PAGI-: 41)
Iverson rallies East
game exceeds the
by Frank Isola
Knjght-Ridder Newspapers
February 12, 2001
WASHINGTON - Finally, an All-
Star Game that surpassed the hype and
was actually worth watching, right
down to the last frantic seconds.
Now, if only the NBA’s regular sea
son could be this entertaining.
With Allen Iverson, Stephon
Marbury and Kobe Bryant pro
viding all the drama in the final
minutes, the Eastern Conference
rallied from a 21-point deficit in
the final eight minutes and 29 sec
onds and stunned the Western
Conference, 111-110, in the 50th
All-Star Game Sunday night at
the MCI Center.
“Everybody felt like we
couldn’t win because we were
overmatched,” Iverson said.
“You can’t measure the size of
someone’s heart.”
It was a dramatic ending to an
All-Star Weekend where NBA
commissioner David Stem spent
his time going on the offensive
against the media for criticizing
his product. But despite declining
attendance and sagging television
ratings overall, Stern’s players
produced a classic.
Philadelphia’s Iverson, the best
player on the league’s best team,
was named MVP after scoring 15
of his 25 points in the last nine
minutes. All of Iverson’s points
in the quarter came after the West
had taken a 95-74 lead.
“Coming into the fourth quar
ter I think myself, (Jerry)
Stackhouse, Vince (Carter) and a
couple of other guys were sitting
on the side and we kept saying, ‘Why
not us,’” said Iverson, who shot 9-for
-21. Why can’t we be the ones to come
back from a 19-point deficit (after
three quarters) in the All-Star Game?
And I asked them and we said, ‘Why
not?”’
“We turned it on in the fourth quar
ter and we hit some shots. And then
we started to feed off the crowd. The
momentum was there for us and we
were able to do it.”
Iverson started the comeback but it
Elliott leads Dodge charge to win Daytona 500 pole
by Shav Glick
Los Angeles Times
February 10, 2001
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla
weeks, during unofficial preseason
practice and official Daytona 500
practice, the Dodges weren't run
ning fast enough to get out of their
own way.
On Saturday, the first day speeds
really became important. Dodge
chieftain Ray Evernham turned his
troops loose and the new Intrepids
took over Daytona International
Speedway.
Former 500 winner Bill Elliott, a
proven campaigner chosen by
Evernham to lead the Dodge return
to Winston Cup after an absence of
two decades, showed a remarkable
improvement in speed to take the
pole for next Sunday’s Daytona
Some drivers blow gasket over foxy move
by George Diaz
Knight-Ridder Tribune
February 13, 2001
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.-Thanks to
a little technological whiteout, Fox
Sports already is on the fast track of
controversy during its inaugural sea
son telecasting NASCAR.
A series of graphics and still shots
showing the starting lineup at the be
ginning of Sunday’s Budweiser
Shootout did not include logos or iden
tification for any sponsors that did not
purchase advertising time with Fox.
Those sponsors who did purchase ad
vertising time with Fox were identi
fied on the graphics, which also ran
during postrace analysis.
For instance, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s
Budweiser car included the logos on
the graphic because Budweiser pur-
was Marbury, playing in his first-ever
All-Star Game, who provided the
winning margin. The Brooklyn-born
point guard hit a pair of three-point
ers in the last minute, including the
game-winner with 28.4 seconds left.
“I couldn’t paint a better picture,”
he said. “It was exciting in those last
two minutes. It was (a) championship
person,. la, drives towards the >t past Pnoenix’s
Jason Kidd, in the third quarter of the 2001 NBA All-Star game Sunday night at the
MCI Center in Washington.
atmosphere.”
Marbury scored 12 points and ac
cepted the challenge from Bryant,
who taunted the East with, “Oh,
you’re going small,” when Iverson
and Marbury were paired in the
backcourt in the last five minutes.
The last 90 seconds evolved into a
thrilling showdown between Bryant
and Marbury. They were pitted
against each other and Marbury
seemed lost trying to guard Bryant,
who scored the West’s final three bas
been no better than 30th in pre
season speeds and only 25th fast
est Friday, ran 183.565 mph in his
red No. 9 Dodge owned by
Evernham.
