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Show Jl~ NAT'L SPORTS Singletary among Hall finalists Tommy McDonald, a wide receiver who played the majority of his 12-year career with the Philadelphia Eagles starting in 1957. Ten of the 15 spent their entire careers with Cincinnati Bengals offensive tackle Anthony one team and two others - Eller and Yary Munoz and Chicago Bears linebacker Mike played most of their lengthy careers with one Singletary lead the list of 15 finalists announced yesterday for induction into the Pro team. Eller ended his career in 1979 with the Seattle Seahawks and Yary did the same in Football Hall of Fame. 1982 with the Rams. Munoz and Singletary were the only firstIf Munoz or Anderson year eligibles on the arc elected, they would list. T he 1998 induction become the first class will be announced longtime Bengals the day before the Super inducted. Bowl , on Jan. 24 in San Singletary could join Diego. three other central Two offensive stars figures from the 1986 who came close to being Super Bowl -winning elected last year, Miami Bears: running back Dolphins center Dwight Walter Payton, coach Stephenson and Mike Dit ka and the late Pittsburgh Steelers wide Jim Finks, who oversaw receiver Lynn Swann, the drafts and trades alsq made the list of that built the team. finalists. Swann and They were joined by Steph enson both Los Angeles Ram s and finish ed in the top six Washington Redskins ~ in the 1997 voting and coach George Allen, ""automatically qualified Bengals quarterback @for the final 15 this Ken Anderson, ~ year. Minnesota Vikings ~ The finalists were defen sive end Carl Eller, ~ selected by a mail vote Redskins and Vikings ~ of the 36-member safety Paul Krause, ._.Lo-_ __, selection committee Rams offensive guard Chicago Bears linebacker Mike Singletary from a preliminary Tom Mack, Cleveland leads a list of 15 finalists announced group of 57 modern-era Browns tight end Ozzie 'yesterday, in Can ton, Ohio, for induction players, coaches and Newsome, Pittsburgh into the Pm Football Hall of Fame. Final contributors. The administrator Dan selection will be announced the day before committee is made up Rooney, Steelers wide the Super Bowl. of media receiver John reprepresentatives from Stallworth, Vikings all 30 NFL cities, plus five at-large members offensive tackle Ron Yary and Rams defensive and the president of the Pro Football Writers of end Jack Youngblood. America. The candidate of the seniors' committee is By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Jazz topple Bucks behind Malone SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Karl Malone scored 39 points and the Utah Jazz shot 66 percent from the field to beat the Milwaukee Bucks 116109 last night. Malone, who started his 500th consecutive game, was 13-for-16 from the field and 13-for-15 from the foul line. Malone's free throw 2:04 into the game gave him 26,396 career points, passing John Havlicek for eighth place on the NBA's career scoring list. Jeff Hornacek added 20 points for the Jazz, including 15 in the second quarter, and John Stockton had 13 assists. Terrell Brandon scored a season-high 29 points for Milwaukee. Ray Allen added 21 points, including 18 in the second quarter, and Glenn Robinson had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Bucks. The Jazz led by only one point going into the final quarter, but they took control with a 24-11 run and held Milwaukee without a field goal for 6:38. The Jazz shot 38 free throws, one less than their season-high, and shot 66 percent from the field. Shandon Anderson and Bryon Russell each scored 17 points for the Jazz, who attempted 38 free throws, one less than their season-high. Anderson was 7-for-8 from the field, and Russell was 6-for-8. Source says Switzer out as Cowboys coach IRVING, Texas (AP)- Barry Switzer, who took the majority of the blame for the Dallas Cowboys' 6-10 season and failure to reach the playoffs for the first time since 1989, has reached an agreement with owner Jerry Jones to step down as coach, a source told The Associated Press. The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Switzer and Jones came to the agreement this week, but it was not clear whether Switzer would remain with the team as a consultant. Jones was not immediately available for comment because he was in New York for NFL meetings, and Switzer did not answer his home telephone last night. The Cowboys are expected to hold a news conference later this week to discuss the decision that Jones and Switzer reached. Switzer, who replaced Jimmy Johnson four years ago, had said that he would not stand in the way if Jones was eager to make a change. The fact that Switzer was not present for a major news conference earlier this week when Jones announced the signing of offensive lineman Larry Allen to a six-year contract was a signal that Jones' good friend was no longer a member of the inner circle. GIANTS GM GEORGE YOUNG STEPS DOWN TO BECOME NFL EXECUTIVE: George Young, who rebuilt the New York Giants into a two-time Super Bowl champion resigned as general manager after 19 years yesterday to become a senior executive with the NFL. The 67-year-old Young moves into a newly created post, the NFL's senior vice president of football operations, handling the George Young league's relations with college football, the World League in Europe and youth football. He will also work on officiating and spend more time on the league's competition committee, with the new job starting on Feb. 2. An emotional Young said he cons idered leaving the Giants since the start of the season, a year in which the team went from a last-place in 1996 to the NFC East title under rookie coach Jim Fassel, ~loung'.s final major hire. " It's not necessarily an easy job but, tn reality, when you love your work, it's a joy. That's the way I view it, " a teary-eyed Young said in introducing his replacement. BYU LINEMAN, NEAR DEGREE, OPTS FOR NFL: Near to earn ing his degree and feeling t he breath of ti me on his neck, Eric Bateman will give up another year at Brigham Young to seek an offensive line slot in the NFL. At a news conference yesterday, the 6-foot-7, 3 15-pound tackle confirmed reports that he was forsaking his senior year to enter professional football 's draft in April. " The main reason was I took into consideration my goal of getting a degree, and I have just a semester - two classes - left to do that," Bateman said. "The other factor is my age," Bateman said. " I'm 24 now and w ill be 25 later: this year (in December). Let's face it, the older you are as a lineman, it's not beneficial to (pro teams)." BANK SIGNS ON AS $300 MILLION SPONSOR OF GAMES: NationsBank Corp. signed a $300 million deal yesterday m aking it the official ban k of the 2002 Winter Games in Utah and the 2004 Summer Games in Athens. The agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee and local organizers includes a $1 70 million line of credit to help finance the 2002 event. The credit agreement was unanimously approved by the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee's board of trustees last month. AINGE PICKS REID AS ASSISTANT: Danny Ainge, a star at Brigham Young during his college career, named former BYU coach Roger Reid as one of his assistants yesterday. The hiring fills a vacancy created when Donn Nelson resigned on Jan. 2 to became scouting director of the Dallas Mavericks. He was Ainge's top assistant, and Ainge said then he would look for an experienced replacement - but not necessarily someone with NBA experience. Reid, fired in December 1996 after seven years as the Cougars' head coach, fits the bill. He was an assistant at BYU in 1981, when Ainge averaged 24.4 points a game and won the John Wooden Award as the nation's top college player. MADDEN PREPARES FOR FREE AGENT GAME: Until John Madden read it in the newspaper, he never thought about the fact that Sunday's NFC Championship game could be his last. Madden becomes a free agent after the season and with the NFL television contract expiring, Fox could lose the NFL. More likely, Madden could be .::.:~....:.;;..3::1.....J courted by whichever network gets Monday John Madden night football. "Until the television contract is sorted out, I don' t think anybody knows anything," Madden said. "There is the possibility that anything can happen because nothing has happened. The last time, I thought CBS would be there forever and it wasn't." Madden would not rule out leaving Fox, but he did say it would be difficult to leave Pat Summerall, his partner at CBS and FoJ. "I enjoy every minute I spend with Pat on and off the air," Madden said. "We've been together for 17 years and I wouldn' t want to split that up." |