Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 52

Sports D4 CALGARY HERALD Tuesday, June 5, 2001 United to give manager a raise MANCHESTER, ENGLAND Manchester United is set to give manager Alex Ferguson a pay rise and is negotiating his future with the club after he retires next season. Ferguson, who has guided United to seven Premier League titles in nine years, said last month that he would sever all ties with the club after United refused to offer him a lucrative position as a scout or adviser after his contract ends. But the Manchester United board said Monday that it began negotiations this week with Ferguson, who retires as manager at the end of next season. "The board of Manchester United announces that it will be entering into negotiations this week with Sir Alex Ferguson and his advisers to agree a remuneration package which will enhance the terms of his current the team statement said, i Grizzlies keep first-round pick AUBURN HILLS, MICH. The Vancouver Grizzlies have deferred giving the Detroit Pistons a first-round draft pick that is owed as part of a four-year-old trade, the teams said Monday.

The Grizzlies received Otis Thorpe from the Pistons in 1997 in exchange for a future first-round draft pick. Detroit was to receive a first-round pick between second and 18th overall. Vancouver was to choose the year, from 1998 to 2003, in which it would surrender the pick. The Grizzlies had until Friday to convey a 2001 pick to Detroit but decided not to do so. Under terms of the deal, the Grizzlies could have acquired a draft pick through a trade and then given it to Detroit.

But next Vancouver would have to give up its own first-round pick, provided it did not fall in the top five. Swiatekto play for nationals Calgary Herald Calgary Dinos' Taryn Swiatek has been named to Canada's women's soccer team for its three-country, four-game European tour. Swiatek, 20, is one of three goalkeepers who will play in the series of friendly matches, the first of which will be June 10 against Sweden. Canada then will play two games against Team Germany, the 1999 World Cup quarter-finalist, June 14 and June 17. Swiatek and Co.

wrap up the swing with an acid test June 20 in Norway, a match against the 2000 Olympic champions. Last season, Swiatek was a first-team all-Canadian after being selected Canada West's player of the year as a sophomore. Canadian wins first-round match BELFAST Andrew Kooner of Tecumseh, Ont, reached the second round of the world amateur boxing championships on Monday with a win in the 54-kilogram bantamweight division. Kooner defeated Rakib Ahmad of Macedonia 17-5 in his first bout Ryan Savage of Winnipeg ran up against Lorenzo Aragon of Cuba in his opening 67-kilogram welterweight class and lost when the referee stopped the bout in the second round when the Cuban took a 15-point lead. Kooner, who fought in the Olympics last fall, is one of Canada's best bets for a medal at the championships, which wrap up Sunday.

Many of Canada's most experienced fighters are not competing. Other Canadians entered are Donny Orr of Victoria, Sebastien Gauthier of St-An-toine, Que, and Jean Pascal of LavaL Que. Calgarianwins all-around title Calgary Herald Calgary's Danny Gullekson and Steve Hauck won gold and silver respectively in the all-around competition at the Trampoline and Tumbling Western Canada Cup in Regina. Taylor Dewer of Airdrie won the men's individual A trampoline event with Hauck third. Anton Minayev of Calgary won the category.

Dewer won men's individual A DMT category with Gullekson tied for second. Minayev was third in the B. Hauck took gold in men's individual A tumbling. Colton Kent, also of Calgary, took the bronze. In men's individual tumbling, Gullekson finished first followed by Dewer.

Calgarian Amiel Clarke captured gold in men's tumbling. Bell hearing minor ringing in his ears C-s if lu i-S i FRED COLLINS Calgary Herald No one is kidding anyone. Derek Bell and Andy Fox would much rather be at Miami's Pro Player Stadium tonight when their teams, Pittsburgh and Florida, open a series in baseball's National League. Instead, they'll be at Burns Stadium in the dugouts of Nashville and Calgary, respectively on rehab assignments with Pacific Coast League farm clubs. For Fox, it's finally a chance to swing a bat for the first time this season, at least in a game situation.

