Section B · Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, December 8, 1998
Exhibition game to feature locked-out NBA players
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Michael Jordan won't play, yet courtside tickets will still cost $1,000.
A long-rumored exhibition game featuring locked-out NBA players finally was announced yesterday by agents David Falk and Arn Tellem.
"The Game on Showtime" is set for Dec. 19 in Atlantic City, N.J., with the proceeds going to charity and to NBA players in financial need.
"If you look at people who play professional sports, not a lot of them are financially secure," union president Patrick Ewing said. "They make a lot of money, and they also spend a lot of money."
"Me, I'm financially secure, but there are a lot of others who aren't. Our objective is to help these people. No matter how much money they've made throughout their careers, if they're in need now then it's up to us to try and help them," Ewing said.
Thirteen players are committed to play, and organizers hope to have a total of 16 players who were members of the four Dream teams
the 1992 and 1996 Olympic teams and the 1994 and 1998 World Championship teams.
Ewing, Karl Malone, Penny Hard-
away, Tim Hardaway, Allan Houston, Reggie Miller, Alonzo Mourning, Tom Gugliotta, Gary Payton, Dominique Wilkins, Vin Baker, Glen Rice and Mitch Richmond have committed.
Among those who have not are
Larry Bird, Magic Johnson.
Charles Barkley, Scottie Pippen, Isiah Thomas, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Grant Hill and John Stockton.
Derick Coleman and Larry Johnson, members of the 1994 World Championship team, were not invited
Jordan's absence is particularly noteworthy because Falk, his agent, is one of the main organizers.
"Michael has said he won't make a decision about returning to professional basketball or retiring until the lockout is over," said Curtis Polk, president of Falk's sports management company. "We did talk to Michael about the game, obviously, and Michael feels he
needs to stand by his earlier statement that he'll wait for a resolution of the lockout before he makes that decision. He wouldn't want to send the fans a sort of mixed message by his participation in this game."
Ewing said that Jordan might show un, but that he wouldn't play.
The Atlantic City game will be the latest in a recent string of exhibitions involving locked-out players. Games were held last weekend in Miami and Dallas, and another is scheduled for Sunday in Los Angeles.
Jay Larkin, executive producer of Showtime, would not reveal how much the cable network was paying for the broadcast rights.
Polk said the largest expense would be insurance, with every player covered for $20 million against a career-ending injury.
None of the players will be paid, and no criteria has been established for determining which players will share in the proceeds.
The lockout, now 23 weeks old,
has caused the first two months of
the season to be scrapped. No new
negotiations are planned.
Organizers hoped to raise at least $1 million in proceeds. The game will be held at the Atlantic City Convention Center, which seats about 17,000. Tickets will cost from $25 to $1,000.
DiMaggio's health wanes despite early improvement
The Associated Press
Joi DiMaggio's fight for life has turned more urgent with his doctor reporting yesterday that the Hall of Famer's condition had deteriorated dramatically.
"Joe has had a significant and serious turn for the worse," said Earl Barron, the physician who has been treating DiMaggio following lung cancer surgery in October. "The outlook has dimmed over the past 72 hours. He's not in good shape."
The 84-year-old New York Yankees great has been unable to shake a stubborn lung infection and fever since undergoing surgery Oct.14.
After DiMaggio showed some improvement last week, the infection is back, Barron said.
"He is being treated with more antibiotics, and his blood pressure is being maintained with medications," the doctor said.
DiMaggio remains in the intensive care unit at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. He entered the hospital Oct. 12 and underwent surgery to have a cancerous tumor removed from his right lung two days later.
His attorney and close friend, Morris Engelberg, spent yesterday afternoon at the hospital and did not immediately return telephone calls. DiMaggio has experienced a number of peaks and valleys following the surgery.
Twice in October, his lungs were drained after filling with fluid from an infection. His blood pressure dropped so rapidly on Nov. 16 that a Catholic priest was summoned to administer the last rites.
