A-ROD AIRLINES: Veteran rocker Stephen Stills was told
of agent Scott Boras' requests for amenities for teams
bidding for free agent SS Alex Rodriguez, "Wow, he just blew
past Harrison Ford, Michael Douglas, Don Johnson, and
everybody else. The stars don't ask for that stuff anymore.
Kevin Costner bought his own plane. They know better than
to rub people's noses it in. It ticks off the rest of the
cast and the production crew" (BOSTON GLOBE, 11/16)....Free
agent 1B David Segui, "Do I feel stupid. I only asked the
... Indians for two Greyhound bus tickets a year and a hot
dog stand in front of Jacobs Field" (NEWS-TRIBUNE, 11/15).
ALLEN KEY: On CNNSI.com, Frank Deford writes, "Surely,
sports fans, if we had athletic disapproval ratings, the NBA
would now be at the top of the list. ... The NBA hears no-
shows and sees no-shows, it refuses to speak about the
number of no-shows. And nobody is buzzing about the NBA.
It's out, cold, under the radar, so yesterday." But Deford
notes, "Everybody kept waiting for the next Jordan. But
while we were on the lookout for an heir, an original has
emerged as the image of the current NBA [76ers G Allen
Iverson]. ... If Iverson is Ice Cube, Jordan was Bill Cosby
-- and that kind of crossover appeal is necessary if the
inner city game is going to continue to sell tickets in
suburbia. ... The NBA must realize that, right now, you
gotta try hard to love this game" (CNNSI.com, 11/15).
TENNIS: In N.Y., Selena Roberts writes that Monica
Seles will not play in the Sanex WTA Tour season-ending
tournament next year when it moves to Munich. Seles was
stabbed in Munich during a match in '93, and said she was
disappointed in the Tour's decision to move the event.
Seles: "I was more than a little bit upset that I was, at
that point on the council and no one informed me. ... I
thought there would be a little more discussion, and I
thought being on the council at that point, somebody would
have at least asked me or talk about it. ... I was
definitely hurt." WTA CEO Bart McGuire: "It certainly would
be great for women's tennis if she chose to play. ... But
I'm not about to try to persuade her to do something that
she doesn't feel comfortable doing" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/16).
