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DEC. 30, 199«
JJort Lattò
@ ÏClje JJortlanb
© bseruer
NBA center returns
home
V IL N IU S , L ith u a n ia - Free
agent center A rvydas Sabonis
today joined L ithuania’s national
champion Zalgiras Vilnius and will
play for them in the European
league during the N BA lockout.
Sabonis, who played for the
Portland Trail Blazers last season,
signed a five-m onth contract, but
both sides said he could return to
the N BA on short notice ifplayers
and ow ners settle their labor dis
pute.
Carolina wasting
little time in looking
for new coach
C H A R L O T T E — TheCarolina
Panthers wasted little tim e search
ing for a new head coach, bringing
in form er San Francisco coach
George Seifert to talk about the
position vacated w ith Dom Ca
pers’ dismissal.
Holmes: Bout with
Foreman is a go
H O U S T O N — Larry Holmes
has been reading in the new spa
per that his “Birthday Bash” bout
with George Foreman is off. Not as
far as he knows.
He said Tuesday that he spoke
with prom oter R oger Levitt, who
assured him the old-tim ers’ show
dow n in the H ouston A strodom e
on Jan. 23 was still on.
Pak named AP
female athlete of
year
W oods and Pak have the same
dynamic smile, the same knack
for winning a major championship
in unforgettable fashion. Theyboth
were trained in unorthodox man
ners by fathers obsessed with them
becoming a champion.
Pak helped thrust w om en’s
g o lf back in the spotlight.
“W hat we could not have an
ticipated was the em ergence o f Se
RiPak,”
Bledsoe likely will
miss playoff game
F O X B O R O ,M ass.— The New-
England Patriots have won all three
gam es they’ve played against the
Jacksonville Jaguars. F or the first
time, it appears they’ll have to do it
again w ithout Drew Bledsoe.
Looking for a new coach ?
E rickson was fired as coach o f the
S eattle Seahaw ks M onday after an
8-8 season left the team out o f the
playoffs for the 10th consecutive
year.
S e a h a w k s p r e s id e n t B o b
W hitsitt said the d ecision to fire
E rickson w as based on a three-
y e a r e v a lu a tio n , sta rtin g w h en
ow ner P aul A llen becam e in ter
ested in acquiring the team .
“ It w a sn ’t based on one gam e
here or one gam e th ere,” W hitsitt
said. E agles m ake ch a n g e, fire
R hodes
N FL team s d ec id e d to m ake
coaching changes M onday — and
they w asted no tim e doing it. Four
coaches w ere fired before noon as
th e
C h ic a g o
B e a rs’ D ave
W annstedt, the B altim ore R av en s’
Ted M archibroda, the C arolina Pan
th e rs’ D om C apers and the P h ila
delp h ia E a g le s’ Ray R hodes all
w ere let go by th eir resp ectiv e
team s. B ut the firings d id n 't end
there as la ter in the afternoon the
S eahaw ks term inated coach D en
nis E rick so n ’s contract.
A roundup o f the d a y ’s firings:
B ears fire W annstedt
L A K E F O R E S T , 111. — D ave
W annstedt w as fired M onday as
coach o f the C hicago B ears, one
day after the team finished 4-12
for the second co n secu tiv e sea
so n . T e a m p r e s id e n t M ic h a e l
M cC askey said he m ade the m ove
b ecause “w e d id n ’t w in enough
football g am es.” W annstedt w as
the fourth N FL coach fired M on
day.
C apers let go by Panthers
C H A R L O T T E ,N .C .—
D om C apers w as fired M onday
as coach o f the C aro lin a P anthers,
w ho have plum m eted in the two
years since they cam e w ith in a v ic
tory o f reaching the S uper Bowl.
C apers, w ho w as 30-34 as the
only coach in the te a m ’s four-year
h istory, w as released a day after
the P anthers finished th eir w orst
season at 4-12. In 1996, C apers
led C arolina to a 13-5 reco rd and
the N FC W est title, and w as the
N F L ’s coach o f the year. B ut the
team follow ed that success w ith a
7-9 season b efore falling even fur
ther this year.
P H IL A D E L P H IA — R ay
Rhodes w as fired as coach o f the
P h iladelphia E agles M onday, en d
ing a four-year reig n that began
w ith a coach o f the year aw ard and
co llap sed w ith a 3-13 season.
F ollow ing R h o d es’ ad v ice and
prediction, E agles ow n er Jeffrey
Lurie fired the 4 8 -y ear-o ld coach
after the te am ’s final gam e, a 20-
10 loss to the N ew Y o rk G iants on
Sunday
th a t
c lin c h e d
P h ilad e lp h ia’s first 13-loss sea
son and w orst reco rd since 1972.