"The outlook has dimmed over the past 72 hours. He's not in good shape."
Earl Barron physician for DiMaggio
Each time, however, he has rallied.
Each time, however, he has rallied.
"He takes two steps forward and one back."
Barron said last week.
On Thursday, when Barron temporarily adjusted the breathing tube in his throat, DiMaggio said, "I want to get the hell out of here and go home."
He seemed to be moving closer to that goal until the latest setback.
"I saw him this morning," Barron said yesterday. "We are continuing supportive care. The outlook is not as good as it was a few days ago."
DiMaggio has guarded his privacy intently since his retirement from baseball in 1951, and information about his condition has been tightly controlled.
His last public appearance was Sept. 27 when he was honored at Yankee Stadium and received replicas of nine championship rings that were stolen from his hotel room three decades ago. The Yankees had wanted him to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at the World Series, but he was in the hospital.
Olympics replace IBM with new tech sponsor
He marked his 84th birthday on Nov.25 in the hospital, surrounded by family, including his brother, Dom, and two great-grandchildren.
The Associated Press
LONDON — Sema, a relatively obscure European computer company, beat out several leading technology firms to replace IBM as the Olympics' chief technology sponsor, starting in 2001.
International Business Machines Corp., the world's largest computer company, said last August it would end its 38-year partnership with the International Olympic Committee at the 2000 Svndev Games.
Sema will head a consortium of three companies in the IOC's new Olympic Information Technology Group. The companies will provide the computer technology and results systems for the Summer Games of 2004 and 2008, and Winter Games of 2002 and 2006.
Olympics organizers yesterday described the eight-year deal with Sema, a French-English company, as the biggest sports-related information technology contract ever awarded. Figures weren't disclosed, but the deal was believed to be worth about $220 million.
The Salt Lake City Winter Olympics in 2002 will be the first under the new technology arrangement.
Sema is a computer services and defense technology firm employing 16,500 people. The high-profile tie-in with the Olympics should put the company on the world map.
Sema provided information systems at the 1992 Barcelona Games and has been involved in other sports events such as the 1994 World Cup, the 1996 European Soccer Championship and the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
"it's not a very well-known brand name, but they come to
the table with a tremendous amount of knowledge and understanding," IOC marketing director Michael Payne said. "The IOC's primary decision was to ensure we had the best technology solution and to create risk-free a scenario as possible."
IBM was criticized for glitches in its computer results system at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Payne said the partners for venue results management and computer hardware would be announced in early 1999. Swiss watchmaker Swatch is favored to win the results contract, with Compaq and Sun Microsystems, two U.S. computer makers, in the running for the hardware deal.
Payne said the three companies would contribute about $500 million in cash and services to the games as part of their partnership. The IOC and organizing committees will put up about $200 million for the installation and maintenance of the new system.
Payne said Sema was chosen ahead of several other leading high-tech companies, including computer consulting giants EDS and Arthur Anderson.
The IOC and IBM parted in an acrimonious split earlier this year, when negotiations for a new eight-year deal broke down.
IBM executives were upset by an IOC decision to seek a more profitable sponsorship deal for Internet services and sites at upcoming games, a role IBM held in the past two Olympics, at Nagano and Atlanta.
The IOC said an IBM demand to be paid hundreds of millions of dollars for its services would bankrupt local organizing committees, which IBM wanted to share technology costs.
Assault charges could mean jail fine for Tyson
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — The judge who sentenced Mike Tyson to prison for rape has three options regarding the former heavyweight champion's probation, and one of them is returning him to jail.
Tyson pleaded no contest to misdemeanor assault charges in Maryland last week and that could be used as evidence by Judge Patricia Gifford of a possible parole violation.
"There are three things that could occur when the report is received," Gifford said. "A warrant for Mr. Tyson's arrest could be issued, a hearing on the report could be scheduled, or there could be no action toward a possible revocation of probation ... taken until sentencing in Maryland."
