NAMES IN THE NEWS

          JON JENNINGS, former Celtics Player Personnel Dir, who
     now works in the White House, on PRESIDENT CLINTON's
     basketball skills.  Jennings said Clinton "knows the game
     but has no game."  As for VP AL GORE, Jennings said, "now he
     has game" (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/8)....Federal investigators in LA
     "do not intend" to indict 49ers co-Owner EDWARD DEBARTOLO
     JR. on "gambling corruption charges until the end of this
     month or even later" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 1/8)...."ET" previewed
     the upcoming film "My Giant," staring BILLY CRYSTAL and
     GHEORGHE MURESAN.  The film will be in theatres this spring
     ("ET," 1/7)....MICHAEL ANDRETTI married the former LESLIE
     WOOD on December 24 in Nazareth, PA (Newman Haas)....MAGIC
     JOHNSON "is close" to signing with the William Morris Agency
     (N.Y. DAILY NEWS, 1/8)....PAT RILEY and the Heat are
     profiled in GQ by Peter Richmond.  Riley discusses his
     departure from the Knicks: "I did not, contrary to what [MSG
     President DAVE] CHECKETTS said, turn my back on the New York
     Knicks fans.  I turned my back on him.  Period.  One
     person."   Checketts responds: "Given a chance to come
     clean, why doesn't he just stand up and take a stance?" (GQ,
     1/98 issue)....TIGER WOODS looks to defend his title at the
     Mercedes Championships in La Costa, CA, starting today.  In
     L.A., Thomas Bonk reports that last month IMG invited 12
     print reporters to spend a day with Woods at the Bay Hill
     Club near Orlando, FL, "at their own expense, to get to know
     Woods a little better.  No one turned down the offer" (L.A.
     TIMES, 1/8)...."Saturday Night Live's" NORM MACDONALD will
     host the '98 ESPY Awards on February 9 (ESPN).  In N.Y.,
     Richard Johnson writes in his "Page Six" gossip column that
     MacDonald "has been booted" from the "Weekend Update"
     segment on "SNL," and that "one of the last straws for NBC
     brass may have been" his decision to host the ESPYs.  He
     will remain as an "SNL" cast member (N.Y. POST, 1/8).