“ W hen you d o n ’t w in, changes
have to be m ade. T his is p art o f the
b u sin ess,” R hodes said at a new s
conference w ith L urie.
Marchibroda fired as Ravens coach
B A L T IM O R E -
T ed
M archibroda w as fired as coach o f
the B altim ore R avens M onday a f
ter he failed to p roduce a w inning
season in his three years w ith the
team . M arch ib ro d a’s entire sta ff
o f assistant coaches also w as d is
m issed . “ I t ’s a b ittersw ee t m o
m en t,” R avens ow ner A rt M odell
said. ''I 'm saddened by w hat I had
to do M onday, b u t look forw ard to
w inning again. I d id n ’t com e from
C leveland to B altim ore to lo se.”
S eahaw ks fire E rickson
K IR K L A N D , W a sh . — D ennis
Four confirmed dead, two
others feared lost as rescue
efforts end
33-year-old Briton Glyn Charles, had
represented Britain in the Star Class at
the 1996 SummerOlympics in Atlanta,
where he finished 11 th. The othermiss-
ing sailor was Australian John Dean, a
crew member on the yacht Winston
Churchill, which sank. The bodies o f
two other W in s ton Churc hi 11 crew mem
bers, J im Lawler and M ichael Bannister,
were found Tuesday. Two other sailors
were found dead Monday after the 40-
foot boat Business Post Naiad capsized
60 miles off the New South Wales town
ofMenmbula. 1 he dead were both A u s
tralians — the yacht’s owner-skipper
Bruce Guy and crewman Phil Skeggs.
The four confirmed deaths from the
storm already have made this the dead
liest Sydney-to-Hobart race.
Mitchell wants to
ensure bidding
process is 'fair and
above reproach'
W A S H IN G T O N — Form er
Senate M ajority L eader G eorge
M itchell T uesday p rom ised a
“thorough and prom pt” investi
gation into claim s that bribes
helped Salt Lake City w in the right
to stage the 2002 W inter O lym
pics.
Boxing-Botha to use
Holyfield strategy
against Tyson
N E W Y O R K -FrancoisB othais
studying how to beat M ike Tyson
b y w a tc h in g h o w E v a n d e r
H o ly field h andled th e form er
heavyw eight cham pion twice.
“I am going to use the same
strategy the w ay H olyfield fought
him ,” the South A frican said in a
teleconference call Tuesday from
his training cam p in Las Vegas
where he will fight Tyson at the
M GM G rand H otel on January 16.
Tigers sign Jefferies
to a two-year deal
DETROIT- GreggJeffenes.who
has failed to live up to his potential
since breaking into the m ajor
leagues in 1987, agreed M onday
to a tw o-year contract with the
D etroit Ti gers worth about $5 mil
lion.
Jefferies, a 31-year outfielder,
spent more than 3 seasons with
P h iladelphia until the Phillies
traded him to A naheim last Aug.
28. H e became a free agent after the
season.
Dismasted racing yacht Stand Aside is stranded in Bass Strait
SYDNEY, A ustralia— Authorities
ecovered the bodies o f four sailors and
pve up hope Tuesday o f finding two
ithers after a monstrous storm deci-
nated the Sydney-to-Hobart yacht race,
ts 90-mph winds and 35-foot swells
napping masts and flipping boats over.
FormerBritishOlympic sailor and an
Australian competitor were missing and
resumed drowned, Australian Man-
ime Safety Authority spokesman Brian
fill said. “We wouldn’t stop searching
or them if we thought they were still
live,” Hill told The Associated Press.
It’s tragic, but most people would real-
re that we do have to be realistic.”
Australian officials Tuesday halted
ne o f the country’s largest maritime
escue operations ever after finding the
■odies o f four sailors in a span o f two
toys. Military helicopters plucked about
0 other sailors to safety o ff Australia’s
southeastern coast, 250 miles south o f
Sydney. The race continued, however,
finishing Tuesday morning when Ameri
can Larry Ellison and his maxi yacht
Sayonara arrived in Hobart, Tasmania,
to take line honors ahead ofBrindabella.
Ellison, the chief executive officer and
founder o f Oracle Corp., also won the
race in 1995. The 23-member crew ar
rived at Constitution Dock to a funereal
atmosphere, rather than the usual pop
ping o f champagne corks and booming
o f cannons.
“It was just awful. I’ve never experi
enced anything remotely like this.”
Ellison saidofthe raging seas that peaked
Sunday and Monday. “It’s been a very
emotional experience to get here. This is
not what this is supposed to be about
It’s a tough crew, but the guys were
choked up.”
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