"Until I've reviewed the report and made a decision, it would be inappropriate to comment on possible action," the judge said. Sentencing in Maryland is expected early
Sentencing in Maryland is expected early next year.
Tyson was released from prison in 1995. Gifford added four years of probation, which meant Tyson could be sent back to jail for any further violation. His probation is scheduled to expire in March.
Probation officer George Walker said Thursday it appeared that Tyson violated terms of his probation as a result of his no contest plea.
Tyson's no-contest plea stemmed from a minor traffic accident in August in which two motorists claimed the boxer kicked and punched them.
The no-contest plea was not an admission of guilt. However, Tyson could face up to 20 years in prison, 10 years on each count, and be fined up to $5,000. The two men he scuffled with already have agreed to a settlement to avoid a civil suit.
Indiana authorities also reviewed the probation — but took no action — after Tyson bit Evander Hollyfield's ears during a title bout in June 1997.
Team owners rally for return of instant replay for NFL
Disputed calls in games stimulate league's interest
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — After two weeks of well-publicized officiating gaffes, instant replay is almost sure to return to the NFL. And perhaps sooner rather than later.
That might have been assured yesterday when commissioner Paul Tagliabue picked up his morning newspapers.
On the front page of all three New York dailies was a picture of Vinny Testaverde lying on the ground a foot short of the end zone. The play was ruled a touchdown and the Jets beat Seattle 32-31 Sunday.
The call in the game's closing seconds kept the Jets tied with Miami in the AFC East and in effect knocked the Seahawks from playoff contention.
Now there's a possibility some form of replay could be instituted for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs. The technology is in place because of replay experiments during exhibition games. All that's needed is a phone vote by the owners.
"There is one objective — get the calls right," Jets coach Bill Parcelsis said. "Not some of the calls, not the calls in the second half or the last quarter or only in the end zone. It's to get the calls right."
That seems to be the feeling around the league after what many owners view as two weeks of embarrassment, starting with the heads-tails flap in Detroit on Thanksgiving and continuing through the end of New England's last-second win over Buffalo the following Sunday.
Last March, the return of replay was defeated by two votes — it got 21 of 23 necessary to pass.
Now the replay proponents have their two votes — from Buffalo's feisty Ralph Wilson and Detroit's William Clay Ford. Both were vocal enough a week ago to risk $50,000 fines with complaints about officiating, and both said they would
change their "no" votes to "yes."
The system that has been tried in exhibitions involves giving coaches challenges on calls — perhaps two a half or two a game — with the referee making the final decision after viewing the play on a sideline monitor.
That would help end the objections to the system that was in effect from 1986 to 1991, which used a replay official in a booth and was filled with endless challenges and endless delays, some lasting longer than five minutes.
The objections to the challenge system came mainly from the coaches, who have been split among a number of proposals. Some wonder what would happen, in a situation like the Jets-Seahawks game, if a coach had exhausted his challenges before a game-turning play at the finish.
However, the proposal under study by the NFL is a liberal version that would allow a coach an additional challenge on a game-deciding play, such as the one that cost the Seahawks on Sunday.
Few pretend that replay solves everything. Dan Rooney, president of the Steelers, said last week he thought officials were overly managed already, leading to indecision.
The Seahawks-Jets game is an example. Phil Luckett, the referee in that game, said that once head linesman Earnie Frantz signaled touchdown, as he did almost as soon as Testaverde hit the ground, the debate was finished.
"Because he had signaled a touchdown, so far as we're concerned, it's over," Luckett said.
But NFL rules specify that if another official disagrees with the call, the referee can reverse it. On Sunday night in Minnesota, referee Bob McElwee reversed himself after he ruled a fumble and other officials said Steve Stentstrom's knee had hit before the ball came out.
The difference may be that Luckett, who is well-regarded by coaches and players, is in his second year as a crew chief and his eighth as an NFL official. McElwee is in his 23rd year as an official, most as a referee.