Times-Advocate from Escondido, California • 24

TIMES ADVOCATE if C2 FRIDAY, MARCH 18, 1994 1 DSTCaISC 1 CHARGERS: Cap creates friction OF TONYA1 Bobby Beathard said Grossman talked to him Wednesday and asked to be traded. He read the article that had him as one of the players that somebody speculated wouldnt be here. said Beathard. That didnt come from us. I told him he was in our plans.

But I cant guarantee what is going to happen down the road because of the salary cap. There is also little chance Grossman will be traded. I dont think you can trade guys with million-dollar salaries, said Beathard. Its difficult. If there is a- team that would show an interest we would talk to them.

The club has not granted permission for Merko and Gross-man to seek a trade on their own. Beathard said the team wants to keep Grossman. I think Burts reaction is an overreaction, said Beathard. I think its premature. What is going on in the league right now isnt enjoyable.

Its something we all have to work with. We have to do what is best for the team. There is one thing that is causing this and its money. And its not about to end. The Chargers have already released tight end Derrick Walker, de ment werent announced but Harding will receive substantially less than skating rival Nancy Kerrigan did in her $2 million agreement with Disney.

Zevbraun Pictures currently is filming a four-hour miniseries on the Menendez brothers murder case for CBS. League president Bill White is a good man but incompetent. Despite whats been written recently, this will be a book about the entire range of people and problems I saw in my four years in baseball, docent said. "I will be dealing with its beauly and best people. I'll also deal with the tough moments and my own mistakes.

When the comments in the proposal were originally made public, Vincent saidhe would not write the book, to be written by David Kaplan, a senior writer atNewsweek. It is believed that Little, Brown paid more than $300,000 for the rights. imm 'IZ3 Eric Ross, 24, a senior running back at Pacific University in Hillsboro, has died. Ross was a football player who slipped into a coma more than two years ago after suffering a severe head injury in a game. Kart Fogel, whose team went 5-22 this season, was fired as basketball coach at Northeastern.

Fogel had a 131-103 record during eight seasons at Northeastern. SKIING American Dlann Roffe-Stelnrotter followed her Olympic gold medal with a victory in the womens super giant slalom in the World Cup Finals at Vail, Colo. Norways Jan ElnarThorsen won the mens super-G, helping teammate KJetll Andre Aa-modt clinch the World Cup overall title. BOXING Former two-time world champion Roger May weather stopped Crllo Nino of Mexico in the third round of their scheduled 10-round welterweight bout in North Las Vegas, Nev. A mistrial was declared in the cocaine possession trial of former Kansas City Royals player Willie Aikens after one juror refused to vote for conviction in Olathe, Kan.

YOU HAVENT SEEN THE LAST Tonya Harding will get to tell her life story in a made for TV movie. Zevbraun Pictures Inc. has signed a deal with Harding for the rights to the story and hopes to have a movie on the air by next year, Ken Schwartz, the companys executive vice president, said. Terms of the movie agree- VINCENTS BOOK TO PLAY Fay Vincents autobiography, a subject of controversy when the proposal circulated earlier this month, will be published next year by Little, Brown Co. Vincent, forced to resign in September 1992, called acting commissioner Bud Seilg a small-town schlepper who is the emblem ofbaseballs decline, according to the book proposal, which was obtained by the New York Times.

Vincent said Los Angeles Dodgers owner Peter OMalley is anitwit and bigot, California Angels executive vice president Jackie Autry is mean-spirited and not bright and former National 1 The Associated Press Nick Price raises his putter after sinking a birdie putt on No. 18. par 64 and took a one-shot lead after the first round of the Portuguese Open in Sintra, Portugal. Takaakl Fukuzawa had two eagles and fired a 3-under-par 69 for the opening-round lead in the Dydo Drin-co Shizuoka Open in Hamao-ka, Japan. land Open in Sayville, N.Y.

Anne Marie Duggan defeated rookie Tammy Turner 182-177 to win the LPBTs $50,000 Texas Border Shootout in McAllen, Texas. fensive tackle Blaise Winter, safety Floyd Fields and comer-back Brian Davis to stay under the cap. A lot of good players, solid citizens are getting screwed by a lousy deal, said Billy Deva-ney, the Chargers director of player personnel. Its a bad deal that the union gave them. Winter, a nine-year veteran, was released Wednesday when Courtney Hall signed a three-year, $6.5 million deal.

