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Show Proo, I tah Wednesday. December 27, 1W5 THE DAILY HERALD, , . r t By DAVE GOLDBERG AP Football Writer i 1 The Rams and Raiders moved from Los Angeles. The Browns and Oilers have packed their bags. The league is suing two owners, and the owners are suing back. Oh yes. San Francisco won a record fifth Super Bowl last Janu- f i ary, finally moving Steve Young, the league and game MVP, out from Joe Montana's shadow. r: That's an afterthought for the NFL, in which the action off the field was often as riveting as the action on it. .:. NFL owners, in their search for I f . i i o - "O j Li " ?Ui J If f? 1 o A! 1 Some critics suggest that the moves could have been avoided had the league chosen Baltimore and St. Louis as expansion cities. Instead, they chose Jacksonville and Carolina, which began play this year with considerable success. The Carolina Panthers had won six games by late in the season, doubling the total by any other expansion team and the Jacksonville Jaguars had three victories. That may have been a result of absolute parity a league diluted by expansion, a salary cap and free agency. As the 1995 season unfolded, there were only two teams that stuck out defending champion San Francisco and its arch-riva- l. ...L...i:il:.rl.:r,l-Dallas, which had won the prevu ious two Super Bowls. But both had their troubles. Injuries hurt the 49ers early, and the lack of depth caused by free agency was apparent as they began ' losing at home to Carolina. . .. Ht r. . T ... ... ! ...i. J . ,almi-their But season turned Nov. 12 in AP Photos Dallas when they jumped to a 17-- 0 San Francisco quarterback Steve Young hugs the Chargers 49-2- 6 in Super Bowl XXIX. Young threw six lead in seven minutes and beat the their third Vince l.ombardi trophy after beating the San Diego touchdown passes in the 49ers' victory. Cowboys, 38-2straight win over Dallas since Barshare revenue from personal seat Louis. The Rams, St. Louis and the um is being built for them. ry Switzer took over for Jimmy licenses. Davis, of course, sued state of Missouri threatened suit, Tagliabue. meanwhile,' said he Johnson. it was his victory in and the team is now in the city wanted teams in Los Angeles, as That game also turned the searight back the suit that resulted from the abandoned by the Cardinals for well as Cleveland and Baltimore, son sour for Dallas, 1 and a which had been abandoned by the favorite going in. Raider' 1982 move to Los Ange- Arizona in 1987. Colts moves the the les that opened the way to what's end of It marked the first of three lossagainst league wishes in 1984. By year, So. Seattle was looking toward now known as "franchise tree seemed to be the trend. es in five games for the Cowboys, Not only had the Browns Los Angeles: Tampa Bay toward including its second to Washingagency." Los Angeles, Orlando and perhaps Earlier, the league did stay out announced a move, but the Oilers ton, which had won just two others of court. But it did so only by proposed to move from Houston to Cleveland: and Arizona, where all year and a game in Philadelbacking down after it had refused Nashville, perhaps as early as next Bill Bidwill failed to find his pot of phia. In the second. Switzer went n in March to allow the Rams to season. They would play in Memon fourth and I gold, toward Los Angeles or for a Baltimore-like stadi Cleveland. while St. Los a from his own 29 and two minutes move from Angeles to phis Q 5-- 4, , 0, 8-- Once again it is time to bestow the coveted Bemies, annual awards for extraordinary achievement in sports. It is unclear if 1995 was the Year of Michael the Great Comeback Jordan. Mike Tyson. Monica or Seles and Ryne Sandberg the Year of the Grand Departure Joe Montana, Boston Garrden. Andre Agassi's hair. To be safe, these awards are m (; dedicated to Orenthal James Simpson, who managed to do both. Play Me or Inoculate Me Award: To the Zimbabwe soccer team, which kept its starters home and sent its second team to Zaire during the Ebola virus crisis. If "That Were True Craig Stadler Would Never Make a Dime Award: To commentator Ben Wright, who said women's breasts Interfered with their minor-leagu- umpire Mel Chit-turfor throwing out Abilene e By MARK WHICKER Orange County Register n, Prairie Dogs announcer Dave Andrews after Andrews thanked an eyeglass company for sponsoring that uay's game. Maybe They Didn't Know the Meaning of the Word Quit But They Knew How to Find It public-addre- ss -- , time-saver- ' 390-poun- lltl left. He failed, lost and was vilified in Dallas and around the country. But more than the scorn for Switzer. it dropped the Cowboys behind the 49ers in the race for the home-fiel- d advantage in the NFC playoffs and kept the surprising Eagles, under Ray Rhodes, in the race for the NFC East title. The Cowboys came out on top, however, when the 49ers and Eagles both lost on the last weekend while the Cowboys downed Arizona. In the AFC, the big surprise was Kansas City, supposed to be an also-ra- n after the retirement of Joe ' Montana. But Steve Bono, Montana's caddie in both San Francisco and Kansas City, stepped into the void and led the Chiefs to three overtime wins early. They clinched the AFC West with four weeks left in the season. The AFC's other surprise was Buffalo, which dropped to 9 last season after four straight Super Bowl losses. Il came back to the verge of winning the AFC East despite a rash of injuries and the loss for three weeks of coach Marv Levy, who underwent surgery for prostate cancer. As the season wound down, the Chiefs and Bills, along with Pittsburgh, had won their divisions in the AFC. San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia. Green