In that sense, it's almost Happy Hour. For Bell, meanwhile, it's another game to get it back together on a road that, with the exception of a juicy free-agent contract signing with the Pirates, mostly has been bumpy since Game 1 of last season's NL division series when he badly sprained an ankle chasing down a Barry Bonds triple into the right-field corner. It happened at Pac Bell but, for the then New York Mets' outfielder, it was Pack it up, Bell. He left his heart in San Francisco and, as fate would have it, that injury prevented the member of the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays from making a second World Series appearance. A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow in Pittsburgh, a two-year $9 million US contract in December, seemed to erase those frustrations of falL Instead, it put Bell and others, specifically Pirates' general manager Cam Bonifay, under a media microscope.

Bell struggled attempting to justify those big bucks from the Bucs and then, in a game last month at Milwaukee, he hurt a knee, also neck, diving in an attempt to make a catch. At the time, he was pressing a batting average of two extra-base hits, including a homer in no at-bats, and only four runs-batted-in. And the media was belching some heavy smoke in the city once known PCL BASEBALL Derek Bell, seen here as a member of Dec. 1-9. The players were balking at a clause in the participation agreement that gave the CCA total control over the images of the players to be used for promotion purposes.

The CCA has agreed to rewrite the clause and will be required to ask permission before using the images. Fowlie, who will skip the lone Calgary team at the trials, said the clause wasn't a big deal to her team, in light of the potential rewards awaiting the winner. "I would give up everything to get the gold medal," said Fowlie, who finished second at the Alberta Scott Tournament of Hearts earlier this year. "I think they should allow the teams to have more (sponsor) cresting, just because there are a lot of people out there whose jobs are affected by their curling schedule. I'm very lucky that way, so as a result it's not something I'm willing to get political about.

"If we get as big as (Wayne) Mid-daugh or (Kevin) Martin, then maybe we'll have another battle to fight, but not right now." EXTRA ENDS: Bernard has juggled her lineup for the 2001-02 season. Karen Ruus has moved from third to lead, with Susan O'Connor joining the team at third after playing the same position for Renelle Bryden last season. Barb Davies remains at second while Bernard's former lead, Crystal Matthews, will play for a new team this fall The Autumn Gold will feature a 32-team field playing for a $33,000 purse i Herald Archive, Canadian Press the New York Mets in 2000, is struggling with Memphis this season. for its smoke-stacks. Bonifay was being roasted and, later, some of that ink trickled to Bell's locker in the clubhouse.

He'd hear from a fashion editor, of all people, who wrote: "So if you're reading this, Derek, drop a brother a line." Another columnist put together a graphic and cruelly suggested that, instead of the Mendoza Line, the game should rename its boundary of ineptitude the Bell Border. Nashville would be a great escape, if only temporarily, but the hurtin' song hasn't ended in Music City USA. In 11 games with the Sounds, going into Monday night's doubleheader at Edmonton, he was batting .086 and he had 12 strikeouts in 35 at-bats. And, back in Pittsburgh, fans were being fed daily updates. And Bonifay probably was climbing deeper under the desk.

Eventually, although there can be no guarantees on such matters, of course, it all will come back the swing, the confidence, the whole enchilada. And it'll again be Happy Hour at Taco BelL For now, though, only Fox has a seat at one of its tables and, as a guy making far less coin the pressure if only externally isn't as intense. His pressure, as one of the game's more versatile super subs, is just to be pencilled into the lineup. If not the original, then in a latter inning. As long as he plays and isn't being bothered by a finger that was broken the first week of the season and put him on the disabled list.

Last year, Fox had to consider himself rich. He played 69 games, only 40 of which were starting assignments, and he appeared at seven of the nine positions. He never did strap on the tools of ignorance and crouch behind the plate and he didn't pitch, either. But, hey, in this week-long Triple-A rehab stint NOTE: Probable starting pitchers tonight (7:05) are Don Wengert (2-0, 0.95) and Cannons' left-hander Jesus Sanchez (3-1, 3.88). CURLING onship game from the five cashspiels Winnipeg, Ottawa, Saskatoon and Regina are also on the schedule using TSN's regular curling crew of Vic Rauter, Ray Turnbull and Linda Moore.

