SOME EXTRA CORN ON THE COBB FOR TEX: JURY AWARDS DAMAGES

          After deliberating for "more than eight hours," a
     Nashville jury awarded boxer Randall "Tex" Cobb $8.5M in
     compensatory damages for his libel suit against Sports
     Illustrated, according to Tucker & Klausnitzer of the
     Nashville TENNESSEAN.  The jury determined that SI had
     libeled Cobb when SI writers Sonja Steptoe and William Nack
     conducted an interview with boxer Sonny Barch, in which
     Barch said Cobb "took a dive" in a '92 fight.  The jury also
     said that Cobb is "entitled to punitive damages" from SI,
     with an amount to be determined.  SI attorney Eddie Wayland:
     "The case is still pending.  I don't think that a comment
     would be appropriate at this time" (TENNESSEAN, 6/10).