YOU BETTMAN! LEAGUE SAYS THE COMMISSIONER COULD TAKE PENS

          The NHL and the Penguins "agreed yesterday" that co-
     Owners Howard Baldwin and Roger Marino could keep the team
     while it worked through bankruptcy, but an NHL attorney said
     the league "could legally terminate the franchise if it
     chose to do so," according to Pitz & McNulty of the
     PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE.  SMG attorney Philip Beard argued
     that the bankruptcy code "prohibited the automatic
     termination of a contract ... during a bankruptcy," and that
     the league would "have to get permission" from U.S.
     Bankruptcy Judge Bernard Markovitz if it decided to take
     control of the Penguins.  NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman had
     earlier stated he would seize the franchise if it declared
     bankruptcy, but "later changed his mind."  In other news,
     the city has hired attorney Thomas Reiber, at a rate of $125
     per hour, in an effort to collect $900,000 in back taxes
     owed by the Penguins (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 10/28).