T he P ortland O bserver • J une 18, 1997
BRIEFS
Ifuuku
Reds place Larkin on
DL; activate Smiley
( in c in n a ti R eds s h o rtsto p
Barry Larkin, the 1995 National
League Most Valuable Player, was
placed on the 15-day disabled list
Tuesday with a strained left calf,
which he suffered in the second
in n in g o f M o n d a y ’s 4-1
interleague win over the C leve­
land Indians. Larkin, who has
battled a heel injury since spring
training, was injured while run­
ning out a double. He left imme­
diately and was taken for an MRI
following the contest. He is ex­
pected to be out o f action for two
to six weeks.
Vaughn to undergo
knee surgery
Boston Red Sox first baseman
Mo Vaughn, the 1995 American
League Most Valuable Player, will
undergo arthroscopic surgery on
his ailing left knee Tuesday and
will miss two to six weeks. Vaughn
was examined Monday by team
physician Dr. Arthur Pappas, who
determined surgery was needed to
repair torn cartilage. V aughn's
knee lo c k e d up on him in
W ednesday’s 10-1 rout of Balti­
more. He was able to return to the
lineup, but the knee locked up on
him again after he slid into home
plate in the third inning of Sunday
night's 10-1 romp over the New
York Mets.
NHL to pick
Nashville, Atlanta,
St. Paul, Columbus
Nashville, Tennessee, Atlanta,
| St. Paul, Minnesota, and Colum ­
bus, Ohio reportedly have been
selected as the National Hockey
League’s next fourexpansion f ran­
chises. The Sports Network of
Canada and CNN/SI are report­
ing that the Nashville franchise
I will begin play in the 1998-99
| season, followed by Atlanta in
1999-2000 and St. Paul and Co-
I lumbus in 2000-2001. National
Hockey League officials will make
their recommendations Tuesday.
Red Wings’
Konstantinov
unconscious
Detroit Red W ings defenseman
V ladimir Konstantinov remains
unconscious and in critical condi­
tion Tuesday at Beaumont Hospi­
tal in Birmingham, Michigan, but
has made small steps of progress.
According to a hospital spokes-
I person, Konstantinov has been
able to make “reflex movements’
His eyes were responsive to shined
light, considered a positive sign
by doctors. The staff has been
testing K onstantinov’s reflexes
with monitors.
cy jj^ J
Wimbledon
Champions gear up
It will not be an easy road for
top seed Martina Hingis of Swit­
zerland as the draw for next w eek's
W imbledon Tennis C ham pion­
ships, the third Grand Slam tour­
nament of the season, was an­
nounced Tuesday in London. On
the m en’s side, top seed and three­
time champion Pete Sampras of
the U n ited S ta te s ta k e s on
Sw eden’s Mikael Tillstrom in the
opening round.
Top seed Michael Chang of the
United States hopes to get back on
the winning track as the top seed
[ at the $475,(M)O Heineken Trophy
in Rosmalen, the Netherlands.
D efending cham p ion Anke
Huber of Germany gears up for
next w eek’s Wimbledon Champi-
I onships as the top seed at the
$ 164,250 W ilkinson Lady Cham ­
pionships in Rosmalen, The Neth-
| erlands. Huber, ranked eighth in
the world, captured her first-ever
grass-court title here last year.
WOODS DOMINATION WAVERS
There are a lot o f reasons why it
will be difficult for Tiger W oods to
sim ply overwhelm the competition -
and Ernie Els is one o f them
The sweet-swinging South A fri­
can proved once again on Sunday he
has the game and the mental makeup
to be a major championship winner
several times over.
The U.S. Open started last week
at Congressional Country Club with
talk o f a Woods Grand Slam and it
ended with new appreciation for Els
and even greater respect for the spe­
cial demands o f the Open. Els had
the patience, precision and putting
to win on a course set up to meet the
difficult standards o f the U.S. G olf
Association. Woods lacked all three.
By winning his second U.S. Open
at only 27 years o f age, Els joins a
select group. In the 97 Opens there
are now only five players who have
won more than Els.
