Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 50

14D Wednesday August 31 2005 SOCCER I RODEO I BRIEFLY wwwstar-telegramcom RODEO NOTES PRCA cancels pact with Canadians BRIEFLY Injured Singh defend Deutsche title STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER FROM WIRE REPORTS IN MY OPINION New focus should be marketing FC Dallas GAMEPAV SAN JOSE AT FC DALLAS 7:30 pm Saturday Pizza Hut Park Frisco Radio: KFCD990 AM KZMP1540 AM (Spanish) Tickets: wwwfcdallasnet 1-888-323-4625 Walls from the Oklahoma State Penitentiary (OSP) in McAlester will featured on the 48th stop The 64th annual Outlaw Rodeo features inmates from OSP competing in the bareback riding saddle bronc riding and bull riding while Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association members compete in the steer wrestling tie-down roping and steer roping Producers also plan to run a feature on steer wrestling legend Roy Duvall of Checotah Okla Duvall 63 continues to compete in the PRCA circuit and conducts steer wrestling schools He holds the record for most steer wrestling qualifications to the NFR at 24 and has competed in the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo since joining the PRCA in 1965 Cowboys of Color More than 300 contestants are expected to compete in Fort 10th annual Cowboys of Color Rodeo on Saturday Performances are 2 pm at 8 pm at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum The rodeo mainly will feature contestants who are African-American Hispanic and Native American Adult riders will compete in bronc busting steer wrestling calf roping and ladies barrel racing Junior riders will compete in calf roping and barrel racing Tickets are $18 for box seats $12 for adult reserved seats and $8 for child reserved seats The rodeo raises money for the National Cowboys of Color Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth For ticket information call (817) 335-9000 Brett Hoffman (817) 390-7707 By BRETT HOFFMAN STAR-TLI EGRAM STAFF WRITER The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association has terminated a longterm sanctioning agreement with the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association In past years the prize money earned at CPRA rodeos counted toward Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifications and PRCA world title races But during the 2006 season CPRA rodeos will not count toward PRCA world standings unless they become PRCA-sanctioned rodeos on an individual basis and comply with all PRCA-sanctioning and approval requirements That means famous Canadian rodeos such as the annual Calgary Stampede in Calgary Alberta might not count in the 2006 PRCA world races Under the terms of the existing agreement the PRCA was not receiving compensation from CPRA events Every PRCA rodeo held in the United States pays the PRCA five percent of each total prize money in return for being a PRCA rodeo Canadian rodeos have never paid that sanctioning fee CPRA rodeos also do not comply with PRCA sponsorship mandates and policies or require their rodeo officials to graduate from the PRCA Pro Officials training program which is required of all PRCA officials in the US Prison rodeo feature SportsCenter Across 50-states-in-50-days will stop in McAlester Okla Friday for the Oklahoma State Prison Rodeo The Largest Behind-the- ond place overall a day after defending champion Alinghi clinched the series off the coast of Almo Sweden BMW Oracle the only American team beat Luna Rossa in Act 6 of the Louis Vuitton sailing regatta to claim second on the final day of match-racing that began Aug 25 The Louis Vuitton Acts are 14 regattas that started last year as a prelude to the 2007 America's Cup The results of these races will help seed the competition for the 2007 challenger trials Newcastle buys Madrids Owen SOCCER Newcastle United bought Real Madrid striker Michael Owen who is returning to English Premiership after failing to secure a regular first-team place in Spain Owen agreed to a four-year contract with Newcastle which is believed to have paid more than the club record 15 million pounds ($268 million) paid to Blackburn for Alan Shearer in 1996 Owen 25 is seeking regular action leading up to the 2006 World Cup in Germany after spending most of his only season at Madrid on the bench behind Raul Gonzalez and Ronaldo NASCAR suspends Pattie MOTORSPORTS Busch Series driver Reed Sorenson's crew chief was suspended for six races for soaking tires at Bristol Motor Speedway Brian Pattie was fined $35000 suspended until Oct 26 and placed on probation until the end of the year Crew member Brandon Stafford also was suspended for six races and Sorenson was docked 50 points in the series standings NASCAR officials caught Stafford rubbing an unapproved substance on Sorenson's tires on Friday before qualifying at Bristol The practice is called "soaking tires" and is generally done to improve grip on the track Former Colls coach dies OBITUARY Former Indianapolis Colts wide receivers coach Milt Jackson 61 died of a heart attack Aug 23 the team said He spent 10 years as an assistant coach in the NFL including 1989-91 with the Colts Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday in Roseville Calif Capitals sign defenseman NHL Defenseman Brian Muir signed a contract with the Washington Capitals who acquired him from the Los Angeles Kings Muir has five goals 15 assists and 167 penalty minutes