- For two
Thanks to a disqualification of
the second-fastest qualifier, Jerry
Nadeau’s Chevrolet, another
Dodge driven by Stacy Compton
will start alongside Elliott on the
front row.
While Elliott and Compton are
guaranteed front-row starts, the re
mainder of the 500 field will be de
termined by two 125-mile qualify
ing races Thursday and the quali
fying speeds of those not finishing
14th or better in one of Thursday’s
Nadeau, whose car was found to
be a half-inch too low in post-race
inspection after posting a speed of
chased advertising throughout
Speedweek events. But the graphic for
Terry Labonte’s Interstate Batteries car
did not feature any sponsorship iden
tification because that company is not
in the advertising mix.
“The very first time we heard that
Fox was threatening not to mention the
teams or white them out, we knew this
was going to be ugly,” said Roush
Racing President Geoff Smith, whose
team was adversely affected by the de-
The postrace scramble Monday in
cluded Fox executives meeting with
NASCAR officials, and drivers threat
ening to pull out of scheduled inter
views in conjunction with Sunday's
Daytona 500. Jeff Gordon, Dale
Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace and Labonte
are among those drivers who report
edly are upset with Fox.
kets on jump shots.
But Marbury received assistance
in the closing seconds from Dikembe
Mutombo and Bryant was not able
to attempt the last shot. First,
Marbury intentionally fouled Bryant
with 10.9 seconds left and after a
timeout, the West ran an isolation
play for Bryant.
Elliott, who had
NATIONAL SPORTS
Bryant, relishing an opportunity to
win the game and snare MVP hon
ors, ran a pick-and-roll with Tim
Duncan but when Mutombo moved
toward the ball, Bryant was forced
to pass.
Duncan appeared to have a clean
look but Vince Carter soared through
the air and managed to deflect the
shot with his fingertips with 0.4 sec
onds left.
Chris Webber’s desperate tap-in
try came after the buzzer, touching
182.763 mph, will be permitted to
requalify Monday.
Elliott, 45, who had won 49
poles driving a Ford throughout
his career before signing with
Evernham, is no stranger to the
front row at Daytona, but because
of new restrictor-plate rules, the
speeds are much slower. In 1987,
when Elliott was known as “Awe
some Bill from Donaldsonville,”
his pole speed was 210.364 mph,
still the record for the 2.5-inile
track.
“Back then, when you left pit
road you didn’t know if you’d
come back,” said Elliott. “Now,
you know you’ll come back, you
just don’t know how long it will
take.”
It will be the fourth time for
Elliott to start on the Daytona 500
pole. In 1985 and 1987 he won
“The purses might be bigger, but
it won't be any better for us at all if
the sponsors start leaving,” Wallace
said.
Advertisers are set to pay an esti
mated $250,000 for 30-second com
mercials during Sunday’s Daytona
500. This marks the first year of
NASCAR’s six-year, $2.8 billion
television contract with Fox and
NBC. Although Fox executives
noted their intentions for the cos
metic-change policy during negotia
tions, NASCAR teams had assumed
that the policy would be modified to
appease sponsors who didn’t buy
time on Fox.
Although the graphics in dispute
involved only a 20-second snippet of
a three-hour telecast, NASCAR is
one of the most sponsor-conscious
sports in the world.
as All-Star
hype
off a celebration usually reserved for
the playoffs. Latrell Sprewell raced
onto the floor and playfully taunted
Webber, his good friend, by throwing
a towel at him.
“We got to be cheerleaders,” said
Sprewell, who, like Knicks teammate
Allan Houston, did not play in the
fourth quarter. “The guys out there got
the job done.”
Sprewell and Hous
ton each played 15 min
utes, scoring seven and
five points, respectively.
The West opened the
game with an 11-0 run,
and Sprewell did not
make his first appearance
until there was 7:40 re
maining in the second
quarter. But after helping
the East make it competi
tive, Sprewell was on the
floor to start the third
called during pregame
introductions, Sprewell clenched both
fists and pumped them gently in the
“I think people had certain percep
tions of me,” he said. “But that first
year when we went far into the play
offs (reaching the Finals) and they saw
me play and saw me get interviewed I
think people saw something very dif
ferent from those original perceptions.
That makes me feel good.”
from the pole. He also started first
in 1986.
It was the first pole for Dodge
since April 1, 1978, when the late
Neil Bonnett was fastest at Bristol,
Tenn.