BULL’S DYNASTY STRUGGLES TO STAY ON TOP
In fact, Els’ performance in m a­
jo r cham pionships proves he has the
kind o f game that holds up under the
most intense pressure He has now
finished in the top 10 nine times in
Grand Slam events and has been in
the top 20 a dozen times in the 20
majors he had played in his career.
In fact, statistics showed that each
ball hit into the rough at this U.S.
Open cost players a half-stroke.
‘ I’ve been playing a lot ofm ajors
in the last four or five years and I
think with experience you become a
little bit more calm," Els said. "You
have to be calm to w in major tourna­
m ents.”
“ I will tell you this," said Woods,
who finished 10 strokes behind Els.
’“ I did make some mental mistakes
out there that I will rectify so I’ll
never make them again."
Both players will contend again
in a major.
Weaknesses are always more in­
teresting than strengths, especially
in a champion.
So w hile this fifth title run might
have been the Chicago Bulls’ least
dominating, it was without doubt
their most compelling Every game
in the Finals but one was close.
Taken together, they revealed a
dynasty moving inexorably closer
to its end than its beginning.
“ This was a sober one,” Chicago
coach Phil Jackson said, “ because
we had to struggle for it.”
And a more memorable one than
those that went before it - for that
very same reason.
Last season, when the Bulls won
a record 72 regular-season games
and d isp a tc h e d the S e a ttle
SuperSonics in a six-game Finals
series, there was still lingering de­
bate about whether Chicago should
be ranked among the greatest teams
o f all time.
This season, 69 wins in the regu­
lar season and a fifth title in seven
years would seem only to solidify the
claim. At a minimum, anyway, the
Bulls can call themselves the sec­
ond-greatest team in NBA history,
behind only the Boston Celtics ofthe
late ’50s and '60s, who won 10
championships in 11 years.
But nobody was talking about that
after the Bulls beat Utah 90-86 in
Game 6 o f the Finals. Their playoff
run began with a sweep o f Washing­
ton and consecutive five-and-out
dismissals o f Atlanta and Miami.
But they looked old and vulnerable
along the way. Too tired, in fact, to
deny that their offense was faltering,
that their joints were aching and that
finding the resolve to finish it out
was going to be very, very difficult.
“This was a grind,” Steve Kerr
concurred, “but that makes this one
much better.”
That would be the same Kerr, o f
course, who hit what proved to be the
decisive shot It was a straightaway
14-foot jumper made possible when
the Jazz defense doubled on Michael
Jordan. Up to that point, Kerr was a
brutal eight o f 24 from the field in the
series, including a miss at the end o f
Game 4 that might have cost Chi­
cago a chance to win that game
In a roundabout way, that miss
m ight also have been behind
Jordan’sotherworldly performance
in Game 5 He was certain that the
only person whose commitment to
winning hadn’t wavered was his
own. So, even though he was dizzy,
dehydrated and disoriented at mo­
ments, he kept calling his own num ­
ber - and delivering.
But even Jordan recognized he
couldn't shoulder the burden every
minute, game after game
JONES PREVAILS
Suddenly America again has a
world-class athlete who excels in
the sprints and long jum p. But d o n ’t
call Marion Jones the female Carl
Lewis.
The 21-year-old Jones quickly
deflected that moniker Sunday after
winning the w om en’s long jum p to
com plete a 100-meter/long jump
golden double at the U.S. track and
field championships this week — a
performance that produced the year’s
leading result in both events.
“ It’s a great comparison, but my
name is Marion Jones, not Carl
Lewis,” she said. “ I’m a different
type com petitor.”
Basketball and track and field have
been her avenues to success, just like
the woman she defeated Sunday, her
idol Jackie Joyner-Kersee.
Both played basketball in college,
and now as the 35-year-old Joyner-
Kersee nears the end o f her illustri­
ous career, Jones appears destined to
take her place.
“ Her presence only makes the rest
o f us better," said Jones.
“ I’ve always admired her, even
when she was in high school,”
Joyner-Kersee said o f Jones, who
overtook her to claim the U.S. long
jum p crown Sunday.
q
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