in 181 games over nine NHL seasons with the Kings Oilers Devils Blackhawks Lightning and Avalanche GOLF Vijay Singh withdrew from the Deutsche Bank Championship Tuesday because of back spasms giving up a chance to defend his title in the tournament where he rose to the No 1 in the world last year Singh injured himself playing table tennis with his son Oass the tournament said in a statement The 42-year-old Fijian a four-time winner this year was examined by a doctor and will be reevaluated before deciding on future events The tournament begins Friday Top players skipping event GOLF The richest prize in an official golf tournament was not enough to make Tiger Woods Vijay Singh or Phil Mickelson want to play in the World Match Play Championship in Wentworth England Along with losing the top three players in the world rankings the 16-man field which offers $178 million to the winner -will be without defending champion Ernie Els who is recovering from knee surgery No Americans are in the field for the tournament Sept 15-18 Traylor fails Nets physical NBA Free-agent forward Robert Traylor failed a physical and join the New Jersey Nets next season the team said Traylor 28 became a free agent when Cleveland declined his $176 million option for next season He agreed to a one-year $16 million contract with New Jersey pending a physical exam Hawks re-sign guard Lue NBA The Atlanta Hawks re-signed Tyronn Lue and signed second-round pick Salim Stouda-mire bulking up their depth behind new starting point guard Joe Johnson Lue was obtained last December in a trade with the Houston Rockets He averaged 135 points and 54 assists in 49 games with the Hawks Stoudamire was the first choice of the second round the 31st pick overall He was the fourth-highest scorer in Arizona history averaging 152 points French paper denies claim BICYCLING The editor of the French sports daily L'Equipe denied that his newspaper had accused Lance Armstrong of doping because he is American "If Lance Armstrong was a French rider and we were in possession of the same information we would have done the same thing" Claude Droussent said American yacht finishes second YACHTING America's Cup challenger BMW Oracle Racing took sec Longtime employee must make FC Dallas attractive to the fans FC Dallas fans looking for a conspiracy theory or a smoking-gun type of incident that led to general manager Greg departure should focus their attention on the eight-game MLS winless streak rather than playing junior detective In the end the simple explanation lies in the fact that team owner Lamar Hunt is so hands-on with his club that he uses not only his own two mitts but has his sons Clark and Dan on board to lend four more family paws to the mix Hunt has a vision of how things should be done His attention to detail is legendary when it comes to simple things such as the exact location and types of the trees at Pizza Hut Park to his schoolmarm proofreading of press releases not forget that Uncle Lamar himself went door to door in Kansas City two years ago in a massive season ticket sales drive for the Wizards NFL franchise the Kansas City Chiefs was fourth among the 32 NFL teams in home attendance last season with 623010 or 77876 per game Hunt coughed up $25 million toward the $80 million Pizza Hut Park and that financial commitment brings expectations Elliott was saddled with the task of promoting the club and the stadium despite the Hunt Sports failure to have the stadium up and running on deadline The Hunt family and HSG president John Wagner not Elliott bear the blame for the construction delays However both sides have said they had different visions and when the case in any job going to be the owner who calls the final shot So now John Alper takes hold as the interim general manager and really no point in not going ahead and just handing him the job full time now Alper has been with the club since 1995 when he set up the ticketing department before the first kick in 1996 He has seen the club attendance average peak at 16011 in Year One only to fall off in Year Two (9678) He watched it steadily rise to 13122 in 2002 until 2003 and the move to Dragon Stadium doomed attendance to an all-time low 7906 Alper knows the market Alper knows the history Alper knows that the Hispanic fans who supported the team in the early years come to the Cotton Bowl because of the architecture A large section of those Hispanic fans showed up last Saturday when Chivas USA rolled into Frisco Anyone who has complained about the sterile atmosphere at American Airlines Center would have been blown away as 14102 fans from both teams chanted and back and forth in a college footballlike atmosphere up to Alper to find a way to bring those fans back to games on days when Chivas USA star Paco Palencia in town Alper said before match that as far as the general manager role goes support Colin Clarke but ultimately leave the personnel decisions up to the coach a wise choice because at this point of the 10-year-old league Alper must worry more about the presidentbusiness role rather than the general man-agersoccer side Alper must further tap the North Texas State Soccer Association that boasts more than 175000 registered players Alper must canvas the growing Frisco commercial developments and sell corporate ticket packages there and beyond Alper must convince the soccer fans from Mansfield that the trek to Frisco is worth it based