In Toronto, Craig Daniels writes that basketball in Canada
"suffers desperately from a leadership vacuum. It needs
direction and a strong voice, and it's only sensible that the
NBA's Canadian arm eventually provides it." Daniels notes with
Basketball Canada in "organizational and economic chaos," the NBA
should provide the marketing assistance similar to which it
provides for USA Basketball (TORONTO SUN, 10/11)....The NFL fined
Bryan Cox $87,500, one game's pay, for verbally abusing a field
judge Sunday. Cox and his agent, Mike Baird, said yesterday they
would file suit against the league. Baird: "This is [NFL
Commissioner] Paul Tagliabue's first blow in a personal war to
try and outshine [MLB Acting Commissioner] Bud Selig" (CHICAGO
SUN-TIMES, 10/11). HBO's Jerry Glanville on Bryan Cox: "I'd
suspend this guy for the rest of the season." HBO's Gary Myers
on why Cox was not suspended: "The league's feeling here was,
they didn't want to penalize Chicago competitively for Cox's past
indiscretions which all happened when he was a member of the
Dolphins" ("Inside The NFL," HBO, 10/10). ...In an interview with
the ARIZONA REPUBLIC, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said "the
only franchise that has a chance of moving is Hartford." On
expansion applications: "We have four applications in, two from
Houston, one from Nashville and one from Oklahoma City. I've
been told that (Ted) Turner is going to submit an application for
Atlanta. The Mayor of St. Paul has told me to expect an
application from Minnesota. And we may well get one from
Columbus, Ohio, and a couple other cities" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC,
10/10).
