On ESPN's "The Sports Reporters," Mike Lupica noted MLB's
exciting week and the "feeling" that baseball is back despite
continued labor problems. Lupica, on MLB owners: "They're the
worst care-takers in the game's history. The game still
survives, despite them. And sometimes, in a week like this, it
still flourishes" ("The Sports Reporters," ESPN, 9/22). One MLB
owner on a pending labor deal: "[Acting Commissioner Bud Selig]
can get it done, but he wants to try to get the dissident owners
on board. It would pain him to have [White Sox Owner] Jerry
Reinsdorf vote against his deal" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/22)....Amy
Shipley of the MIAMI HERALD writes an extensive review of the
NBA's involvement and eventual rejection of Juwan Howard's
contract with the Heat entitled, "Let's Break A Deal: The NBA
Promised the Heat Wouldn't Get Juwan Howard. Then it Delivered."
(MIAMI HERALD, 9/22)....ESPN's David Aldridge reported that
following an audit of NBA teams by an independent firm, there
could be a "significant increase" in the '96-97 NBA salary cap.
Even though the final audit report is expected to be completed by
the middle of October, Aldridge said that before any increase is
sanctioned, the league and NBPA still "will have to agree on a
number" (ESPN, 9/20)....In Boston, Kevin Paul Dupont on the World
Cup of Hockey: "Hockey in America in late August and early
September was destined to be lost. ... What the World Cup did
more than anything was set up the NHL's full involvement in the
next Olympics, Nagano '98" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/22).
