The Tennessean from Nashville, Tennessee • Page 24

2C Wednesday, June 20, 2001 THE TENNESSEAN www.teimessean.com SPORTS: PAGE 2 SPORTS AM Tennessean Staff. Wire Reports 3 Fanfare HMVfrl Voteat llll tJ wwwtennessean-com lifting Which baseball record will never be which best expresses your feelings about the Cal Ripken's consecutive game streak U.S.Open? Hank Aaron's career home run record (755). Glad someone other than Tiger Woods won a Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak. rnajor 3R8 Nolan Ryan's career strikeout record (5,71 4). Glad a lesser-known player won it: 31 .1 Pete Rose's hit record (4,256) Wish Tiger Woods had won it: 24.5 f.

Nolan Ryan's seven no-hitters. Wish a more well known player had won it: 7.5 Cy Young's career wins (511). Mark McGwire's home runs in a season (70). 212 votes as of 8:30 last night Wed. 20 Ttiur.21 Fri.22 vs.

vs. at Memphis, Memphis, NewOrteans 7pm 7 p.m. 7 p.m. Sounds Maurice Patton's Tickets: 242-4371 Radio: 560-AM Sun. 24 June 27 June 29 Rirccr League taste1 Grizzlies moving office to Memphis The Vancouver Grizzlies plan to begin moving basketball operations to Memphis, even though the NBA has yet to OK the team's relocatioa "We have an extremely busy summer ahead of us, and we feel it makes sense for us to operate out of Memphis as soon as possible," Billy Knight, the team's general manager, said.

Basketball operations should be set up in Memphis by the weekend and be ready for the NBA's draft on June 27. The Grizzlies will hold workouts over the weekend with draft prospects, including Trenton Hassell of Austin Peay. Caws name Lucas The Cleveland Cavaliers named John Lucas their new coach. He replaces Randy Wittman, who was fired in April. Lucas, 47, spent the past three seasons as an assistant with Denver.

He coached Philadelphia from 1994-96. He has a career coaching record of 136-171 with the 76ers and San Antonio Spurs. New deal for Saunders Minnesota Timberwolves Coach Flip Saunders has agreed to a five-year contract extension worth $20 million, the Associated Press reported. Saunders reportedly turned down a five-year, $30 million offer from the Portland Trail Blazers. finley leaving Mavs Dallas Mavericks All-Star forward Michael Finley has decided to exercise the option in his contract to become a free agent on July Finley averaged 2L5 points and 52 rebounds last seasoa Stevenson charged: Utah Jazz rookie DeShawn Stevenson has been charged in Fresno, Calif, with statutory rape for having sex with a 14-year-old girl Stevenson, 20, a 6-foot-5 guard who went from high school directly to the NBA last year, was charged last week in Fresno Superior Court, chief deputy district attorney Liz Mitchell said.

He faces up to three years in state prison if convicted. Stevenson averaged 22 points and 0.7 rebounds last seasoa Pitchers shuffled to develop vs. Open Cup: at Indiana, vs. LA Indiana, 5 p.m. Galaxy at 6:35 p.m.

Fullerton, mfr Metros Tickets: 832-5678 Fri.22 June30 July7 Ovs. at at Buffakv' Oklahoma, Los Angeles, 730 p.m. 7 p.m. 9 pm TV.WSMV-4 TV.FoxSN Kats Radio: 99.7-FM Tickets: 254-KATS Home games shaded Sounds statistics Through Sunday. Batters Play AVQ GP-QS AB 2B 36 HR RBI Cota Humbert) 557 51-14 167 21 43 6 1 5 22 Figueroa, Luis .319 51-59 182 24 58 8 1 3 20 Green, Scarborough .154 18-10 39 8 6 1 1 0 2 224 26-18 67 6 15 0 0.1 5 Hermansen.CharJ 226 5347 177 21 40 10 3 1 18 Hernandez.

