NBA: In Detroit, Chris McCosky writes, "Hold off on
those Isiah Thomas coaching rumors for now. The league has
informed Thomas that he could not coach in the NBA until he
sold his controlling interests in the CBA. The league's
legal team ruled that it would be a conflict of interest to
coach in the NBA while owning the CBA" (DETROIT NEWS, 3/22).
...CBS SportsLine.com's Mike Kahn wrote, "The Hawks are
proving to be the exception to the rule that a new building
gives a team a new life. The brand new Philips Arena, plus
the transformation of the team, has caused a continuation of
a slow death for this franchise" (SportsLine.com, 3/20).
MINOR LEAGUES: In Cleveland, Amy Rosewater reports that
former NFL QB Bernie Kosar has "decided against" making a
bid to acquire the IHL Lumberjacks. Kosar, after examining
the team's financial reports and information from McDonald
Investments Corp, said, "I decided that right now, I don't
think that's in the cards for me. My plate's pretty full"
(Cleveland PLAIN DEALER, 3/22)....In DC, Eric Fisher writes
that a deal was not "struck" yesterday between Mike Veeck
and DC Sports Commission Chair John Richardson about
bringing a Northern League team to the area, but they "will
meet again in the coming weeks." Richardson: "We would love
to have the Northern League here. My question is whether
they can afford to play at RFK. It's very expensive just to
open the doors" (WASHINGTON TIMES, 3/22).
MLB: In Pittsburgh, Chuck Finder notes that the Pirates
have sold 42,000 seats for their April 3 opener against the
Astros. Capacity at Three Rivers Stadium is 47,678 and team
officials announced that the tarps at the stadium "will be
removed and more fans will be able to sit down." Pirates
season-ticket sales have "surpassed" 12,000 in "equivalent
full-year plans." Of those, about 9,100 are "plans covering
the entire" 81-game home schedule, and give holders first
dibs on seats at PNC Park (PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE, 3/22).
