CONSPIRACY THEORISTS: In AZ, Kent Somers writes, "Just
when will the NBA come clean? That's the feeling among many
of the league's fans -- especially those in smaller markets
-- who believe that the NBA and NBC manipulate the playoffs
like chiropractors. They think NBA officials will twist
here and pull there in order to ensure that teams from the
two largest television markets, [L.A.] and [N.Y.], meet in
the Finals." But Somers adds that NBA Commissioner David
Stern "scoffs at the notion" that he and his staff "work
behind the curtains in Oz to engineer the outcome of the
postseason" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/12)....In Chicago, Rick
Telander examines the odds of Bulls F Elton Brand and
Rockets G Steve Francis each receiving 58 of a possible 121
votes to share the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and writes
that the scenario is "just a little too perfect." Telander,
noting the NBA's altering of a photo of Allen Iverson for a
league publication: "I know that saying two guys got 58
votes ... is a pretty easy thing to do when you control the
ballot box. And when you've shown you don't mind messing
with details" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 5/12).
USA TODAY's Robert Bianco lists "10 ways to fix TV,"
with No. 10 "Stop the XFL." Bianco writes the XFL
"represents everything wrong with modern TV. You have a
once proud network [NBC], driven by envy and greed to turn
its Saturday schedule over to the WWF, the worse purveyor of
trash on television" (USA TODAY, 5/12).
HELTON SPEAKS ON NYC: NASCAR COO Mike Helton was
interviewed on last night's "RPM 2Night" and said of a
possible expansion into the N.Y.-area: "That's the number
one market in all of America, and you'll recall how anxious
we were to get into Southern California and L.A. ... If you
go back to the last five years of where we have expanded the
[Winston Cup] series into, we think [it] complements the
growth curve" ("RPM 2Night," ESPN2, 5/11).