Alex .311 34-31 132 16 41 7 0 2 13 Hyzdu.Adam 282 56-52 208 28 58 10 2 10 33 Karl, Scon .176 7-7 17 0 3 0 0 0 1 Una), Mike .150 8-7 20 3 3 1 0 0 0, McConnel, Sam .200 8-7 15 1 3 0 0 0 0 Moody, Erie .667 2-0 3 0 2 0 0 0 2 Moris, Warren .312 47-47 186 20 58 15 2 3 34 O'Connor, Brian .000 1-1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 Peterson, Ctms .500 5-3 10 2 5 1 0 1 8 Redman.Tlke .300 60-60 257 30 77 11 7 2 22 Secrisl.Reed .313 34-28 99 17 31 7 0 5 16 Wengert.Don .125 5-5 8 0 1 0 0 0 2 Wood, Jason .276 58-51 1 26 54 10 1 4 21 Totals 274 68-68 2312 297 633 115 20 47 273 Opponent! 2S2 68-66 2267 312 584 110 8 85 289 Pitchers Player ERA W-L APP GS CO SV IP ER BB SO Karl, Scott 3.53 3-3 12 12 0 0 74.0 67 29 19 47 Lincoln, Mike 3.55 5-4 16 13 1 0 88.2 87 35 25 69 Marte.Damaso 2.25 0-0 2 0 0 0 4.0 2 1 04 McConnell, Sam 5.79 4-8 15 14 1 0 882 99 57 18 62 Moody. Eric 3.48 3-0 23 0 0 0 33.2 36 13 3 15 O'Connor, Brian 3.23 1-1 23 2- 0 1 302 26 11 14 17 Pavlas.Dave 1.42 1-2 25 0 0 4 25.1 17 4 5 25 Smith, Brian 0.00 0-0 1 0 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 1 Sparta Steve 5.52 1-2 23 2 0 3 29.1 33 18 34 25 Taylor, Billy 5.89 0-2 18 0 0 7 18.1 25 12 2 14 Wengert.Don 1.74 4-1 8 8 0 0 57.0 52 11 8 24 9.17 3-1 18 0 0 1 17.2 22 18 10 6 Totals 4.24 32-36 68 68 3 18 590.0 S94 278 188 379 Opponents 3.87 36-32 68 68 0 20 591.0 633 254 183 480 Saturday Pro hockey Nashville Predators Draft Party, Sportsman's Lodge at Cool Springs, 10 a.m. Ticket numbers Pro football: Tennessee Titans (565-4000); Nashville Dream (860-4084). Motorsports: Nashville Speedway (726-1 81 8); Nashville SuperSpeed-way(547-RACE); Highland Rim (643-8725); Music City Raceway (876-0981). CZE Josh Maravich to play at LSU Josh Maravich will play basketball for LSU, where his father was one of the most dazzling players in the history of the college game.

The 6-foot-3 youngster will join the team as a freshman walk-on and play at an arena named for his father. Pete Maravich, the NCAA career scoring leader, led the nation in scoring from 1968-70. He died of heart failure in 1988. Maravich had a strong senior season at St. Paul's where he was co-MVP in his district.

He led the Wolves in scoring (15.5 ppg.) and rebounding (4.8). Bogans to return to UK: After not playing as well as he wanted in the NBA Pre-Draft Camp earlier this month, guard Keith Bogans has decided to return to Kentucky for his junior season, his mother, Joy Bogans, said. Bogans followed teammate Tayshaun Prince in returning to UK after testing the NBA optioa Last season Bogans was UK's leading scorer (17.0 ppg) and earned second team All-Southeastern Conference honors. It's all about development. It's all about development.

Repeat that mantra as often as necessary to understand why pitcher Steve Sparks is in the Nashville Sounds' starting rotation and Mike Lincoln isn't. The recent shakeup, which also resulted in the trade of starter Jason Ryan to the Dodgers organization and the elevation of Brian O'Connor from the bullpen into a starting role, was mandated by the Pittsburgh Pirates' brass. "I think what we're trying to do is get Brian and Steve going," Sounds Manager Marty Brown said after O'Connor's second start, which resulted in a 3-2 victory over Las Vegas. "We're trying to get them a feel. It's tough to pitch one inning at a time and try to find that consistency." The experiment seems to be working in O'Connor's case.

After going 14-6 with a 428 earned run average in 27 starts between Altoona and Nashville last season, the left-hander had struggled out of the bullpen this spring (21 appearances, 0-1 450, one save) before posting 10 23 innings with just one earned run allowed in two starts. Sparks, hasn't shown much of any sign of coming around. In 21 relief appearances he went 1-L 5.48 with three saves. In two starts he's 0-1, 5.63 over eight innings. "You could say that Steve has not pitched well enough to be at this level but I don't believe that," Brown said of the 6-foot-4, 210-pound right-hander, who went 6-7, 4.47 with two shutouts at Altoona last summer.