The obvious question about the
sudden emergence of Dodge speed
- sandbagging, the art of not show
ing your hand before the main event
- was answered by Gary Nelson,
NASCAR’s series director and the
man responsible for maintaining the
proper balance between the four
makes - Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac
and Dodge.
“If you look at the first five quali
fiers and you find all four repre
sented, I think that answers the
question,” he said. “One of the four
had to have two qualifiers in the
five, it just happened that Dodge had
the top two.”
A substantial portion of the $4OO mil
lion raised by the competing Winston
Cup teams comes from sponsors.
“It shows a complete disregard of the
interests that it takes to balance the sport
out to make it work,” Smith said. “Even
though the value of that little spot on
television is very small in relations to
the aggregate value, the tone that it sets
carries a price point that is much
worse.”
A “fine” time: Looking to establish
“permanent records” for rule-breakers,
NASCAR officials suspended two crew
chiefs and levied fines Monday total
ing $40,750 for numerous offenses in
volving 18 teams.
The four-race suspensions of Tony
Furr, crew chief for Jerry Nadeau’s
Chevrolet Monte Carlo, and Kevin
Cram, crew chief for Jason Leffler’s
Dodge, highlight NASCAR’s attempt
quarter.
“I think (East coach
Larry Brown) was im
pressed with the way I
played,” Sprewell said.
“One thing that Jeff (Van
Gundy) told me before I
left was, “Play the way
you’ve played to get to
this point.’”
After going three
years without making the
All-Star team and spend
ing almost a full season
suspended by the NBA
for attacking P.J.
Carlesimo, Sprewell was
clearly reveling in the
moment.
When his name was
Tiger’s slump
not major crisis
by Samuel Chi
Knight-Ridder Tribune
February 08,2001
Tiger Woods’ reign as the king of
golfdom is over.
Finished.
You heard it here first.
(And a couple of months from now,
when you pull this grease-stained column
out from under your fish tacos, you’ll
laugh out loud: “What a moron!” as you
watch Tiger being fitted for a green jacket
on television.)
But I’m going out on a limb here: Ti
ger Woods of2ooo was as good as it gets.
Don’t ever question Woods’ creden
tials as a golfing legend - even at the
tender age of 25, he already has to be
considered one of the best of all time.
But there are ample indications that while
he’s still the greatest player of his gen
eration, he won’t win or contend in nearly
every single tournament the way he did
a year ago.
Woods has not won an official PGA
Tour event since the Canadian Open last
September. Last week, Woods finished
tied for 13th at Pebble Beach, his worst
outing since tying for 23rd in the West
ern Open in July. Of course, he was in
such a slump then that two weeks later
he won the British Open by merely eight
shots.
All the talk about Woods’ “struggles”
has everything to do with what lofty stan
dards he set in that incredible 2000 sea
son. In 20 tour events last year, Woods
failed to finish in the top five only three
times - tied for 18th at Nissan Open, tied
for 11 th at Buick Open and tied for 23rd
at Western Open. He did not go four con
secutive tournaments without a victory.
Now, he’s gone six events without a
win, including three this year. His streak
of 52 consecutive rounds without going
over par ended in the second round of
the Phoenix Open. At the AT&T, where
he was the defending champion, Woods
was not much of a factor.
A few dared to ask Woods whether he
was in a slump. He bristled at the sug
gestion, at least in public. He said there
was nothing wrong with his game and
that he just needed a few more putts to
drop. What’s more, he said he was more
annoyed at the bumpy greens at Pebble
Beach than he was with his swing.
Defending 500 winner Dale Jarrett
qualified third in a Ford, Tony
Stewart was fourth in a Pontiac and
Jeff Gordon fifth in a Chevrolet.
Nelson also said that rear suspen
sion parts from Nadeau’s disquali
fied car had been taken to the
NASCAR garage for further inspec
tion.
“When a car is lower, it goes
faster,” Nelson said. “What we want
to find is how it got a half-inch lower
after his run than it was when we in
spected it before the run.”
Evernham, the crew chief during
Gordon's three Winston Cup cham
pionships, credited an unusual team
concept for Dodge’s surprising per
formance.