Im not very happy about it, Winter said by telephone from his home in Green Bay, Wis. Its frustrating. But Im not alone. There are a lot of good players who are going to get cut. Its just one of those things with the new system.

Its pretty pathetic what (NFL Players Association president) Gene Upshaw and the union did to the older players. They sold us down the river. NOTES: Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard said defensive tackle Reuben Davis is expected to sign today. Davis agreed to a three-year contract, reportedly worth $4.5 million, earlier this week. Linebacker David Griggs may also sign the $1.8 million, two-year deal he agreed to earlierthis week.

Director of player personnel Billy De-vaney confirmed the team may have to release another player today to stay under the salary cap if both Davis and Griggs sign. Frank Kush was a bully, Pete Cawthon, Bob Neyland, Billy Martin, Doug Rader, Bear Bryant, Norm Van Brocklin, Mike Ditka. But most knew when to turn it on and off. And sometimes, they would admit they were wrong. After his latest antic, duly recorded for Mr.

and Mrs. America, Knight not only was unrepentant. He was defiant. Before a packed gym, at Indianas last game, women, children, students, whatever, Knight paid homage to his seniors and then, he couldnt resist. The devil made him do it.

And when my days on earth are done, and my activities all have past. I want them to bury me upside down, so my critics can kiss my In essence, that parting shot tells you all you wish to know about Knight, unfortunately. going 4-for-4 with a home run to right-center field in the third inning. The Mt. Carmel High School graduate is hitting .388.

-l II-W-- A rBOBa mPKnI TV9f 4 kqmWVy 000 100 010 2 4 0 Mom 301 DU 101- 7 13 3 Messer, Price (6), leva (6), Malek (8) and Pagam, Freetly. RoWmeier (9) and Phillips, Terraaas (9. WP Freetly (13L1P Messer HR-RoWmeier (P) 1st, two on, Camacho (P), 3rd, none one, Phillips (Pj, 7th, none on. KNIGHT: Supreme bully, solid coach FOOTBALI Clyde Simmons, a defensive end with the Philadelphia Eagles, signed with the Phoenix Cardinals, reuniting with coach Buddy Ryan. Simmons reportedly signed a live-year contract worth 'about $14 million.

The Washington Redskins signed Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman John Ge-sek to a three-year, $3.6 million contract I The Atlanta Falcons agreed to a three-year, $4 pillion contract with defensive back Kevin Ross, an unrestricted free agent from the Kansas City Chiefs. 1 The Philadelphia Eagles have offered Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman Nate Newton a four-year contract that includes a signing bonus of nearly $2 million according 'to Eagles pro personnel director John Wooten. Ray Seals, a Tampa Bay defensive end, agreed to a three-year, $2.8 million contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Indianapolis Colts signed defensive end Jon Hand to a new contract, leaving seven unrestricted free agents still unsigned. 1 The Phoenix Cardinals will change their name to the Arizona Cardinals to reflect the statewide presence theyve achieved since moving from St.

Louis in 1988, owner Bill Bldwlll announced. PRO BASEBALI The Atlanta Braves say they will pay Ron Gant $901,639.20, or 30 days termination pay, rather than trying to pay him none of his $5.5 million contract. 1 Bud Seilg, baseballs acting commissioner the past 1 Vi years, will be the chief witness Monday before a U.S. Senate subcommittee examining baseballs antitrust exemption. Sen.

Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, said Donald Fehr, head of the Major League Baseball Players Association, also will be among the witnesses who -testify. The new Cleveland Indians ballpark, built in part with a county-wide tax on tobacco products, will prohibit smoking in all seating areas. BASKETBAL1 Seattle Supersonics guard Ricky Pierce will undergo surgery today tore-move bone spurs from his left foot. He is expected to be out for about four weeks, the team said. ON THE AIR INSIDER Compiled by Geoffrey Ooley GOLI Nick Price took a two-shot lead with a 66 in the first round of the Nestle Invitational in Orlando, Fla.

