In Long Beach, Howard Beck reports that Lakers G EDDIE
JONES has "fired his agent," SAL DIFAZIO, "in favor of using
a charge-by-the-hour lawyer to negotiate his next contract,"
following the lead of Bucks G RAY ALLEN. Jones: "It wasn't
a difficult decision at all" (L.B. PRESS-TELEGRAM, 2/10).
...In Dallas, Barry Horn reports that it "looks like RICKY
WILLIAMS will go the agent route" with PERCY "MASTER P"
MILLER's No Limit Sports Management (DALLAS MORNING NEWS,
2/10)....NEWSWEEK profiles the rap music forays of NBA
players CHRIS WEBBER, ALLEN IVERSON, KOBE BRYANT and
SHAQUILLE O'NEAL (NEWSWEEK, 2/15 issue)....ESPN Int'l
Managing Dir DAVID ZUCKER and Goldman, Sachs & Co. Associate
KAREN BISGEIER were married in N.Y. on Saturday (N.Y. TIMES,
2/7)....Suns F TOM GUGLIOTTA, on his appearance in SI's
swimsuit issue: "They said they wanted me to wear a Speedo.
I think they were kidding, but I told them I didn't care if
they were kidding or not, I ain't wearing one of those"
(ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 2/10)....NFL Commissioner PAUL TAGLIABUE
said that he wrote CHER and "was delighted to have her" sing
the National Anthem at the Super Bowl, but he "didn't get a
chance to meet her." Tagliabue, when asked by ESPN's GARY
MILLER if he was "personally responsible" for KISS playing
at the Super Bowl: "That was a staff decision which I
endorsed 100%" Miller: "Really? You don't have any of
their CDs?" Tagliabue: "No, I don't" ("Up Close," 2/9).