The final will also be shown on a tape-delayed basis on TSN's main channel, which is part of most standard cable packages. The exposure will give women's teams a bargaining point when it comes to securing team sponsors, said Shannon Nimmo, the second for Heather Fowlie's Trials-bound team and the administrator of the Women's Curling Tour. "It gives us a lot Cheryl Bernard of exposure, and we need the TV coverage to get the team sponsors, which in turn will get the bigger sponsors to show up for the party," said Nimmo. "As players, we invest a ton of dough into curling. We probably spend up to $20,000 per team out of our pockets to play, travel and to outfit our teams and we don't get a lot in return.

"People always wonder why the men get the coverage and we don't It's because the men have had major sponsors and finally we can answer back." Meanwhile, the 20 teams playing in the Olympic trials got the answer they wanted from the Canadian Curling Association late last week and have committed to play in the Regina event, Bonds blasts 30th home run Women's tour no longer absent from television dial Baseball Notebook From Herald News Services him with Jeff Torborg, who managed Guillen in Chicago from 1989 to '91. St. Louis Cardinals utility player Bobby Bonilla was suspended for one game and fined by major league baseball for slapping Milwaukee's Jeromy Burnitz during a game last month. Bonilla, Burnitz and Cardinals manager Tony La Russa were ejected from the May 28 game, in which the benches emptied after Matt Morris hit Geoff Jenkins in the shoulder one pitch after Jenkins's bid for an upper-deck home run hooked foul. Burnitz, who was on deck, walked toward the Bobby Bonilla Cardinals dugout and began yelling in that direction.

After the dugouts cleared, Bonilla hit Burnitz with a right-hand slap. 1 t3 Barry Bonds hit his 30th home run Monday night, reaching the mark faster than anyone in major league history. Bonds connected in the fourth inning for a solo shot in the San Francisco Giants' game against San Diego. Bonds hit No. 30 in 57 games.

Babe Ruth reached 30 homers in 63 games in 1928. 1 Bonds' 524th career homer came against Bobby Jones. After the shot to centre field, Bonds rounded the bases as the crowd at Pacific Bell Park chanted "Barry! Barry!" The Los Angeles Dodgers, already plagued by injuries, placed ace Kevin Brown on the 15-day disabled list on Monday with an irritated nerve in his neck. Manager Jim Tracy said Brown would miss three or four starts. His place in the rotation will be taken by Terry Adams, who will make his first career start tonight against Arizona's Robert Ellis.

Tracy also announced that Montreal native Eric Gagne, the No. 5 starter, was being sent to the bullpen and replaced by Giovanni Carrara. Gagne is 1-3 with a 6.05 ERA in 12 starts. The Montreal Expos continued to make coaching changes on Monday, hiring former major-leaguer Ozzie Guillen as, a first base coach. The 37-year-old Guillen spent 16 seasons in the major leagues, most recently with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in 2000.

The Expos fired longtime manager Felipe Alou last week and replaced Five events to be shown in 2001-02 ALLEN CAMERON Calgary Herald While Canada's top men's curlers are blazing new trails, the nation's elite women's teams are ready for a new direction of their own. Fresh off an agreement announced Monday securing their participation in the Olympic trials later this year in Regina, the Women's Curling Tour is ready for its first taste of steady television exposure this fall. The final touches are being put on an agreement between the Women's Players' Council which oversees the Tour and Swiffer cleaning products to have the company cover the production costs for five televised events this fall, starting with the Husky Autumn Gold Oct 5-8 at the Calgary Curling Club. "It's excellent for us," said Calgary skip Cheryl Bernard, the WPC's media relations director. "It's going to make a huge difference for our Tour and I think it's going to move women's curling up to another level just because of the backing, the money and the television coverage." The Sports Network's new digital-only women's channel will broadcast live a semi-final game and the champi- Right-hander Shawn Boskie, who gave up a home run to Cal Ripken Jr.

the night he broke Lou Gehrig's consecutive-games streak, retired Monday after 15 pro seasons. Boskie, 34, was 4-6 with a 6.93 ERA this season for the Tucson Sidewinders, the Arizona Diamondbacks' triple -A affiliate. 4.