on the facility and the product on the field Alper must find a way to ensure that every FC Dallas road game is televised Most of all going to have to roll up his sleeves and get his hands into the mix no doubt the Lamar Clark Dan and Wagner octopus-armed entity known as HSG will STAR-TELEGRAMJEFFERY WASHINGTON Cleo Hearn says some of the top stars such as Fred Whitfield and Ronnie Fields began their career in Cowboys of Color events Cowboys of Color Rodeo 2 pm and 8 pm Saturday Will Rogers Coliseum Tickets: $18 box seats $12 adult reserved and $8 for child reserved Groups of 20 or more receive a $2 discount on tickets Call (817) 335-9000 or visit DIRECT KICKS CLEO HEARN Pro rodeo roper Cleo Hearn of Lancaster is a 46-year roper in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and a founding father on a rodeo circuit for minority races called Cowboys of Color On Saturday be scurrying around the chutes at Will Rogers at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum helping produce Fort 10th Cowboys of Color Invitational Rodeo When did your first Cowboys of Color Rodeo happen? The first Cowboys of Color Rodeo was in 1991 in Dallas But I had been involved with the black rodeo since 1971 The black rodeo simply evolved into Cowboys of Color What are some major changes since 1971? It started as the American Black Cowboys Association but we decided that if we had a Cowboys of Color Rodeo we could reach more people and gain a more diverse audience It boiled down to changing from one ethic group to three or four or more ethnic groups How has the Cowboys of Color Rodeos prepared competitors from ethnic groups that are labeled as minorities to become more competitive? We use the same structure as pro rodeos uses and we offer what I call the pride factor For example our rodeo running in Fort Worth this weekend is in Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum the same venue used for the famous Fort Worth Stock Show Rodeo We have established a farm system to help minorities to go onto bigger and better things in the world of rodeo How do you see the Cowboys of Color circuit working effectively as a farm system? lot of black people who go to a football game to see black athletes But when they go to a rodeo they may not see anybody that they know black or Hispanic So inviting minorities to come to a social event use the same type of music that they listen to everyday and the cowboys that they see will understand rodeo A cowboy can come to our rodeo and say to himself this rodeo features my race and going to get a fair What are some practices that you implement to help contestants prepare to compete on the pro circuit? The idea is to bring better stock and structure A lot of times you can be the best cowboy in the arena but you lack rodeo business skills You have to know how to enter the rodeo and deal with aspects such as the dress code What are some of the fruits of your labor? When I see athletes like six-time world tie-down roping world champion Fred Whitfield and pro steer wrestling star Ronnie Fields reminded that they started out in Cowboys of Color rodeos I see a lot of young cowboys aspiring to be a Fred Whitfield or a Ronnie Fields ONLINE: www cowboysofcolororg lirett Iloffnym form After hurting his knee in a preseason scrimmage Zuniga 35 allowed five goals twice and helped Chivas gain only one point in four matches He has been appointed soccer ambassador for Chivas USA English defender John Terry (Chelsea) is out at least four weeks because of a knee injury Terry will miss England's World Cup qualifiers against Wales and Northern Ireland according to Bloomberg News Service MLS Cup 2005 is coming to Texas! The Championship Game will be played at Pizza Hut Park on November 13 at 2:30 pm CT and this is your chance to try and secure seats at the match of the year Fans can apply for tickets to MLS Cup 2005 through Sept 30 at mlsnetcom There is a limit of four tickets per application A random computerized drawing will be conducted Oct 3 New England forward Taylor Twellman earned MLS player of the week honors Twellman scored the game-winning goal with only seconds remaining in a 2-1 Revolution victory against DC United Twellman is tied with Jeff Cunningham (Colorado Rapids) and Carlos Ruiz (FC Dallas) with 11 goals for the MLS lead MLS pioneers and former US national team stars Marcelo Balboa John Harkes and Tab Ramos were inducted into the US Soccer Hall of Fame on Monday Colorado Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo was inducted as a veteran player Former US soccer secretary general Hank Steinbrecher was inducted in the builder category Chivas USA goalkeeper Martin Zuniga retired Tuesday The Mexican goalkeeper played 12 seasons but struggled this year hampered by injuries and poor COLLEGE SOCCER Texas State at North Texas 7 pm Mean Green Soccer Complex Denton Call (800) 868-2366 HORSE DOG RACING Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie simulcasting Tampa Bay Downs 11:30 am Palm Beach Kennel Club 11:40 am Delaware Suffolk Downs 1145 am Saratoga noon Monmouth 12:15 pm Ellis 12:40 pm Arlington 1 pm Corpus Christi Greyhound 1:30 pm Great Lakes Downs Del Mar 4 pm Woodbine 5:45 pm Northfield 6 pm Charles Town 6:15 pm Penn National 625 pm Evangeline Downs 6:45 pm Flagler Greyhound 7:05 pm Corpus Christi Greyhound Gulf Greyhound 7:30 pm Maywood Park 7:40 pm Call I Tobmi Xavier Lopez (817) UH 54V com mi.