The Cincinnati Enquirer from Cincinnati, Ohio • Page 56

THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER Section Scores on line For last night's late results, visit The Enquirer's web site at http:enquirer.comsports High schools 4 Figure skating 5 Scoreboard 6 Editor: Julie Engebrecht, 768-8414; fax 768-8550 Saturday February 13, 1999 WE Ambrose to sImmd elsewhere TIM SULLIVAN ing a run at Ambrose, but Friday they were believed to have contacted the agents for cornerbacks Dale Carter of Kansas City, Orlando Thomas of Minnesota, Ronnie Bradford of Atlanta and Ken Irvin of Buffalo. "We told Ashley we have to get a guy and we may not be there when he may want us to be there," said Bengals President Mike Brown. their list after the high-priced cornerbacks' fall. the Bengals' high-priced corner, goes into the market looking for the $5 million per year Cincinnati wouldn't give him and a reunion with old Colts teammate Ray Buchanan in Atlanta. "I'd like to play with Ray again and they've got a good program going," Ambrose said.

"But who knows?" and are now eyeing Charles Johnson. Friday's biggest winner may have been Shade, thanks to safety Carnell Lake's four-year, $18 million- deal with Jacksonville. Shade's agent believes he has proven to the Bengals that there'll be a $2-3 million market for his client. Bengals quiet on first day, D5 the highest-priced Bengal, apparently didn't get any offers Friday, which was expected because he carries the team's expensive franchise tag. Steve Zucker, Pickens' agent, said there were no changes in the situation as he looks for a team to swing a trade with the Bengals.

The Dolphins are interested in Pickens, but Friday said they won't deal with franchise players until after April's draft brose, just off the plane from Hawaii Friday, plans to get on another jet Monday to get recruited. He said it looks like he will make visits to Atlanta, Denver and Jacksonville. Strong safety Sam Shade secured visits to St. Louis and Philadelphia next week. Defensive end Clyde Simmons plans to visit Chicago.

Corey Sawyer has been assured by five teams he's on He and other Bengals set up interviews BY GEOFF IIOBSON The Cincinnati Enquirer The Bengals took a tentative dip inp free agency Friday while own free agents dove In. Cornerback Ashley Am The Bengals are still mak- Wide receiver Carl Pickens, "TT 'pi TV 1rJ I- 1 13 Dave Parker 1970s Pirates 1987 Reds Jeff Reardon 1987 Twins 1993 Reds Greg Vaughn 1998 Padres 1999 Reds 'Mr. Red' Before 1968 Since 1968 Wally makes finals Szczerbiak up for Naismith Enquirer news services ATLANTA Miami's Wally Szczerbiak is among the finalists for the Naismith college basketball men's player of the year award. The finalists were selected by a national 1 Years of Clean Shaving A Lighter Look at the Reds' (Not So) Hirsute History vw v.mwm I ffc i advisory ory board of UK? W. Szczerbiak coaches, journalists and administrators.

The winners will be announced by the Atlanta Tipoff Club April 3. Szczerbiak leads the Mid-American Conference in scoring (23.7 points per game) and is second in re-fa i (8.5). He is seeking to become the first player to lead the MAC in both categories since Ohio U's Gary Trent and the first Miami player since Ron Harper. Sczerbiak, a 6-foot-8 senior from Cold wmmmmsm No Red has had facial hair since 1902 BY JOHN ERARDI The Cincinnati Enquirer The tempest over Greg Vaughn's unwillingness to shave his goatee and become a cleanshaven Red has turned up some interesting history from baseball's oldest and least hirsute franchise. In seeking to find the last Red to have worn facial hair, we would have thought it would have been a player in 1966, just before the newly hired General Manager Bob Howsam instituted the official "no facial hair" policy that still exists today.

But, it turns out, the last Red to have facial hair was probably center fielder Dummy Hoy in 1902. And the curious thing is: The Reds weren't the only clean-shaven major-league club for the next six decades. Every club was. Not a single Major League player had facial hair from 1918 to 1971, a period of 53 years. So wrote authors Neil McCabe and Constance McCabe in the award-winning book, Baseball's Golden Age.

From Wally Schang (Philadelphia Athletics) in 1917 to Reggie Jackson in 1972 (Oakland Athletics), the game was whisker-free. (We said whisker-ixet, not whiskey-free; that's another story). Baseball policy didn't require clean-shaven faces from 1917-1971. It just happened to be "the look" in society in general. In the 1970s, when the Oakland A's, owned by maverick Charlie Finley, ushered in the facial-hair era, it wasn't as though the Reds were the only team in baseball to have a facial-hair ban.