Greg Norman had a round of 68 that put him in a tie for second with VQay Singh ofFiji, Scott Simpson and Larry Mize. Caroline Keggl shot a 6-under-par 67 to take a one-stroke lead after one round of the LPGA Standard Register Ping in Phoenix. Sharing second at 68 were Connie Chllle-ml, Kelly Robbins and Val Skinner. Butch Baird birdied five of the first six holes and shot a 6-under-par 65 to lead after the first round of the 100,000 Senior Series golf tournament in Galveston, Texas. American Craig McCel-lan fired a 6-under-par 66 to take the lead in the rain-troubled opening round of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Phillip Price of Wales fired a career low 7-under- Bill Oakes of Lawton, won seven of eight matches to take the lead after four rounds of the ProfeS' sional Bowlers Association 140,000 Leisures Long Is called for his head to be hung from a spike on university ramparts, not unlike Vlad The Im-paler Tepes treated the Turks way back yonder before James Naismith. Tepes, incidentally, had a unique way of encouraging respect, one that Knight might find intriguing. When a band of Turks visited his Romanian domain, demanding taxes, they refused to remove their turbans in respect. So Tepes genially had their turbans nailed to their heads and sent them on their way. Interesting chap, Tepes, and one feels Knight could learn from him.

First of all, Knight must be recognized as a supreme bully and an excellent basketball coach with a clean program and quite honestly, I dont know which comes first. The sports world is always full of bullies. Vince Lombardi was a bully. CC BASEBALL! PACIFIC COAST CONFERENCE Palomar 7, Imperial Valley 2 Sophomore Jeff Freetly allowed three hits and two unearned runs over eight innings to earn his first victory of the season. Freshman Marty Camacho continued his hot streak at the plate, 2 Trying to separate the fact from fiction in the NCAA tournament CBS.

Rejoice and enjoy the tournament. Todays TV lineup: First up is North Carolina-Liberty at 9:20 a.m. Greg Gumbel and Bill Raf-tery will call the action in the first-round East Regional game in Landover, Md. The rest of the lineup is UCLA-Tulsa (Ted Robinson and Greg Kelser have play-by-play duties for the Midwest bracket in Oklahoma City) at about noon, Illinois-Georgetown (Robinson and Kelser) at 5:08 p.m. and Indiana-Ohio U.

(Gumbel and Raftery) at approximately 7 p.m. First-day complaint: CBS did a good job of updating games-in-progress at the bottom of the screen every few minutes. But why not include the scores of games already concluded? CBS seemed to assume that every viewer had been watching all day. Whos in the On Thursday, Pat OBrien and Clark Kellogg had the daytime honors and Jim Nantz and Kellogg had the prime-time duties. Today, Packer will team with Nantz.

Theres a valid reason for the Packer-Kellogg platoon. Packer is teaming with James Brown to announce the first two rounds of the East Regionals atNassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y. Today and Sunday, Packer will be the studio co-host. Kellogg will be the co-host again on Saturday. The rest of CBS lineup: Southeast: Dick Stockton and A1 McGuire are in Lexington, Verne Lundquist and Dan Bonner in St.

Petersburg, Fla. Midwest: Sean McDonough and Derrek Dickey. West: Ryan and Meyers in Ogden, Utah; Dave Sims and Farmer in Sacramento. ESPN coverage: The crew of Vitale. Phelps, John Saunders and Chris Fowler will partake in an hour-long analysis of each days game in a studio format.

Region. Im not a believer in Missouri. My sleeper there is Minnesota. ABCs Musburger picks North Carolina to beat Arkansas in the title game. Phelps picks Arkansas over North Carolina.

Raftery picks a Final Four of Connecticut, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Arizona, with Arizona defeating UConn for the title. TBS Dick Versace picks Purdue to win it all. From this perspective, its UConn, Kentucky, Arkansas and Louisville in the Final Four, with Kentucky defeating Arkansas in the final. Quick shots: Good hustle by KFMB radio on Wednesday to get Dave Dravecky on the air shortly after word circulated that Eric Show had died. XTRA scooped the Raiders press conference on Tuesday by announcing the signing of Albert Lewis.

Lee Hamilton said a member of the Raiders organization called and told the station to cease talking about the signing. One problem: You cant erase live radio. The early read on the time changes for XTRA talent is this: Its tough to wait until 4 p.m. to hear those Topics on the Table. Channel 10s Phil Farrar and Channel 39s Jim Laslavic did live sportscasts from Peterson Gym before Wednesdays NCAA womens playoff game.

