Pan Am is accusing the Heat of "snatching 38
basketball-player-size seats from a plane it chartered" from
the airline, according to BUSINESS WEEK. Pan Am says that
after it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year, the team
took the seats, which creditors estimate are worth $10,000
each. Pan Am also says that the team took "carpeting, cabin
dividers, and video equipment, too." Heat attorney Nick
Christin says all the equipment in question was owned by the
team "under its charter agreement." A bankruptcy court will
decide the case (BUSINESS WEEK, 4/27 issue).
LAKERS: During Sunday's Jazz-Lakers game, NBC's Jim
Gray asked Lakers Exec VP Jerry West about reports that he
will resign at the end of the season. West: "I'm going to
make my decision up about my future in the fall. ... I'm
really not sure what I'm going to do yet." West, asked
about his health: "Stress is a terrible thing, and the games
make me terribly nervous. Sometimes I don't get a lot of
enjoyment out of them" ("NBA on NBC," 4/19). West: "I just
want to disappear. I don't want to be interviewed anymore.
I don't want to sign anymore autographs. I just want to get
away" (L.A. TIMES, 4/20). In L.A., Scott Howard-Cooper
wrote that the "likely" resignation of West may prompt C
Shaquille O'Neal "to contemplate his own departure." O'Neal
will decide in the summer of '99 "whether to opt out of his
seven-year deal," and some of those close to him say West's
departure "could become an issue" (L.A. TIMES, 4/19)....In
N.Y., Mitch Lawrence reported that despite saying he's
keeping his 5% stake in the Lakers, Magic Johnson is still
"actively recruiting players for agent Bill Duffy." Johnson
has signed Pacific Univ. C Michael Olowokandi, "who might be
[the] No. 1 pick overall." One agent, on Johnson: "If he is
getting anything from Duffy, in terms of money ... then
that's a total conflict of interest" (DAILY NEWS, 4/19).