Most teams had such bans, whether written or unwritten. They wanted their players to remain clean-cut; the fans liked it that way. It was until the 1980s that the (Please see HAIR, Page D5) E. Mich, at Miami When: 3 p.m. today Where: Mil-lett Hall Oxford.

TV: None Radio: WCKY-AM (1360), WM0H-AM (1450), WFMG-FM (101.3) Preview, D2 Olympics just another money club The Olympics were never as pure as Olympians pretended. The modern Games were founded as a diversion for dilettantes, an elitist event for those who could afford to compete without compensation. 'The Games are more inclusive now sweaty professionals can compete with pristine amateurs but exclusivity remains an issue. Only an organization as clubby and unaccountable as the International Olympic Committee could be capable of -corruption on-demand, of supplying fresh scandals for every news cycle, of making a mockery of the very ideals it presumably exists to promote. Salt Lake City surely prostituted itself in its efforts to win the 2002 Winter Games, but this was only possible because of IOC solicitation.

The 300-page report released Tuesday by the independent Board of Ethics implicated 10 more delegates in the burgeoning bribery scandal, raising the total of IOC members allegedly on the take to 24. What was once chagrin has escalated to outrage. What was once a transcendent sporting spectacle turns progressively tawdry. Juan Antonio Samaranch presides over an organization that is simultaneously as sanctimonious as House Republicans' and as duplicitous as Bill Clinton. Jt is as if Cardinal Richelieu were reincarnated as a committee.

"I would never dream that something so wonderful had a bad side," Cincinnati Julie Isphording said Friday. "The Olympics, for me, always seemed bigger than life. I never realized hw fragile the thing was." Damage has been done Like most marathoners, Isphording has been around the block a few times. Yet 15 years since she made the U.S. Olympic team, she retains a wide-eyed enthusiasm for the Games and their purported goals.

She serves on the board of Cincinnati 2012, Nick Vehr's effort to bring the Summer Games to the banks of the Ohio. Still, she wonders about the long-term damage being done by the stewards of international sport. "You have athletes at their best and leaders at their worst," she said. "It's so contrasting. I really think this takes away from the whole image that we have of the Olympics, that wonderful feeling that this is what dreams are made of.

It makes you wonder about the future: Where are the sponsors going to be? What is this going to do to other athletes? What is it going to do to children?" The Olympics are so popular, and lately so prosperous, that their longevity is not really at issue. Though the John Hancock Insurance Company has canceled negotiations for Olympic advertising, other sponsors have remained in line. The Games will survive this crisis as baseball did the Black Sox and basketball has its point-shaving scandals. The trouble is that when it's time for an IOC housecleaning, who can you trust to wield the broom? "It's largely a world without rules," said David Jordan, of the Board of Ethics. "Some function well in a world without rules.

Some don't." Narrowly defeated in its bid to land the 1998 Winter Games, Salt Lake City's bid committee decided to adopt the aggressive courting approach of its victorious rivals from Nagano, Japan. (Nagano's ledgers were burned, effectively limiting the scope of IOC scrutiny). Like taking steroids The Board of Ethics report suggests Salt Lake's efforts to win votes were both extravagant and sloppy. Little effort was made to legitimize expenses, and less effort was made to cover embarrassing tracks. i Three couples with IOC ties were treated to a trip to the Super Bowl by Salt Lake organizers, at a cost of $19,991.

Nancy Rignault Arroyo, the divorced daughter of Ecuador's IOC delegate, was subsidized $23,000 for living expenses. Jean-Claude Ganga, a delegate from the Republic of Congo, received an estimated $250,000 in benefits, $70,000 in cash. "Isn't exchanging money for votes every bit as anathema to the spirit of the Games as taking steroids to get stronger?" gold medal swimmer Betsy Mitchell wrote last week in the Wall Street Journal. "Why is it too difficult for leaders to behave consistently with the policies they establish and espouse?" Good questions, these. They deserve good answers.

E-mail: tsullivanljienquirer.com. The Cincinnati Enquirer Worst Offseason Facial Hair on a Red: Pete Rose, left, in January 1 972 with teammates Ross Grimsley and Don Gullett. Last Red With Facial Hair: William (Dummy) Hoy 1 902 (As best can be determined through Enquirer research) Last Red Named Vaughn with Worst looking Red After Having to Shave: Jeff Reardon 1993 Most Productive Red After Shaving: Dave Dorlynr 1 QQC Grievance: "Mr. Red," one of the team's logos, lost his moustache at the order of RedsGM Bob Howsam after the 1967 season Most Hirsute Red Without Violating Team Policy: George (Yahtzee) Foster, with his huge muttonchop sideburns 1971-81 (1977 season: 52 HR, 149 RBI, 124 Runs) SV- At'ljl Facial Hair: Henry (Farmer) Vaughn 1891 Last Reds Owner With Facial Hair: August (Garry) Herrmann 1927. (Former Reds President Francis Dale stopped shavina in 1973 when 312 34 HR eor9e Foster added a beard to 125 RBI 42 '9 sideburns after he was Doubles') (In traded to the New York Mets.

