Dennis Rodman announced his intentions of signing with
the Lakers for the remainder of the season yesterday and in
L.A., Mark Heisler calls Rodman's press conference "a one-
of-a-kind affair, with real life seeming to poke through his
act as Rodman exchanged jibes with reporters, then finally
broke down and cried" (L.A. TIMES, 2/23). Suns F Tom
Gugliotta: "Now we can sleep at night. Between that and
Kosovo, who knew what was going to happen?" Suns C Luc
Longley: "Dennis playing it up? Fancy that" (ARIZONA
REPUBLIC, 2/23). One WNBA Sparks official, who attended the
press conference, joked, "You never know. Maybe he's going
to announce he's signing with us" (L.A. TIMES, 2/23).
Rodman said he was going to have to "fight [Converse] in
court" to collect the extra $3.1M as part of his shoe
contract with them if he played in either the N.Y., Chicago
or L.A. market (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 2/23).
FRANCHISE NOTES: The Giants confirmed Monday they would
vote against the Patriots' move. Giants VP/Communications
Pat Hanlon: "The Giants have always considered Connecticut
part of their territory. Perhaps an even larger issue is
the Patriots leaving the Boston market. ... We don't want
the NFL to abandon Boston" (HARTFORD COURANT, 2/23)....In
Chicago, Jay Mariotti writes on the Blackhawks' firing of
coach Dirk Graham yesterday: "Even when changing coaches and
trying to revive an ailing hockey franchise, owner Bill
Wirtz and his bumbling deputies look like stooges." He
calls for Wirtz to let a "serious hockey man" run the club
(SUN-TIMES, 2/23)....The A's are pushing team youth in a new
ad campaign and have put up billboards in the Bay Area that
read, "They're so young they still think it's a game," and,
"Major League talent, Little League enthusiasm" (OAKLAND
TRIBUNE, 2/22)....Devil Rays VP/Marketing Mike Veeck is
profiled by USA TODAY's Michael Hiestand. Veeck: "I'm the
king of cheap theatrics. Do they work? They worked for the
Caesers. Feeding Christians to Lions wasn't highbrow. But
it sold out the Colosseum" (USA TODAY, 2/23)....In Toronto,
Jim Hunt, on a Senators move: "Ottawa simply is not big
enough to support an NHL team. It never should have been
granted a franchise in the first place" (TORONTO SUN, 2/23).
