade leaves a hole in the Houston front line
It also appeared to have further damaged
the team's relationship with suspended
guard Vernon Maxwell, who failed to show
at pra< lice Wednesday for the second time
this week Maxwell and Drexler both play
shooting guard
Drexler and Olajuwon. however. wore all
smiles about the trade that reunited two
members of the University of Houston's "Phi
Stamina Jammu" that made back-to-back
Final Four appearances in tutti ami tout
Tins is a dream come true." Orexler said
" This is Phi Slarnma lamina II. on the pro
fessional level "
Drexler and reserve forward Tracy Mur
ray. also sent to Houston in the trade, took
their physu als Wednesday hut didn't prat
lice with the Rockets lux au&e Thorpe had
not vet been examined by the Trail Blazers
{loth were expected to play Thursday when
the Rockets play at Charlotte
Wednesday's tinmion celebration was
dampened by the latest disappearance by
Maswell, who is allowed to practice despite
a 10 game suspension imposed hy the NBA
for puni lung a fan in Portland last week
1 he volatile guard was a no-show Monday
Ims ause of what team offlt nils i ailed a "mis
communication." but he had promised to
attend workouts Wednesday
Maswell's repeat absence was not well
ns eived by i n.e h Rudy Tomiunovii !i
T jm ! DREXLER Pi; 16
Beuerlein
tops NFL
expansion
draft picks
NEW YORK (AP) Steve
Beuerlein joined a "Who's Who
in the NFL" dub Wednesday
when Jacksonville made him the
first pit k in the first expansion
draft in lit years.
For the rest of the day, it was
mainly "Who's that?" as the
Jaguars and the Carolina Pan
thers went for the unknown, the
underpaid and, in some rases,
the relatively unfit. The Pan
thers in particular stayed with
low-priced, low-profile players
throughout.
Beuerlein. who fell out of
favor with coach Buddy Ryan
after a good 1993 season with
the Arizona Cardinals, became
an asterisk when the Jaguars
made him the first pick. Overall,
Jacksonville went for veterans
and spent more money while
Carolina, hoping to attract free
agents, went young and cheap
He goes to Jacksonville with
no illusions.
"One of my claims to fame
throughout my career is that I've
always been able to take a hit,"
Beuerlein said. "I’m sure that
won't Ixt any different going
down to Jacksonville I'll stand
in there and take a hit with the
liest of them."
But after the 30-year-old quar
terback, due to make about $2
million next year, the new teams
turned to youth and low
salaries Carolina didn't go for
quarterbacks until late, taking
the veteran Jack Trudeau from
the New York jets on the iHth
round after taking Miami's Doug
Pederson six picks earlier
And a number of big-name,
high priced players were
ignored, including Michael
Dean, William Perry. Cary (dark,
Dante Jones, Chris Doleman,
Mark Rypien. Tom Kathman and
Chris Miller.
Rod Smith, a 24-year-old cor
nerback who started seven
games for New England last
year, was Carolina's first pick
“I'm just one of 30 guys."
Smith said. "I'm not worried
about the contract at this point ”
Turn to EXPANSION Page 13
Hit and run
GAK'I i.MAVo! .-naiml
M the weather put a damper on outdoor sports opportunities, you can still play racquetball at the
Esslinger courts Monday through Thursday, 0:40 a m. to 12:30 a m., or Fridays, 0:40 a m. to 0:30 a m.
Clubs ready to go ahead with season
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla
(AP) — A hodgepodge of poten
tial strikebreakers, minor lea
guors and non-roster invitees
milled about the New York Yan
kees' locker room Wednesday,
giving a preview of replacement
baseball.
And like the strike itself, the
presence of the players raised
more questions than it
answered.
"We told them our policy, and
I hope you get this correct, that
they are not replacement players
until April 3." general manager
Gene Michael said
"We're not calling them major
leaguers, we're not calling them
minor leaguers, we're calling it
Yankees' spring training, and if
they make the team they'll
Iwcome major leaguers and play
the games." Michael explained
Four teams — the Yankees,
the St t.ouis Cardinals, the Seat
tle Mariners and the San Fran
cisco Giants — will have
replacement players in uniform
Thursday when they open
camps to pitchers and catchers.