his second year as a Red after trade from Pittsburgh) Best Name of a Red With Whiskers: Harry Spies 1895 Best Nickname of a Red With Whiskers: Arlie (The Freshest Man on Earth) Latham 1890-95 Icon Who Should Have Filed a Most Celebrated Enforcer of Well-Groomed Look: Pitcher (and amateur barber) Pedro Borbon who sheared Ross Grimsley's "Caucasian Afro" at the order of manager Sparky Anderson 1973 (Traded after 73 season; 18-13 with Baltimore in 1974) -JOHN ERARDI Hermann the team began a long winning streak.) Most Celebrated Challenge of Reds No Facial Hair Policy: Bobby Tolan (growing a beard) August, 1973 (Traded after season to San Diego) Spring Harbor, N.Y., has scored 20 or more points in 14 straight games and in double figures in th 29 straight games. He is sixth in nation in scoring. Szczerbiak was named second team All-America in the preseason by the Associated Press. He was named first team by The Sporting News and Basketball News. The other finalists for the men's award are: Elton Brand, Duke; Mateen Cleaves, Michigan State; Evan Eschmeyer, Northwestern; Steve Francis, Maryland; Richard Hamilton, Connecticut; Trajan Langdon, Duke; Andre Miller, Utah; Lee Nailon of Texas Christian; and Jason Terry, Arizona.

The finalists for the women's award are: Svetlana Abrosimova, Connecticut; Dominique Canty, Alabama; Tamika Catchings, Tennessee; Becky Hammon, Colorado State; Chamique Holdsclaw, Tennessee; Stephanie White-McCarty of Purdue; Maylana Martin, UCLA; Semeka Randall, Tennessee; DeMaya Walker, Virginia; and Tamika Whitmore, Memphis. Szczerbiak has also been named a finalist for the Oscar Robertson Award, which is presented to national player of year by U.S. Basketball Writers Association. Cornette plays the St. star XL imrty -Wh Tit remember having a night quite like this, not in this big a situation." "He's a very special athlete," Martin said of Cornette.

"The last couple of weeks, he's really learned the game of basketball. There are mental parts of the game you have to be on the floor to know. He's really maturing as a player both physically and mentally." The same could be said of St. X. Since Cornette returned from missing three games ear- (Please see BOMBERS, Page D4) St.

as the Bombers went into Moeller's gym and handed the Crusaders a 76-51 pounding. The victory combined with La Salle's 59-51 loss to Elder, gives St. (11-6, 8-2) a share of the Greater Catholic League South title. Cornette finished with 24 points, 12 rebounds, seven assists, seven steals and six blocked shots. "It was a lot of fun," said Cornette, who is looking like a steal for Butler University, which signed him during the early signing period.

"I don't Leads Bombers to win over Moeller BY CAREY HOFFMAN Enquirer contributor St. Xavier coach Scott Martin says his sinewy 6-foot-9 senior, Joel Cornette, has improved each of the last four games. After his performance Friday night, Cornette is going to be hard-pressed to make it five in a row. Cornette was a dominant force on a dominant night for The Cincinnati EnquirerMichael Snyder St. Xavier's Joe Cronin (24) has the ball stripped away by Moeller's Brad Hutzel, left, and Aaron Shurts on Friday.

i Best Bet Kentucky tries to shake struggles The Wildcats try to recover from their first back-to-back conference losses in seven years when they play host to South Carolina at Rupp Arena today. IVcview, 1)2 He's ready to rumble: Oscar De La Hoya weighs in Friday for tonight's WBC welterweight title defense against Ike Quartey. Preview, D7 The Associated Press Reds Agent: Wendell's gain is Hudek's gain Turk Wendell's $1.2 million contract with the New York Mets will very likely boost the case of reliever John Hudek, bound for arbitration with the Reds next week, Hudek's agent says. 1)5 RgureJSkating Kwan sees room for improvement Michelle Kwan received sterling marks Thursday nijrht in winning the short program of the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, but Kwan herself found some imperfections in her performance.

1)5 SCat UK When: 4 p.m. TV: Ch.64 Radio: WSAI-AM (1530): WNKR-FM (106.5) 4.