XFL IN SAN JOSE: XFL Chair Vince McMahon, on announcing
San Jose as one of the league's charter franchises: "This
can't miss, this can't fail." Noting the difference between
his league and the NFL, which he believes "has become too
protective of its breakable assets." McMahon: "Here you
have a bunch of candy-ass suit-wearing owners who have spent
a bunch of money for the teams, and they begin to make the
rules to protect their investments" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/11).
Asked about steroid testing of the players, McMahon said,
"Unlike the NFL, no player will be a felon. At the same
time, we don't want them to be singled out for testing.
We're not going to over-regulate" (C.C. TIMES, 7/11).
CHILDREN OF THE CORN-ROWS: Bulls coach Tim Floyd denied
a report that Bulls Senior VP Jerry Krause told prospective
draft pick Darius Miles that he could not wear corn rows if
the team drafted him: "All Jerry did was put out different
scenarios to find out how the young man would deal with
adversity and deal with team rules. But never, never did
Jerry say, `If you come here, you cannot wear cornrows.'"
But Miles' mother Ethel, who was with Darius when he met
Krause, tells a different story. Ethel Miles: "Mr. Krause
said that as a team they had an image to uphold and that he
didn't think cornrows looked professional. Darius was
wearing cornrows and he said, `I don't know about that. You
might want to change that policy down the road because a lot
of guys are wearing that'" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 7/11).
NOTES: In Edmonton, Graham Hicks writes that the Oilers
hiring Pat LaForge as their new President "sends a clear
signal. No baggage, no appointees to protect, and a mandate
to make an operation that lost [C]$4 million last year `more
affordable'" (EDMONTON SUN, 7/11)....In Louisville, Rick
McDonough wrote that city officials "have new hopes of
luring the Rockets" because the team "is taking longer than
expected to sign an agreement to stay in" Houston. A deal
was supposed to be inked today, but Harris County-Houston
Sports Authority officials "say they are shooting for July
27." Several city officials in Louisville said that they
will now ask Mayor Dave Armstrong to "sweeten" the city's
offer to the Rockets (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 7/10)....A
N.Y. TIMES editorial on last weekend's Yankees-Mets
interleague subway series: "The rousing four-game series ...
was everything that organized baseball had hoped for when it
introduced midseason interleague play" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/11).
