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DEC. 16, 1998
@ (Tin' ^íortlanb (Ohsertier
International Team
Wins Presidents Cup
Williams a Unique Heisman Winner
MELBOURNE, Australia -
I n te r n a tio n a l c a p ta in P e te r
T hom son carried the most im­
portant piece o f local know ledge
in the Presidents Cup.
A fiv e -tim e B ritish O p en
cham pion, T hom son w as qui­
etly confident all w eek that when
the Presidents Cup left A m eri­
can soil for the first time, the 14-
inch sterling trophy would not
be returning w ith the U.S. team.
King defenseman
gets three-game
suspension
N E W Y O R K - R o b B lake
o f th e L os A n g eles K in g s w as
susp en d ed M o n d ay fo r th ree
g am es w ith o u t p ay an d fined
$1,000 for slashing V an co u v er
C an u ck s cen ter H arry Y ork.
B ased on his $5.27 m illio n
salary , B lak e w ill lo se m o re
than $82,000.
T h e d efen sem an w as given
a m a jo r p en alty an d a gam e
m isconduct for the tw o-handed
slash, w h ic h struck Y ork in the
forearm in th e third p erio d o f
L os A n g e le s 3-0 v icto ry on
Saturday. Y o rk left the gam e
an d d id not return.
Awake, Alert
DiMaggio Says No
More Press’
H O L L Y W O O D , F la. - Joe
DiM aggio m ust be feeling better:
He told his doctors to shut up.
T w o days after aw akening
from a com a, an irate D iM aggio
ordered them Sunday to stop
giving public updates on his re­
covery from lung cancer sur­
gery and pneum onia.
D octors had said Friday that
the 84-year-old baseball great was
very close to death. Now, h e’s
talking and trying to recapture the
privacy he has always cherished.
N E W Y O R K - T h ere’s never been a
Heisman Trophy winner quite like Texas
tailback Ricky Williams.
N ot only did he become the first
Heisman winner with dreadlocks, a stud
in his tongue and four tattoos, he also
aim ed college football’s ultimate indi­
vidual prize into a team triumph.
Unique, indeed.
" T h e knock on m e w inning the
Heisman Trophy at the beginning o f the
year was that 1 w ouldn't play on a team
good enough for me to win it, ” W il hams
said after running up the fourth largest
margin o f victory in Heisman history.
"B u t my teammates came through, and
we went 8-3. 1 share this award with
them.”
Back in Austin, Texas, many o f his
buddies gathered to w atch the an ­
nouncement on TV. When die obvious
became official, and the Longhorns had
their second Heisman winner - Earl
Campbel 1 won in 1977 - thecrowdjumped
to its feet and the party was on.
In New York City, too. After dozens
o f interviews, Williams and his entou­
rage, including his mother, Sandy, twin
sister, Cassie, and younger sister, N isey,
left the Downtown Athletic Club in a
w hite stretch limo and headed for a
private party.
On Sunday night, the 6-foot, 225-
pound San Diegan who broke Tony
D orsett’s career rushing record, was
officially welcomed into the Heisman
fraternity at a dinner. A nd on M onday
night, W illiams receives his trophy - a
N E W Y O R K (A P) — The NBA
has lost more than 100 em ployees
during the lockout and its w orkforce
is expected to shrink even more.
C om m issioner David Stem said
som e o f the remaining em ployees
could face layoffs if the season is
canceled.
“W e’re still hoping to make a deal,
so we haven’t contemplated that yet.
But obviously that would affect the
situation dram atically,” Stem said.
“ Right now, w e're 125 positions re­
duced from where we were in June
through attrition and the elim ination
o f part-tim e w ork and the like. We ’ re
achieving very successful cutbacks
w ithout m andating layoffs.”
The league has had a hiring freeze
and payroll freeze since July 1, and
Stem has not been drawing his sal­
ary.
