Page A9
DEC. 23, 1998
CT hv Jjortlanh O^beeruer
@ Wljc ^ o r t l a n b © bseruer
BRIEFS
Falcons’ Reeves
Returns To Hospital
SUW ANEE, G a.-FortheAtlanta
Falcons, this is a tim e for celebra­
tion. It’s also a tim e for concern.
The F alcons’ first division title
since 1980 is clouded by the ab­
sence o f coach D an Reeves, w ho
returned to the hospital after com ­
plications from heart bypass sur­
gery.
Record-busting
backs top Little All-
America team
NEW Y O R K -B rian Shay and
R J. B ow ers, a pair o f record-bust­
ing running backs, and a w ideout
who broke Jerry R ice’s receiving
record w ere selected to T he A sso­
ciated P re ss’ Little A ll-A m erica
team on Tuesday.
Shay, from E m poria State, ran
for2,265 yards and 29 touchdowns
and finished as the all-divisions
career rushing leader w ith 6,958
yards — 661 m ore than H eism an
Trophy w inner Ricky W illiams.
Shay w on the Harlon Hill A w ard as
the top player in D ivision II.
Ewing Disagrees
with the Mailman
ABL Folds, Files for
Bankruptcy
P A L O A L T O , C a lif .- T h e
A m erican B asketball L eague ju st
co u ld n ’t b ea t the W N B A even
w hen the pioneer w o m en ’s league
w as practically the only pro gam e
in town.
T he n in e -te a m A B L fo ld e d
T uesday m idw ay through its third
season, unable to com pete w ith
its rival, w hich w as backed by the
m oney and m arketing po w er o f
the NBA.
As the league filed for b ank­
ruptcy protection, A BL franchises
canceled their gam es and began
draw ing up plans for paying p lay ­
ers and em ployees,andrefunding
ticketholders’ m oney.
The A B L had team s in C hicago;
C olum bus, O hio; D enver; H art­
fo rd , C onn.; N a sh v ille , T en n .;
Philadelphia, San Jose; Seattle; and
Anderson mulls
Portland, Ore.
“A t this point, the league is out
prison time for drugs
H O U S T O N - G reg A nderson o f m oney,” league co-founder and
blames bad judgm ent and a poor CE O G ary C avalli said in a state­
choice o f friends for his fate: an m ent. “This is a sad day for our
im m inent prison sentence for par­ fa n s, e m p lo y e e s , p la y e r s an d
ticipating in a cocaine deal to w hich coaches, and for w o m en ’s b ask et­
ball in general.
he has pleaded guilty.
He said the A B L w as unable to
Anderson, in an interview in
get the necessary TV exposure and
Sunday’s H ouston Chronicle, said
sponsorship support.
that as a favor to friends, he allowed
The A BL w as launched in 1996,
him self to be draw n into a drug deal
riding
the enthusiasm o f the gold-
one that turned out to be a setup in
m
edal-w
inning U.S. w om en’s team
an FBI drug sting. A nderson and
in
the
A
tlanta O lym pics and the
three others pleaded guilty Oct. 20
boom
in
w o m en ’s college b ask et­
to possession o f cocaine with in­
ball.
W
hen
the W N B A began play
tent to distribute. H e faces a m axi­
the
follow
ing
year, how ever, m any
mum o f 40 years in prison, but fed­
eral sentencing guide lines mean he ’ 11 began to w onder if tw o w o m en ’s
leagues could survive.
probably serve three to four years in
This year, the A B L had hoped to
prison w ith no chance for parole.
take advantage o f the N B A lo ck ­
out, w hich has forced can cella­
Hamilton gets $17
tion o f at least h a lf the season.
million deal
“ I ’m a little surprised about the
T O R O N T O -It didn’t take long
tim ing o f it,” said forw ard K atie
for Joey Hamilton to getabig-money
S m ith o f the C o lu m b u s Q uest,
deal w ith the Toronto Blue Jays.
w hich w on the leag u e’s tw o cham ­
Hamilton, traded from San Diego for
pionships. She plans to play w ith a
W oody W illiam s during the w inter
national team this sum m er and then
meetings, agreed M onday to a $ 17
look into jo in in g the W N B A .
million, three-year contract.
Players, som e o f w hom chose
“I tried over the last couple o f
the A B L because it o ffered higher
years to get som ething done with
salaries than the W N B A , w ere in­
San D iego and they w eren’t very
form ed o f the shutdow n w hen they
receptive,” H am ilton said. “It’s like
called the league office.
a big burden lifted o ff m y back. I
“W e have closed o u r entire op­
think being able to com e here and
eration,” said a reco rd ed m essage.
get a fresh start is going to be really
good for m e.”
Karl Malone, shown left at the
NBA charity game, feels the NBA
offer was fair
NEW YORK-
Karl M alone called the N B A ’s lat­
est offer “fair” and “decent." Patrick
Ewing disagrees, and many other play­
ers are standing with him.
“That deal is the same deal w e’ve
been going over for the last two or
three weeks m aybe even longer,” the
New York Knicks star and union presi­
After taking over 1st place, Coach Lynn Dunn & Natalie Williams
ABL League MVP contemplate. A stellar season " in the making
turned upside down with the news of the League filing for
bankruptcy
“ T he league is currently w orking
on a plan to ensure that y o u ’ll be
paid as m uch o f your salary as p o s­
sible for the m onth o f D ecem ber.
T his plan is subject to court ap­
proval.”
“I am shocked. I never saw it
com ing,” N ew England guard Jen­
n ifer Rizzotti said. “I am thankful
for all o f the loyal fans thro u g h o u t
th is try in g se aso n . I t ’s a sh am e
th is h ap p e n ed . I ’m still try in g to
fig u re it o u t.”