"I think it's a matter of finding out how to go out and pitch and not make mistakes. Steve's got a power arm; we want to get him going as best we caa" Meanwhile, Lincoln appears to be the forgotten man in the equatioa After compiling a 5-4 record with a 3.60 ERA in 13 starts, the former University of Tennessee player is expected to adapt to his new role smoothly if not thrive in it "We know what Mike has done as a starter," Brown said. "We want to see what he can do as a bullpen guy." Ifs tough to argue with the results: a 2.46 ERA in three appearances with four strikeouts and no walks in 3 23 innings. Event Time Station BASEBALL Florida at Atlanta 6 p.m. Fox SN Chicago Cubs at St.

Louis 6 p.m. ESPN Memphis at Nashville 7 p.m. 560-AM Arizona at Los Angeles 9 p.m. ESPN2 MEN'S SOCCER Trinidad Tobago at U.S. 6:30 p.m.

ESPN2 Event Time Station GOLF Club Pro Championship Noon GOLF PGA Buick Classic 2 p.m. ESPN LPGA Championship 3 p.m. GOLF BASEBALL Florida at Atlanta Noon Turner South Chicago Cubs at St. Louis 12:30 p.m. WGN N.Y.

Yankees at Detroit 6 p.m. Fox Family Memphis at Nashville 7 p.m. 560-AM WNBA Los Angeles at Houston 7 p.m. ESPN New York at Phoenix 9 p.m. ESPN2 i Davenport returns with victory Lindsay Davenport played her first match since March and beat Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France 6-3, 6-2 to reach the Eastbourne quarterfinals in England.

Davenport was forced to withdraw from a Miami tournament three months ago with a bruised right knee. She won Wimbledon in 1999 and was runner-up last year. Rafter loses at Heheken: Patrick Rafter's bid for a fourth straight Heineken Trophy title ended with a 7-5, 6-4 loss to Peter Wessels in the first round at Den Bosch, Netherlands. pulL He has been day-to-day since sustaining the injury June 1L "It shouldn't be that much longer on Mo," Brown said after Morris took batting practice Monday. "He was a little stiff for the first round, but it was a little better for the second round.

"You'd hate to put him on the DL and have him ready to come back in the next day or two." Radw-ga-ga: Sounds play-byplay man Chuck Valenches will work the Triple-A All-Star Game on July 11 in Indianapolis, along with the Indy broadcast team of Howard Kellman and Brian Giffin. Rocks' star Donnie Ross, who played at Mount Juliet High and Columbia State before finishing his college career at Tennessee, will represent the Wilmington (Del.) Blue Rocks in next week's Carolina-California League All-Star game in Lancaster, Calif. Ross, a first baseman for the Kansas City Royals' Single-A affiliate, leads the Blue Rocks with 10 home runs, 34 RBI and 11 doubles. He is slated to start at designated hitter for the Carolina League squad. Maurice Patton covers baseball for The Tennessean.

He can be reached at Til have to make some adjustments; I'm so used to starting," Lincoln said. "Coming out of the 'pen is a little different mindset. But there are plenty of guys down there I can ask questions. "I'm just going to go out whenever Marty gives me the ball and do the best I caa I don't take it as a demotion; as long as I can still pitch and play baseball On the mend: One injured Sound is on the verge of returning to action, and a second remains in limbo. Reliever Dave Pavlas threw off the mound Monday for the first time since going on the disabled list on June 10 with a strained groia "It went great" said Pavlas, who in 25 appearances has compiled a staff-leading L42 ERA along with four saves and a 1-2 record.

He is scheduled to throw to hitters this afternoon, and said he could be reactivated "any day after that if everything goes welL" "But then I'll probably snap some other muscle that's too old," the 38-year-old said. Meanwhile, infielder Warren Morris (312, 3 HR, 34 RBI) continues to be slowed by what has been diagnosed as a low right hamstring Listings are supplied by the stations and networks. The Tennessean Is not responsible for changes. Mil 1 An occasional review of what's new, fun or thought-provoking in the wide world of sports. Are you ready to Rumble? What NASCAR Rumble Racing by EA Sports for PlayStation2.

