ESPN's John Kernan reports that Indianapolis Motor Speedway
President & CEO Tony George's comments last week that CART has 30
days to stop using the IndyCar name "appear to have ended any
possibility of a compromise that would bring the CART teams to
Indianapolis."  George:  "I've heard [CART President] Andrew
Craig say it's too late for '96, but let's talk about '97.  Once
we make our decision to go our separate ways and have competing
races on Memorial Day weekend, I think that in and of itself puts
some finality to all of this" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 3/25).
Mario Andretti, a critic of George and the IRL, noted the likely
economic losses in Indianapolis this year.  Andretti said Texaco,
which won't be at Indy this year, spent $482,000 on hotel rooms,
plane fare and hospitality at last year's race (Bill Fleischman,
PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 3/26).

     Agent Bill Strickland denied NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ
Granik's recent comments that the CBA with players was "98 to 99
percent written" before new NBPA negotiators slowed down the
process.  Strickland, who called the league's lawsuit against the
union and six key agents "ridiculous":  "As we all know, things
that are agreed to verbally don't always work out the same way
when two sides try to sit down and write the agreement. ... It's
just that the players are taking a firm stance in how things are
traded off" (Frank Hughes, WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/26)....The AHL has
surpassed the 3 million mark in league attendance for the second
straight year and is on pace to break last year's record
(AHL)....Following low attendance and player complaints, the
Senior PGA Tour is weighing a move of the Liberty Mutual Legends
of Golf from PGA West in La Quinta, CA, to FL -- possibly as soon
as '97 (USA TODAY, 3/26).

     Cubs President & CEO Andy MacPhail has become the unofficial
spokesperson on the issue of granting the players service time
for the '94-95 strike, and his message is:  "The game will be
shut down again before the players union gets service time for
days it was on strike."  MacPhail, who offered to become a point
man on the issue at last week's owners' meetings in Phoenix:
"They didn't play.  There was no revenue generated, the game
suffered considerably because of the strike. ... They are not
entitled to it.  The fact they got it in '81 is idiotic.  If
anyone is holding on to expectations that (they deserve it
because of past years), I would like to hear a rational
explanation for it."  One reason MacPhail is speaking out is
because service time is not an "official negotiating subject,"
and neither MLBPA Exec Dir Don Fehr nor MLB spokespersons are
able to comment on the matter.  MacPhail, on the chances for
compromise:  "Zero" (Dave Van Dyk, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 3/26).
     BRIGHTER SIDE:  In the new issue of GQ, Peter Richmond
examines the state of baseball through the eyes of Ken Griffey
Jr., Buck O'Neill, Ernie Banks and Mike Veeck.  Richmond writes,
"If baseball really wants to promote itself, it should freeze Ken
Griffey's expression when he's talking about his games.  Any of
his games.  And plaster it on billboards" (GQ, 4/96 issue).