South Florida Sun Sentinel from Fort Lauderdale, Florida • 81

Baseball 2 1 NBA 3 1 College Football 4-s Sol NHL 7 1 NFL High schools 9 1 College Basketball 10 1 for the Record 11 ONLINE: WITH ETHAN J.SKOLNICK LUCAS EYES PAYBACK Ray Lucas expects a different -result in the rematch against Buffalo on Sunday. ports Sun-SentineUcom Get The Latest Breaking News -I South Florida Sun-sentinel Thursday November 28, 2002 section Solleaves South Florida NO TEARS FOR SETTING SOL Lack of support scuttles the Sol -'a Let me put this as succinctly as possible: Nobody cared about the SoL And, please, don't tell me I'm wrong. Don't even start explaining how you went to these games and they were exciting and the people were great and the players cared. I don't care. I don't hear you.

My hands are cupped over my ears. I'm humming Sascha Burland's Hole in my Soul, so loudly I can't hear a word the Sol Fan Club is prattling on about. I don't argue that the atmosphere was fun or that the Heat Group's president of business operations, called "a sad day for us" sent shock waves through the Sol organization, from its front which assembled a final time for a morning meeting, to the players and coaches. Rothstein said he needed to take some time to gather his thoughts and enjoy the holidays with his family and friends. He said he would address the situation Monday.

Meanwhile, center Ruth Riley, playing in Spain, was stun- SOL CONTINUES ON 6C BY Sharon Robb STAFF WRITER miami An emotional Sol coach and General Manager Ron Rothstein spent most of Wednesday tracking down his players around the country and overseas to tell them there was no longer a WNBA team in Miami. The Heat Group and the women's professional basketball league announced the Sol will cease operations in South Florida. The team either will be dissolved or moved to another city. What Eric Woolworth, the 0 AAAA DAVE JOSEPH COMMENTARY few people who attended the games were enthusiastic. But here's a little news flash for you: 99.9 percent of the general JOSEPH CONTINUES ON OUTLOOK CLOUDY: Sol star Sheri Sam doesn't know where she will play in 2003.

Staff file photoMelissa Lyttle McPherson arrested on theft charges Ex-QB's attorney: 'He didn't do it' byJoshRobbins TALLAHASSEE BUREAU Tallahassee Tallahassee police arrested former Florida State starting quarterback Adrian McPherson on Wednesday on charges of stealing a blank check from a local business and receiving approximately $3,500 after the check was cashed by someone else. Accompanied by his parents, two sisters and two Tallahassee-based attorneys, Mc-! Pherson surrendered at the Leon County jail. McPherson left CM about 75 minutes later, having posted a total of $1,500 bail on the two charges. "I think certainly we now know that Mr. McPherson has done the right thing today," said Daryl D.

Parks, one of McPherson's lawyers. Even before there was a i warrant issued for him McPherson he came and turned himself in. The Tallahassee Police Depart-J ment wanted to talk to him. He's issued a statement to them and that's all he has to say on the matter. "He's here to face the charees.

He didn't WRESTLING FAMILY: St. Thomas' Guy Gibson wears a cervical collar after a wrestling accident ruptured a disc in his neck. His family, from left, father Guy sister Diane and mother Margaret, stood behind him through surgery, rehabilitation and his return to competition. Staff photosMichael Laughlin do it, never did it and that's the end of thd story. And in the end he shall prevail." McPherson, 19, faces a felony grand "theft charge for allegedly receiving stolen goods after the check was cashed and a misdemeanor theft charge for allegedly stealing a blank check from Trurl and Auto Accessories.

McPherson was dismissed from the FSti i rials. Tallahassee police said that McPherson MCPHERSON CONTINUES ON SC KAt- 4 I Ml nil I II I mi 11 I 1- St. Thomas wrestler Guy Gibson pursues a 76ERS 83, HEAT 74 Heat sloppy from the start fourth state title seven -months after spine surgery. By Steve Gorten 1 STAFF WRITER i i Miami Three pairs of black wrestling shoes dangle at the foot of the bed from long laces tied to the top bunk. At the head of the bed, an American Indian ft-p.

i V. enough to scare but not paralyze. Inside the small medicine bag she gave him, there is crystal (signifying healing), petrified wood (emblematic of endurance) and a turquoise stone carved into the shape of a bear (for bravery). Gibson wore the healing pouch around his neck a scant distance from the 2-inch scar across his throat many places he went until last month. Then he stopped.

"Guy, you're not wearing it anymore?" Claudia Childress remembers asking Gibson. "Grandma, it's fixed," he answered. Seven months after a wrestling injury threatened to end his career and for him it is a career, mom Margaret Gibson points out St. Thomas' three-time Class 2A state champion returned to the mat Tuesday for his first regular-season match with a neck now protected by a titanium plate. Mom, Grandma and Grandpa all brought cameras to capture the event.

It lasted 57 seconds. That's all it took the 130-pound senior to pin Douglas' Alex Peskin and show his dream of becoming the state's third four-time state champ remains realistic. Today, he will eat turkey more thankful than most years. The holiday get-together may produce impromptu family wrestling matches, as has been known to happen. Uncle Robert WRESTLER CONTINUES ON 1 BY IRA WINDERMAN STAFF WRITER Philadelphia The rapture ended at tipoff.

A team seemingly good enough to produce only one victory a week was slapped back to reality Wednesday night, less than 24 hours after a blissful night against the Los Angeles Lakers. How quickly can emotions turn in the NBA for a team as marginal as the Heat? About as quick as it took for the Philadelphia 76ers to take the floor for what turned into an 83-74 humbling of Pat Riley's team at First Union Center. "It's embarrassing the way they were laughing at us," Riley said of the 76ers, who seemingly trapped the Heat into submission on the way to a 45-33 halftime lead. From there, the deficit expanded to 17 in the third period. Fvpntuallv.

thp Heat nrnHurpH tVi Iniu. dream catcher and yellow medicine bag hang together, a soothing presence since his surgery. They are gifts from Grandma. She bought them in early May in an American Indian museum near Valley of Fire State Park, about 55 miles from Las Vegas. She had done so because she had heard about her grandson SECRET WEAPON: A medicine bag and dream catcher from his grandmother helped Gibson through a tough time.

Staff photoRobert Duyoi was inserted into Guy Gibson's neck to fuse two vertebrae no longer joined by a ruptured disc that had pressed against his spinal cord having bad dreams or SCARY: An MRI trouble sleeping in a neck shows a ruptured brace he had to wear every disc between two hour of the day. vertebrae pinching Two weeks before, a the spinal cord. portion of a cadaver bone est scoring total against the 76ers this sea- HEAT CONTINUES ON 3C.