“We have five teams involved -
my own, Bill Davis’, Chip
Ganassi’s, the Pettys and Mark
Melling - but the way we have oper-
to step up policing efforts.
Although Furr’s fine of $12,750 does
not come close to approaching the big
gest fine in NASCAR history-$60,000,
levied against then-Jeff Gordon crew
chief Ray Evernham for using unap
proved suspension parts in The Winston
in 1995—it does reflect a different tac
tical approach by NASCAR.
“As we started raising fines, we
started seeing sponsorship dollars and
purse dollars going up so much that the
fines weren’t getting the message
across,” NASCAR Winston Cup Series
Director Gary Nelson said.
“We still would find things. We
changed our approach going into 2001
and we’re going to try the suspension
part of it. The message to the team is,
‘lt’s a good way to get suspended if you
break one of these major rules.’”
Furr was cited for modifying
! Hi: Hi i !Rf-'ND I>l WO\
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 16,2001
While there may be nothing wrong
with his game, he won’t dominate the
way he did a year ago. There are a
couple of reasons for this: Woods’ peers
are catching up to him, and he's more
concerned about his place in history than
winning tournaments.
Not since the mid-'7os has the cali
ber of the top players on tour been this
good. While Jack Nicklaus was in his
prime, he was challenged by Johnny
Miller, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino and
Gary Player, all winners of multiple
major championships. As great as
Nicklaus was, one forgotten fact is that,
besides winning 18 majors, he also fin
ished second 19 times in majors. That’s
a testament to his greatness, as well as
to the greatness of his competition.
Now, such players as Phil Mickelson,
David Duval, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh and
Davis Love 111 all are trying to make
Woods sweat. All of those players are
in their mid-30s or younger, and they’re
doing all they can to get out from
Woods’ considerable shadow. Woods
has yet to taste defeat in a major when
he’s had a chance to win it down the
stretch, but one of those players will dis
appoint him, perhaps soon.
Woods also is less concerned about
winning tournaments other than the ma
jors. He proved last year that he can win
almost at will, and now he’s concentrat
ing more on winning the big ones. Ever
since he was a child, Tiger had his sights
on breaking Nicklaus’ record of major
victories. He’s still 14 shy.
Last week, Woods spoke of “being
in peak form for four weeks a year.”
He’s not kidding - he can live with win
ning only four tournaments a year, as
long as they’re the right ones. He’s got
money, fame and nearly absolute power
in the golfing industry. But he’s more
interested in being the greatest of all
time.
Woods is entered in this week’s Buick
Invitational at Torrey Pines in San Di
ego. But the upcoming tournaments he
really cares about winning are The Play
ers Championship and the Masters. TPC
is the biggest non-major tournament that
he has yet to win, and last year’s loss to
a loquacious Hal Sutton left him with a
bitter taste. Of course, the green jacket,
which Woods hasn’t acquired since
1997, is something he really covets.
ated we are one big team working
together,” Evernham said. “We
share information and we work in
the wind tunnel together and I think
everyone benefits from it. Bill is
our anchor and I think today you
can see why.”
Among other Dodge drivers,
Ward Burton was sixth. Sterling
Marlin seventh, Dave Blaney 14th,
John Andretti 16th, rookie Casey
Atwood 25th, Buckshot Jones 30th,
Kyle Petty 31st and rookie Jason
Leffler 36th.
Elliott will carry the load for
Dodge Sunday in the Budweiser
Shootout, an all-star race of sorts
that has been stretched out from 25
laps to 70. Originally only for pole
winners from the previous Winston
Cup season, today’s field has added
former winners.
Nadeau’s car, making it lower than al
lowed specifications - producing less
drag on the rear spoiler, which pro
duces faster speeds - during qualify
ing runs Saturday.
The rear spring unit on Nadeau's car
actually was two pieces, with the
smaller one sliding off because of aero
dynamic downforce when the car was
in motion. NASCAR officials found
the piece on the track during Nadeau’s
qualifying run of 182.763 m.p.h., sec
ond only to Bill Elliott's Dodge.
Nadeau’s qualifying time was dis
allowed. He attempted to requalify
Monday in the second round of time
trials, but his time of 178.271 m.p.h.
was not good enough to make
Sunday’s starting grid.
Cram was suspended and fined.
$lO,OOO for fuel violations.
The suspensions begin Feb. 23.