Where: Most electronics and toy stores. The skinny: Do you feel a need for more than Woods ties Norman's No. 1 record Tiger Woods tied Greg Norman's record of 96 straight weeks as No. 1 in the world golf rankings after finishing seven shots back of U.S. Open winner Retief Goosea Although Woods' advantage over world No.

2 Phil Mickelson fell by L57 points to 17.8, next week he's set to break Norman's 1995-1997 record on the strength of previous performances. AREA DIGEST Tennessean Staff, Wire Reports Chip Cirillo's Airemia Insider speed? Some people find hurtling around a racetrack at 200 mph, inches from another car, just too tame. It is for these adventurous PlayStation 2 owners that EA Sports has created Rumble Racing. Rumble Racing features more than 35 vehicles, from muscle cars to trucks and vans, with special rides to be Storm off course after 7-0 start Kat tracks Passing Com Att Yds TD bit AndyKelly 190 321 2,193 36 7 Receiving Rec Yds YPC TD Darryl Hammond 55 631 11.5 10 TyrormeJones 51 790 15.5 18 JamckHillery 34 302 8.9 3 LC. Stevens 17 206 12.1 4 Rushing Car Yds YPC TD JamckHillery 31 115 3.7 11 Travis Reece 27 97 3.6 2 Rupert Grant 38 91 2.4 6 Kk returns No Yds YPR TD TyrormeJones 20 300 15.0 0 JarrickHilksry 17 338 19.9 1 Ron Carpenter 7 154 22.0 1 Tackles UT AT Tot lot PD Adrian Lunsford 45 14 59 4 9 Cut! Green 39 5 44 2 10 DanylHammond 24 10 34 2 8 JamckHillery 29 1 30 0 5 Rrjn Carpenter 19 7 26 3 3 CJ.McLan 10 12 22 0 4 Kicking FG FGA XP XPA Pts Steve McLaughlin 16 27 51 58 105 unlocked if you do well, including a fantastic jet car.

There are 1 5 tracks, including three stunt tracks. Three difficulty levels are available rookie, pro and elite. One or two players have four play modes: single race, championship, showdown and stunt challenge. Win the rookie cup in championship mode and you unlock pro-level cars and tracks; you get to the elite equipment and courses when you win the pro title. The stunts are the keys to this game's excitement.

Besides racing around some very interesting tracks, there are ramps and other barriers that you can use to launch your car into the air. Graphics dont break any new ground, but they are full of nice details, with a good variety of tracks and vehicles to keep you entertained. The lightning-fast frame rate provides a smooth image and vibrant colors with no flicker or slowdown. Worth It retails for $49.99. The cars handle beautifully, cornering on rails and executing dazzling tricks with just a button tap or two.

A wide variety of rocking tunes backs up the usually amusing commentary and wide collection of insults provided by Jess Hamell, the voice of Wakko from the cartoon Animaniacs. ASSOCIATED PRESS Weeklys to coach Softball at UT Ralph Weekly, a former coach on the U.S. Olympic softball team, and his wife Karen have been named co-head coaches at Tennessee, Joan Cronan, women's athletic director, announced yesterday. The Weeklys have been coaches at UT-Chattanooga since 1995. At UTC they coached the Mocs to NCAA tournament appearances the last two seasons.

Ralph Weekly has served as the director of the USA Softball National Team since 1999 and was a member of the coaching staff that guided the U.S. team to back-to-back gold medals in 1996 and 2000. The Weeklys inherit a Lady Vols squad that finished 24-35 overall and 9-20 in the Southeastern Conference last seasoa Colege basebal: UT catcher Javi Herrera is one of 22 players selected to the USA National baseball team. Herrera, a freshman All-America, hit 296 with seven home runs and 45 RBI for the Vols (48-20) last seasoa He led the Southeastern Conference in pickoffs with eight Herrera is the second Vol in as many years to play of Team USA Chris Burke played for last year's team that compiled a 27-3-1 record. Tennessee finished fifth in the final Baseball WeeklyESPN Top 25 College Coaches Poll The Vols, who finished in a tie for third at the College World Series.

UT had been ranked No. 16. Pro footbal: The Titans are adding a long-time Arizona Cardinals scout to their personnel department Bo Bolinger, who has been with the Cardinals since 1971, will soon join the scouting staff. The paperwork with the Titans isn't complete, but Bolinger has resigned from his position as a senior scour with the Cardinals. He will be based in the Phoenix area and will scout the Western states for the Titans.

