OH CAPTAIN, MY CAPTAIN: JOHN MCENROE has officially
resigned as U.S. Davis Cup captain, and in Ft. Lauderdale,
Charles Bricker writes that McEnroe "had grown increasingly
frustrated by his inability to attract the best players" to
participate (SUN-SENTINEL, 11/21). CBS SportsLine's Mike
Lurie wrote that McEnroe "could see that trying to move the
Americans in a winning direction was rife with headaches.
To avoid more headaches, he exercised an escape clause in
his contract and now will have one less commitment on his
crowded plate" (CBS SportsLine, 11/20). In N.Y., Selena
Roberts writes that in McEnroe's "brief time" as captain, he
"gave the Davis Cup team visibility" (N.Y. TIMES, 11/21).
NAMES: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Noah Liberman cites
SEC documents as showing that Total Sports interim CEO GARY
STEVENSON received 8% of Quokka stock in the acquisition of
Total Sports last week. The stock is worth "roughly" $2.7M
(SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 11/20 issue)....In Orlando, Joe
Schad writes that Univ. of FL mascot ALBERT THE ALLIGATOR
was "injured during an altercation" with three male FL State
Univ. cheerleaders during Saturday's game. "Albert"
suffered a sprained ankle and was treated at an area
hospital after the game. Univ. of FL Assistant AD MIKE
HILL: "The cheerleaders blindsided him on the sidelines,
knocking his head off" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 11/21)....ESPN
ZONE will open its first Dallas location in the Victory
development that surrounds the American Airlines Center in
2001 (DALLAS MORNING NEWS, 11/18)....Retiring LA State Univ.
AD JOE DEAN, on collegiate athletics: "I'm very concerned
that we're spending ourselves into oblivion. We're in an
arms race with facilities. I worry, because where do we
stop? Are we taking away from where we're supposed to be?
This is an academic institution" (N.O. TIMES-PICAYUNE,
11/17)....The FL Board of Regents unanimously selected
Orlando to be the home for the new FL A&M Univ. law school.
Potential contributors to the estimated $15M project include
the MAGIC (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 11/18).