“ I c a n d e f in ite ly fe e l fo r
p e o p le fin d in g o u t th e y ju s t lo st
a jo b b e c a u se th a t’s o b v io u sly
w h a t h a p p e n e d ,” N a sh v ille g u ard
M ic h e lle M a rc in ia k to ld W K R N -
T V . “ W e d o n ’t h av e p ra c tic e . W e
d o n ’t h av e a g am e on C h ristm as
D ay . I h av e a c a le n d a r fille d up
‘til th e sp rin g . N o w th e r e ’s n o th ­
to su sp e n d th e re st o f th e 1998-
99 se aso n th a t b e g a n in e a rly N o ­
v e m b e r an d file a C h a p te r 11
b a n k ru p tc y p e titio n , le a d in g to
the le a g u e ’s liq u id a tio n . “ P eo p le
are sh a k en up e m o tio n a lly ,” he
said . “ T h ere are a few te ars h ere
dent said.
M alone was referring to a nine-
page letter the league sent to players
on Thursday, outlining the ow ners’
concessions.
“They haven’t changed their posi­
tion one iota. All they did was make the
numbers look great, but it ’ s not a good
and th e re .”
T he le ag u e w as fo rm e d in 1995
by A n n e C rib b s, S tev e H am s an d
C a v alli, a p u b lic re la tio n s e x e c u ­
tiv e , an d b e g a n p la y in O c to b e r
1996. B ut it w as c h a lle n g e d the
n ex t su m m er b y th e d e b u t o f th e
W N B A , b ac k ed by th e m u ltim il-
lio n -d o lla r m a rk e tin g an d p u b ­
lic ity m ig h t o f th e N B A .
deal,” Ew ing said.
The players’ association negotiat­
ing committee held an internal meeting
Monday, with about 125 players lis­
tening in on a conference call. The
players gave union director Billy
H unter their thoughts should the sides
meet in the near future. Mondaymarked
the ninth day since the last round o f
bargaining, and players continue to
lose $50 million a week in salaries as
the lockout drags on. No new talks are
scheduled, with commissioner David
Stem on vacation.
I f a deal isn’t reached soon, the
entire season will be scrapped. Stem
has steadfastly refused to say when it
will be too late to save the season.
The league and the players are try­
ing to determine how to divide about
$2 billion in annual revenues.
Sonics center Jim M cllvaine was
among those who attended the union
meeting in New York. He sided with
Ewing.
“We came out on this m orning’s
meeting the same,” M cllvaine said at
an event in Harlem where he and Ewing
handed out Christm as presents to
underpnvilegedchildren. Knicks team­
mates Herb Williams. John Starks and
M arcus Camby also attended.
“We just wanted to clarify some
things. There’s a lot o f stumbling
blocks m order to make the deal and
the big one is control," Mcllvaine
said. He added that M alone’s version
o f adjustment m ay not be the same as
everyone else’s.
“That could be a presidential defi­
nition o f ‘tweak.’” Mcllvaine added.
“ ‘Tw eak’ for him could mean a major
modification for someone else.”
One o f the items that continued to
be a topic for the players was to try to
take care o f the middle-range salary
players. “ Karl said he liked the deal,
■but he also said there’s things that
need to be changed," Herb Williams
said. “If you look at the numbers, they
look good. The superstars are going
to get their money, but w e're trying to
take care o f the guys in the middle .”
in g .”
A t le ag u e o ffic e s in P alo A lto ,
a p ile o f fre sh ly ty p e d p a y c h ec k s
sat o n th e fro n t d esk . A p la stic
b ag fille d w ith c h o c o la te ch ip
c o o k ie s a n d C h r is tm a s c a r d s
h a n g in g in sid e th e fro n t d o o r d id
little to d isp e l th e gloom .
L eague sp o k esm an D ean
J u tilla sa id A B L e m p lo y ee s w ere
in stru c te d b y la w y e rs n o t to m ak e
an y co m m en t ab o u t the sh utdow n.
T h e le a g u e ’s b o ard o f d ire c ­
to rs d e c id e d la te M o n d a y n ig h t
Suspect Nabbed In
Soccer Knife Throw
W A R SA W ,Poland-A 19-year-
old w as arrested T uesday as the
m an said to have throw n the knife
that hit and injured Italian soccer
player D ino Baggio during a UEFA
Cup m atch in K rakow in O ctober
Pawel M ichalski was arrested in
K rakow , according to M algorzata
W ilkosz-Sliwa, a spokeswoman for
the p rosecutor’s office. I f con­
victed, M ichalski could go to jail
for up 10 years.
FROM
:' ity P r o d u c e
W e H ave A ll o f
Y o u r H oliday P r o d u c e N eeds
Fresh Greens: Cut & C leaned Packaged Greens
Fruit Baskets to Order »Black eye pea's, dry and frozen
Gome See ha today
New trainer looking
for Tyson to
recapture old style
N E W Y O R K -T rainer Tom m y
Brooks is looking for a return o f the
old M ike Tyson w hen the former
heavyw eight cham pion m akes his
com eback next month.
“In order for him to be success­
ful again, to regain the title, we
have to go back to the old style,”
Brooks saidofT yson (45-3 w ith 39
knockouts), w ho has not fought
since being disqualified for biting
E vander H olyfield’s ears in their
rem atch in June 1997. T yson was
banned by boxing for a year before
having his license returned by the
Nevada State Athletic Commission
two m onths ago. “W e are looking
to get that head m ovem ent, non­
stop punching and stepping aside
and around his opponent back,'
Brooks said.
Check Out Next Week In
Sports B rief
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