The Titans were looking to add a scout since Dub Fesperman, who had been with the OilersTitans since 1981 retired after this past April's draft. Colege god: Roy Edwards was named assistant golf coach at Vanderbilt Edwards, 24, comes to Vanderbilt after working two years as assistant coach at Kansas, his alma mater. He helped tutor a Jayhawk team that won the Big 12 championship in 1999 and qualified for the NCAA Championships in 1999 and 2000. He will work with both the men's and women's programs at Vandy. Colege athletics The former Trans America Athletic Conference has changed its name to the Atlantic Sun Conference.

The A-Sun, an NCAA Division I conference, is comprised of 12 institutions, including Belmont wljich joined the league last October. 29 yards. He had a chance to be the hero in his first game back when Andy Kelly threw him the ball on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime, but it was deflected away. Kelly and Fleming are the third-best scoring tandem in AFL history with 109 touchdowns passes. Every time the two former Tennessee stars hook up for a touchdown at Gaylord Entertainment Center, the public address system plays Rocky Top.

Tennessee's favorite song has been noticeably absent in "The Alley" this season, but that could change Friday when Buffalo visits Nashville in a matchup of two 6-4 teams. Parity: There aren't any overwhelmingly dominant teams as the AFL heads into Week 11 Tampa Bay, Grand Rapids and Indiana own the best records at 7-2, but none of them look unbeatable. Grand Rapids had a chance to boast the AFL's best record, but the Rampage blew a 20-point lead during a 62-50 loss to previously winless Milwaukee on Saturday. San Jose, Arizona, Orlando and Carolina are right behind the 7-2 trio with records of 6-3. The Predators started the season 0-3 after winning last year's ArenaBowL but they have won six straight Nashville and Buffalo aren't too far off the pace at 64, but the Kats have lost two in a row to fall into third place in the Southern Division behind first-place Tampa Bay and Orlando.

Chip Cirillo covers the Arena Football League fa The Tennessean. He can be reached at 259-8240 or e-mail cdnllotennessean.com. Willie Wyatt is worried that he might have jinxed Tampa Bay. When the former Alabama star re-signed with the Storm three weeks ago, Tampa Bay was the only unbeaten team (7-0) in the Arena Football League. Since then the Storm has turned into a cold front with consecutive losses to Orlando and Arizona.

"I might have brought them a little bad luck because we're on a two-game slide," Wyatt said. "Everybody's not on the same page, but it's something we can work on. Sometimes when you have success you get a little complacent" The centernose tackle missed last season after undergoing shoulder surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff. Wyatt, 34, made the All-Arena team four of his first six seasons in the league. "I just came back to see if the old man could still do it" Wyatt said.

"So far, Fve been pretty pleased. IVe been off almost two years so I might have lost a step or two." The 6-foot-2, 280-pounder is a terror on special teams with nine blocked field goals in his seven-year career. That's pretty impressive considering AFL rules only allow a rush from inside the ends. Wyatt was a three-year starter at nose guard for Alabama during the Ray Perkins era. He said most of his memories with the Crimson Tide are good ones except the three-a-day practices.

"One year my roommate blocked a field goal and we beat Perm State," Wyatt said. "We played Miami in the Sugar Bowl in 1989 when they won the national championship." During the offseason Wyatt coaches football and wrestling at Hueytown (Ala) High SchooL Bittersweet retain: Nashville wide receiverlinebacker Cory Fleming missed the first nine games of the season with a broken ankle, but he returned to the lineup in the Kats' 58-57 loss at San Jose on Saturday. "It did feel good to be back running around on the field, but we're out there to win games," Fleming said. "It was a terrible loss for us because we think we're much better than that and we just didn't prove it My ankle felt great and my endurance felt a lot better than what I imagined." Fleming made three catches for NBA may have found next Jordan Lyle Spencer writing in the New York Post on Kobe Bryant "Can Kobe possibly surpass Michael Jordan as the greatest player ever? You say no way. I say sure, why not? "As impossible as it is for Michaeblogists to fathom, Kobe is on course to go where Jordan went and keep on going.

The similarities in their game are too visible to escape, and Bryant keeps making up new touches as he goes along, just as Michael did in his time. "At 22, Kobe is a more finished product than Michael was at 22, a better all-around player, and with last Friday night's NBA championship has two more rings than Mike at the same age." -LS ANGELES TIMES.