DEVILS MAY GET STATE HELP FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO ARENA

     NJ Gov. Christine Todd Whitman said the NJSEA is willing to
pay for improvements to Brendan Byrne Arena and would potentially
join with a private-sector partner to build more "revenue-
producing" luxury suites, according to the Bergen RECORD.
Whitman said this would address one of the Devils' key complaints
"without putting taxpayers on the hook" (Fitzgerald/Hirsch,
Bergen RECORD, 6/13).
          OTHER DEVILISH DETAILS:  ESPN's Keith Olbermann,
     reporting last night's Conference Finals win by the Devils,
     referred to the team as the "New Nashville Jersey Devils"
     and said, Remember this, Flyers fans, at least your team is
     certain to exist next year" ("SportsCenter," 6/13). In a
     N.Y. POST column, with the header "McMullen's Just a Whiny
     Ingrate," Jay Greenberg responds to Devils Owner John
     McMullen's claims that nobody has ever thanked him for
     bringing the Devils to NJ.  Greenberg writes that the only
     thing worse than a businessman who "wants to be subsidized
     for his own failures" is "one with a martyr complex" (N.Y.
     POST, 6/13).  Tony Coleman's column in the Nashville
     TENNESSEAN notes that it would not be unprecedented for a
     league champion to move citing, among others, the Brooklyn
     Dodgers and Boston Redskins (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 6/13).