L eague
sp o k e sm a n
B ria n
M cIntyre said those who left their
jo b s w orked in various departm ents
in a variety o f positions. All of them,
he added, left voluntarily.
The num ber o f league em ployees
is dow n to about 750. The NBA office
draw s its budget from a 6 percent cut
o f gate receipts. The losses represent
m ore than 10 percent o f the N B A ’s
em ployees.
M any N BA em ployees— some o f
w hom have been lamenting their job
security for w eeks — planned to at­
tend the league’s Christm as party
today at the N BA Store in M anhat­
tan.
The store was closed to the public
today during the afternoon — sort o f
a lockout o f holiday shoppers.
A nother new tw ist was added to
the lockout today as N ew sw eek re-
Williams Sets
Rebound Mark In
Power Home Win
E A ST R U T H E R F O R D , N J .
- Rest easy, ’72 Miami Dolphins.
T he D en v er B roncos are no
longer perfect.
The B roncos’ dream s o f be­
com ing the first NFL team since
those Dolphins to go undefeated
ended Sunday w hen Kent G ra­
ham threw a 37-yard touchdow n
pass to A m ani T oom er w ith 48
seconds left, giving the N ew
York G iants a shocking 20-16
victory.
A ttack on coach
Brown’s signing
continues Fox’s
remaking of Dodgers
LOS ANGELES (AP) —
W hen Peter O ’M alley decided to
sell the Los A ngeles D odgers, he
realized the days w hen a family-
run and fam ily-financed basebal 1
team could succeed w ere draw ­
ing to a close. The gam e was
going to big corporations with
big bucks.
O ’ M alley ’ s observat i ons have
been clearly illustrated b y Rupert
M urdoch’s N ew s Corp., which
bought the franchise from him
draft and return to school, Brown
wanted W illiams to reach his goals.
Williamssetortied 16NCAArecords
and 44 school marks in leading the
L o n g h o rn s in to a C o tto n B ow l
matchup against Mississippi State on
Jan. 1. Among die career records he set
are: yards (6,279), scoring (452 points),
touchdowns(75) andall-purpose yards
(7,206).
But while Williams was cool during
the season, he was nearly overwhelmed
by the fraternity he joined.
"1 was really, relaxed until I walked
into the room and saw all the portraits
ofthe Heisman winners,” W illiams said.
‘ ’Then, I was really nervous until they
called my name. This is overwhelming
to think I’m part o f all this history. ’ ’
NBA lockout claims 100 league jobs
Giants Stun
Broncos, 20-16
C H A R L O T T E , N .C .— The
C arolina Panthers suspended
Kevin Greene for one game with­
out pay M onday, one day after
he attacked an assistant coach
on the sidelines during the team ’s
lo s s to th e W a s h in g to n
Redskins.
G reene’s suspension will cost
him $117,647.05, the equiva­
lent o f one w eek ’s pay from his
1998 salary o f $2 m illion. Upon
learning o f the te a m ’s action,
N FL officials said they planned
n o fu rth er san ctio n s ag ain st
G reene.
With 714 first -place
votes and 2,355 points,
Williams had the highest
percentage of points won
with 43 percent.
25-pound bronze statue o fa player side­
stepping and straight-arming his way to
a mythical touchdown - at the formal
Heisman dinner.
At M onday’s dinner, there also will
be a tribute to 1948 Heisman winner
Doak Walker, W illiam s’ friendandidol
who died a few months ago. Earlier this
season, W illiams received permission
to w ear W alker’s No. 37 against O kla­
homa at the Cotton Bowl, also known as
the "h o u se that Doak built.” W illiams
had 139 yards and two T D sm a34-3 rout
o f the Sooners.
