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League, players hope to strike late accord
BY DAVE GOLDBERG
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
t. Clair
NEW YORK — Talks continued Sunday between the NFL and its players union amid indications they were close to a deal that would avert the mass dumping of veterans.
The negotiations, which had broken off Saturday, resumed when Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, flew back to New York after returning home to Washington. Reports from inside the bargaining room pointed to progress being made a day after things seemed bleak.
One indication that a deal might be near was a decision by the league to move the deadline for trimming rosters and getting under the salary cap from 6 p.m. EST Sunday to 10 p.m.
Free agency is scheduled to begin at 12:01 a.m. Monday, but could be delayed if agreement is reached.
If there was no deal, the cap was to be set at $94.5 million. But a deal could increase it significantly, allowing teams to keep players they otherwise would have been forced to cut.
These negotiations were by far the most difficult since the NFL and the NFL Players Association first agreed to free agency and a salary cap in 1992, ending years of labor unrest that included player strikes in 1982 and 1987. The contract has been extended several times since then, most of the time with ease.
But this time, the players asked for a change in the system.
Until now, they got their
money primarily from television and ticket revenues. This time, they requested their share from all team revenues, including outside money generated by everything from parking to stadium naming rights.
That led to difficult negotiations, in part because the teams themselves are having their own dispute over that money because of the disparity in outside money made by low-revenue and high-revenue teams. Union leaders had suggested that it would be hard to reach agreement on a labor contract until the owners settled their own differences.
But in the end, they seemed ready to compromise, largely because of the pressure of impending free agency, which was supposed to begin last Friday but was put off for three days so the sides could continue talking. In fact, the talks seemed to be at a standstill last Thursday, when the owners took just 57 minutes to reject the union's last offer.
But seven hours later, the sides reversed course, agreeing to extend the free-agent deadline for three days so they could continue bargaining. That came as teams who had planned for a larger salary cap were preparing to cut large numbers of veterans, including many aging Pro Bowlers.
"Many of those players would have been cut anyway," Upshaw said Saturday, noting that veterans are cut every year but find jobs with other teams. This year, however, the extra cuts could glut the market, causing players to get less money even if they find jobs.
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Former Minnesota Twins center fielder Kirby Puckett had a stroke at his Arizona home Sunday and was taken to a hospital for surgery, the team announced from its spring training camp.
MLB World Series hero Puckett suffers stroke
The 44-year-old Puckett, who led Minnesota to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991 and is a member of the Hall of Fame, was taken to a Scottsdale hospital.
major league baseball ask fans to keep Kirby and his family in their thoughts and prayers," the team said in a statement.
"The Minnesota Twins and
Puckett, who broke in with Minnesota in 1984, had a career batting average of .318. Glaucoma forced Puckett to retire in 1966 after 12 seasons with the Twins when he went blind in one eve.
The Twins played the Boston Red Sox in an exhibition game Sunday at their spring training complex here. Center fielder Toril Hunter sat out the game after learning about the stroke.
Puckett is divorced and has two children.
The Associated Press
BIG 12 BASKETBALL
Mizzou wins with late basket
BY ALAN SCHER ZAGIER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Missouri's Thomas Gardner, right, drives past Nebraska's Jason Dourisseau, left, as he heads to basket during the second half in their game, Sunday in Columbia, Mo. Gardner led all scorers with 23 points in the Tigers victory.
L. G. Patterson/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Junior guard Thomas Gardner poured in 23 points, including 11 in a two-minute outburst in the game's final minutes, as Missouri came from behind to beat Nebraska 64-63 on Sunday.
Gardner, who entered the game second in the Big 12 scoring race with a 19.8 point average, had a driving left-hand layup that put Missouri (12-15, 5-11) on top 62-61 with 1:06 remaining.
After Nebraska's Jason Dourisseau hit two three throws to put the Cornhuskers back up by one, Missouri missed two shots on its end and then fouled Nebraska on the ensuing inbound play.
But the Huskers' Wes Wilkinson missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and the chance to pad the lead.
The Tigers responded by working the ball inside to forward Marshall Brown, who after hesitating, converted a short jump shot to give Missouri the one-point lead with 3.3 seconds remaining.
Missouri had a chance to add to that lead in the final seconds after Nebraska's Bronson Schliep threw a full-court baseball pass out of bounds. But Brown missed his own front end of the 1-and-1, giving Nebraska one final shot.
Dourisseau narrowly missed a half-court runner, giving the crowd a 9,388 a chance to let out a collective gasp.
Wilkinson led Nebraska (17-12, 7-9) with 17 points. Center Aleks Maric added 16 points, with guard Jamel White contributing 14.
With the win, Missouri avoided a last-place Big 12 finish, earning an 11th seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Nebraska is the No. 6 seed.
Missouri took a six-point lead into halftime, 31-25. But the Tigers squandered momen
tum from that shot, getting outscored by Nebraska 9-2 in the first 3.20 of the second half. Nebraska led by as many as 8 points with 3:20 remaining in the game.
The home victory capped a trying season for Missouri, including the Feb. 10 resigna-
Snyder quit after a string of six consecutive double-digit losses, including a 26-point defeat at last-place Baylor. After an emotional home victory over
Kansas State two days later under interim coach Watkins, the Tigers lost four more games before Sunday's contest.
Kansas City could hold Super Bowl in 2015
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The National Football League announced Sunday that Kansas City would host Super Bowl XLIX in 2015 if voters approve a tax to renovate Arrowhead Stadium.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue addressed a meeting of team officials and civic leaders by speakerphone from New York where he was engaged in a negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the players union.
Tagliabue announced late last year that Kansas City
would get a SuperBowl if the renovations were made and if a rolling roof was built to make Arrowhead Stadium climate-controlled.
tions on April 4. A 3/8-cent sales tax would raise more than $500 million for renovations to Arrowhead and the Royals' Kauffman Stadium.
A separate tax would raise about $200 million to build the rolling roof, which would be used for both stadiums.
The Associated Press