Other teams will begin practice
by Monday
The Yankees held an orienta
lion vsmoii in the morning, sad
players then underwent physi
cal*. received uniforms and got
a feel for the spring training
complex
The Yankees issued a roster
with n players' names, hut the
team made no differentiation
between the 14 minor-leaguers
who are going about business as
usual and the I t others who on*
either replacement players or
non-roster invitees
When the baseball strike
began Aug 12. the 703 players
who were on major-league ros
ters stopped working. Since
then, the Players' Association
has asked all players on 40-man
rosters (major leaguers and top
minor league prospects) to stay
out of camp That has pushed
the total of potential strikers to
nearly 1,100
In addition, the union has
asked minor-leaguers to boycott
games involving replacements
Michael said none of the players
on the Yankees' 40-man roster
had agreed to come to camp
We re going to bring in the
Ixtst players we can." he said
' We’re hopeful that the caliber
w ill be good enough We don't
know exactly what it is because
it's now territory. but we art>
going to have baseball."
At the (Ordinals' < amp in St
Petersburg, players were told
they'd be given different color
uniforms, some with the same
numbers.
"I’m curious more than excit
ed," manager Joe Torre said. “I
think it'll be .in opportunity to
see the young players that you
don't ordinarily see. The bulk
will be our minor-league play
ers."
The Baltimore Orioles are
refusing to field a team of strike
breakers. At their < amp in Sara
sota on Wednesday, all the
fields were unoccupied except
for a lawn mower The club
house was practically empty
"I keep looking tip. thinking
Mike Mussina or Ben McDonald
might come walking in I'm try
ing to stay positive through this
thing, but I guess it looks like
they may not be coming in for a
while." new manager Phil Regan
said
The Yankees' players who
showed up a day early ranged
from a confused and wary
Trlple-A starter to a sand lot
Turn to SPRING, f'. i j- • 16
K'bruary 16, 1995
Volume Oh, k\ur UK)
America 3 ends
streak
SAN DIEGO (AP) Ameri
can's all women crow boat
Dennis Conner 's Stars A
Stripes in the opening race ol
the third round robm ol the
America's Cup trials on
Wednesday to end a three
race losing streak
I lie women led the entire
way around the sm-teg, 18 6
mile Pacific Ocean course
and won by 1 minute. 26 s«c
c«xls It was their last victory
since defeating Young Ameri
ca in the opening race of the
second round-robin on Jan
29
rhoir losing streak would
have been lour, but a loss to
Stars & Stripes on Eeb 3 was
thrown exit when If hi second
round was shortened by
throe races because ol
weather delay-'
With vu tones ixjw worth
four points. AmencttS closed
the gap in the (ati/on Cup
standings and traits co-lead
ers Stars A Stripes and
Young America 9 points to 7
NHL Scoring
Leaders
Nl W YORK (AP) Scot
mg loaders through ( et> 14
Thai OP Q A PTS P1M
i»o> Pm_o 11_m_•»
franco, Pm l? 5 IS M 2
Sane O,o _ l? S IS_JO_6_
Aiamnov, Win 13 S IS ?0 9
Se.mB W-n 13 9 10 19 0
ha at_i? to ; i / a
tKftctU.CW U1 7 tp 1/ 6
Woontfc.Ch I? $ I? I? 8
t<g» Cat I? to 6_16_6
T>.». ft/ 13 a 8 tfe S9
Oaun Ban t? 5 ti 16 o
Oarn, Qua I? 9 6 16 19
*».»«, Bo* I? 9 6 IS 8
M. <ir PH 1? 8 / IS ?
%!Or T» 14 9 S 14_0
lotto HYI i; B 6 14_8
t*t«ren 54 1? 5 9 14 6
Ba/qua tto U1 4 to_14 _2_
Ywrman Par 1? 4 IQ 14 to
IvykO* Pft. 13 4 10 14 14
Ki/fi. LA_ II ) II 14 4
Harding heads for
Germany
PORTLAND (AP) Tonya
Harding has left on a High! to
Cologne, Germany, to do
three interviews lor a tabloid
format television show
Multnomah County Presid
mg Judge Donald bonder
gave permission for Harding
to leave tho country T uesday
after he learned she may
receive SPS.OOO, which she
would turn over to Oregon
Sp>ecial Olympics
At first, i wasn’t too keen
on it," bonder said "But the
possibility of making money
for Special Olympics per
suaded me "