Yesterday, at a New York City Hall press conference to
launch "Hoop it Up 1995," Knicks center Patrick Ewing "said he
was tired of hearing that a select group of agents are behind
part of the league's unsettled labor problems," according to this
morning's N.Y. TIMES. Ewing: "I'm kind of upset that they're
trying to say we're not intelligent enough to make a decision by
ourselves. We hire people to advise us, but the bottom line is,
once they advise us, we have to make the decision. ... We don't
want to hurt the game in any way, but we feel the deal the union
brought back to us was unfair, and we took action" (Mike Wise,
N.Y. TIMES, 7/19). More from Ewing: "Right now, we're trying to
get the decertification process going. I think our position is
very strong. We have over 200 guys who signed the petition (Fred
Kerber, N.Y. POST, 7/19).
INSPIRED BY THE LIBERTY BELL? According to Phil Jasner in
the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, "11 of the 13 players who finished
last season on the Sixers' roster have signed notices to
decertify. It is believed that only [Tim] Perry and Willie
Burton have not signed notices." Burton's agent, Don Cronson,
said it was likely that Burton would sign. 76ers center Shawn
Bradley, who "remains optimistic" about an uninterrupted season:
"I've asked people in the thick of it and was told that, if we
get it down to two sides (instead of three -- the owners, the
union, and the dissident players), we can have an uninterrupted
season. If it stays three-sided, it could get sticky but we
should be playing" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 7/18).
ICE COLD WELCOME IN CANADA: In today's VANCOUVER PROVINCE,
Howard Tsumura describes how no one from the team greeted
Grizzlies player Blue Edwards when he arrived with his family
last week. Tsumura says that "Edwards feels lost and alone," and
reports that Canadian immigration said he "would not be able to
gain the landed immigrant status necessary to do any number of
things, including work in the country, register his kids for
school or sign a housing rental agreement, until the lockout is
resolved." A Vancouver realtor: "It really is sad. Here's this
guy who's supposed to be wined and dined, but the poor Grizzlies
can't help him at all" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 7/19).