Alas, Channel 8s Ted Leitner and Channel 51s Rod Luck (no broadcast until 10 p.m.) were no-shows. Sad to hear that Charles Kuralt is retiring from CBS on May 1. Im not a bigTV news guy, but I saw enough of Kuralts feature work during the Winter Olympics to realize hes one of the best. Cut-Ins: XTRA will broadcast an NCAA doubleheader Saturday, beginning at 10:50 a.m. There will also be a Sunday broadcast at 10:50 a.m Prime Ticket's Pro Beach Volleyball schedule begins March 30, with the mens Miller Lite Fort Myers Open.

This is the eighth straight year Prime Ticket has broadcast mens action; the women's tour begins its second season on the network on May 1. Chris Madowe and Paul Sunderland will again call all the spikes and digs. With the Cinderella stories, the improbable upsets and the exaggerated hype and hoopla that comes with the NCAA tournament, its time to dissect whats real from whats fake. If Loyola, can go from 2-25 to the NCAA tourney in one season and the College ef Charleston of the Trans-America Athletic Conference can earn an at-large berth, then almost Anything is possible. Thats basically why the NCAA tournament has become one of the most popular sporting events in the country.

The unexpected adds to the drama. Take a glance at this years pairings. So nobody jn a proper frame of mind would pick Rider to meet Boise State in the finale. Big deal. Ive yet to See any so-called experts picking top seeds Missouri and Purdue to meet for the championship.

The beauty of it is that the NCAA tournament is part fact and part fiction. The joy is figuring what is fiction and what is fact. I The fact most important to CBS is the bottom line. The tournament is a ratings gold mine for the network. ollowing is a viewers guide to help separate fiction from and fact: Fiction: ESPN is televising several first-round games.

Fact: Pete Rose knows more about hitting than television schedules. He said via his syndicated talk show on XTRA that ESPN broadcasts the first round. CBS has exclusive television rights. Rose struck out with that statement. I Fiction: No women are allowed on CBS broadcasts.

4 Fact: Ann Meyers, the former UCLA All-Amer-rca, is teaming up with Tim Ryan to televise first-and second-round West Regional games from Ogden, Utah. 1 Fiction: Because ESPNs Dick Vitale always knows when a coach should call a timeout, he must own several NCAA championship rings. Fact: Vitale coached in one NCAA tournament, flis 1977 Detroit team went 1-1, beating Middle Tennessee State before losing to Michigan. Fiction: Since ESPNs Digger Phelps sounds as if he knows what hes talking about, he must own several NCAA championship rings. Fact: Dont kid yourself.

The only ring Phelps owns is around his collar. Fiction: ESPNs Beano Cook is a relative of Indiana coach Bobby Knight. Fact: Hes not a blood relative, though if you HUtC watched ESPNs Sunday night conversation with Knight conducted by Cook, you might have gotten that feeling. Bobby Sox pitchers toss harder efforts than the softball questions lobbed at Knight by Cook. Fiction: President Clinton is rooting for Wis-consin-Whitewater.

Fact: Hey, Wisconsin-Whitewater is a Division III school. This is a Division I tournament. The Clintons are rooting for Arkansas. Fiction: CBS thinks of the West Coast when making broadcast decisions. Fact: Try telling that to fans in Northern California.

Thursdays game between Wisconsin-Green Bay and Cal in the West Regional was scheduled during CBS off hours. One San Francisco CBS station adjusted its programming to show it. But most of the areas CBS stations (including the Sacramento and San Jose affiliates) elected to show the regularly-scheduled soap operas. Fiction: A coach never has to obey orders from one of his players. Fact: CBS color analyst Larry Farmer would beg to differ.

The former UCLA coach has to listen to orders from his former point guard, Roy Hamilton, who is the producer for the West Regional games in Sacramento. You are looking live at (fill in regional site). Fact: Brent Musburger no longer works for i- NCAA predictions: Vitale picks North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan and Louisville for the Final Four, with North Carolina to win it all. My sleeper in the Southeast is Wake Forest. sleeper in the Midwest is Texas, said Vitale, via conference call.

I think the West is the weakest Mike Sullivan's Advocate. On the Air column appears Friday in the Times i.