W illiams ran for 2,124 yards and 27
touchdowns this season and made life a
dream for new coach Mack Brown, who
replaced the fired John Mackovic. Once
W illiams decided to pass on the NFL
Natalie Williams demonstrating one for the history books
T h e P o rtlan d P o w er’s N atalie
W illiam s set A m erican Basketball
League history Friday night and did
so on a night when she d id n ’t have
even an average game. It w as a good
thing that four o f her team m ates
chipped in with double figure scor­
ing, as the Power beat the Seattle
Reign 76-63 at m em orial Coliseum .
W illiam s finished with a season-
low 10 points and seven rebounds,
but D eLisha M ilton (a gam e-high
19), E la in e P o w e ll (1 6 ), S o n ja
H enning (12) and K aty Steding (11)
each scored in double figures for
Portland (6-4).
D espite a low er than average (9.9)
rebounding perform ance, W illiam s
becam e the first player in A B L his­
tory to record 1,000 career rebounds
with her first rebound o f the second
quarter. She finished the gam e with
1,004 career boards.
Seattle (7-4) was led by A ngela
A ycock’s 15 points.
The Power led 32-20 at halftime,
but w ere keyed by 7-of-10 shooting
in the third period and 2-of-3 from
three-point range to push the lead to
54-39 going into the fourth quarter.
Seattle got eight points from Neisa
Johnson in the period, but shot just
36.4 percent as team fell further
behind. To open the fourth period
Seattle outscored the hom e team
10-3, to cut the Pow er lead to 57-
49. But M ilton notched eight points
and four rebounds to push the Port­
land lead to 61 -49 with 5:35 to play.
The Power forward had back-to-back
buckets in betw een a three-point
b a s k e t by A y co ck . F ro m th ere
M ilton made two m ore free-throws
and a basket in the lane to go with a
rebound and basket by Rhonda Smith
to get the Portland lead up to 15
points with 2:53 to play.
M ilton’s double-double was her
second in the last three games, and
the fourth o f her career.
ported that som e players believe race
is playing a factor in negotiations.
The u nion’s leadership and all but
two o fth e players on the negotiating
com m ittee are black, w hile all the
owners and the league’s top two of­
ficials are white.
“ I think there is a perception from
the owners to even som e fans that
w e’re blacks who should be happy
with w hat w e ’ve got — fair or not,”
said A lonzo M ourning o f the M iami
Heat. “T here’s a lack o f respect given
us in large part because w e’re ath­
letes. I’m not saying it’s all about race
because it’s not — but it plays a
factor.
Stem denied race is an issue and
pointed out that the league has suc­
cessfully prom oted a sport w hose
player population is nearly 90 per­
cent black.
“This is a collective bargaining
d isp u te— no more, no less,” he said.
The league and the union met Sat­
urday for less than 30 m inutes, one of
th eir sh o rtest m eetings o f the 5
m onth-old dispute.
Before the session. H unter said:
“W hat w e’ve put on the table so far
is not som ething th ey ’re going to be
quick to run aw ay from.”
H unter then put even m ore con­
cessions on the table, but it w asn ’t
enough. N o new talks are scheduled.
The quick end to Saturday’s ses­
sio n su rp rised m any aro u n d the
league, especially som e on the ow n­
ership side w ho had been told after
T hursday’s secret negotiating ses­
sion that a deal was close.
The union contingent seem ed to
think the same thing as it w alked into
Saturday’s m eeting, hoping the sides
w ould make enough progress to call
back the full negotiating teams T ues­
day or W ednesday to perhaps close
the deal.
But the league’s bargaining team
took a different tack, arriving in a
gloom -and-doom mode.
T he u nion’s offer, w hich w as be­
lieved to include an absolute lim it on
the top salary for any player w ith less
than seven y ea rs’ o f experience,
w asn 't good enough to keep Stem at
the table.
Stem has said the season will can­
cel itself if a deal isn ’t reached in the
not-too-distant future. The unionstill
thinks he is bluffing.
“N o one know s w hat their sched­
ule is,” said union law yer Jeffrey
K essler. Stem insists h e ’s serious.
“ Right now it does not look good,”
he said.