NAMES IN THE NEWS

          CNN's "Showbiz Today" included a profile on SEAN
     "PUFFY" COMBS, an avid Knicks fan who now sits courtside at
     home games.  BILLY BALDWIN: "As he's climbed the billboard
     charts, he's climbed around the corner to midcourt" (CNN,
     1/15). ...ALLEN IVERSON is profiled in VIBE magazine.  HENRY
     "QUE" GASKINS, who handles all Iverson-related business for
     Reebok: "Young kids saw Allen at Georgetown and said, 'He's
     cool ... He's just like me off the court, the baggy clothes,
     the braids.' ... It hurts Allen when people say he's the
     Tupac of basketball.  Allen is not trying to be 'thug life.' 
     He just wants to be real.  He's just a young black man with
     confidence" (VIBE, 2/98 issue)....Golfers PETER JACOBSEN,
     PAYNE STEWART and MARK LYE will release, "I Love To Play," a
     parody album, on April 21.  It will be released under the
     band name Jake Trout and the Flounders (EMI-Capitol Ent.).