Bay and Detroit were the major NFC conthe Lions coming on tenders strong from 6 to 9-- 6 after owner William Clay Ford gave coach Wayne Fontes a "playoffs-or-else- " ultimatum. Fontes won. come-from-behi- 7-- 3-- Sacramento's record finally fit for a King in the Library Award: To the Northwestern football team. But Shhhhhhh! Until After They Stitch in That New Liver Award: To Mickey Mantle, who confessed he was not a good role model. And She Wasn't Invited to My Wedding Either Award: To Nancy Kerrigan, who turned down $5 million to skate against Tonya Harding. Let's See What Else I Have in My Gym Bag Award: To Notre Dame coach Lou Holtz. for auctioning off his neck supporter. Give Me an "N." Give Me a golf swing. Give me a "T." Give me an "U." He Though He's Not Saying Aw ard: To the Phoenix Suns' "S" for Same the Done Have Would who showed up the Pet's Owner Award: To the basketball fans Tina under Majerle's hospital Minnesota researcher who recwindow during her induced labor Laettner's Christian ognized lost dog and saved il at the last to shout, "Push. Push!" Time Flies Award: To the new minute from becoming a med-- . baseball speedup rules, which ical experiment. s, allow, among other This Town Ain't Big Enough thumb his suck to the Award: pitcher for Me and Little Eva To Cleveland Browns owner without leav ing the mound. If it Was Good Enough for Art Modell. When the Calamari Hits Pete Rose and Al Capone Aw ard: Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie, To Steffi Graf's father Peter, That's Red Wing Hockey jailed for cheating on his taxes. So That's Why the Easter "Award: To Zamboni driver Al Award: To the Sobotka, for his advice that Eggs Were Late official who soccer Barcelona octopus throws better if boiled. for and fined reprimanded was Like Just Was Bv Gum. That rabbit a out for-- . bunny To Award: It punching Rehearsed ,We linebacker that had hopped onto the field. Giants nier The Billy Martin Finally Gets ' Lawrence Taylor, for pinning Award: To manager Buck Even d professional for firing Yankees Showalter, in Bam wrestler Bam Bigelow ow ner George Steinbrenner. less than 10 minutes. At Least You Did One Thing . Where Is Jeff Tarango's You' Right Award: To baseball, for Wife Benedicte When To Award: giving Michael Jordan back. Really Need Her . nt first-dow- honor great comebacks, departures Chicago Tribune li San Diego quarterback Stan Humphries pounds the turf after injuring his leg during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXIX. i 995 awards By BERNIE LINCICOME ,i.-- Ml' - state-of-the-- - 0 ' riches, may finally have destabilized what had been the most stable league in American professional sports. The two key figures were Dal-Ja- s' Jerry Jones and Cleveland's :Art Modell. Modell, long a "league man," stunned his fellow owners when he announced Nov. 6 that he would .move the Browns to Baltimore .from Cleveland, where they had :been one of the NFL's most tradition-laden fixtures. The reason: a $220 million stadium with luxury boxes,' a $75 million relocation fee and revenues from parking and concessions. They would replace an antiquated stadium and help Modell make up what he claimed was $21 million in losses the last two years trying to keep up with the Joneses in the free agent market. Modell's announcement came two months after Dallas' Jones had challenged the NFL's most sacred concept: revenue sharing. He did it by signing unsanctioned deals with Nike, Pepsi-Col- a and American Express, and suggesting that revenue from merchandising be taken from the pool of shared revenues. That gave Jones and "America's Team" a major financial advantage because Dallas leads the league in marketing and he immediately exploited it, using cash from those deals in the $13 million signing bonus he gave Deion Sanders. The result: a $300 million suit by the NFL followed by a $750 million counter suit by Jones. . : But that's only part of the problem for Commissioner Paul Tagli-abu- e. who said when the Browns' mov e was announced: "Our object always is to stay out of court." this season, the league )f, Early sued Al Davis and the Raiders, who moved back to Oakland from Los Angeles during the offseason because the NFL wants the team to Tajje B3 INGLEWOOD, Calif. Each year the NBA stage., a big spin. But the Sacramento Kings never ask "Who's next?" They know it's never them. "Don't come over here talking about luck," Mitch Richmond told the new coach. Gerry St. Jean, in 1992. "There's only one kind of luck around here." It takes considerable ignorance, sloth and to put up II consecutive losing seasons in the NBA. Or to go nine years without a playoff game. Or to go 14 years without w inning a playoff game. the Kings deserv e a lot of discredit for That, but the force has been against them. Sacramento has lost its way into nine of the past 1 draft lotteries. It has only won one. That was 1989. Come on down, Pervis Ellison. In 1987, the Kings drew the absent-mindedne- ss 1 sixth card. They took Kenny Smith, five picks behind David Robinson. In 1985. the Kings' number again came up sixth. The difference between first and sixth that year was the difference between Patrick Ew ing and Joe Kleine. In 1992, Sacramento was the seventh name on the board. It w as happy with Walt Williams but probably would have settled for the top pick, Shaquille O'Neal. The Kings plucked Ricky Berry in '88, but he committed suicide a few months after a promising rookie season. The Kings were most happy to take Bobby Hurley with the seventh pick in '93. even though that was Penny Hardaway's draft. But Hurley nearly died in a two-ca- r crash, Dec. 12 of his rookie season. That's how you average 26 victories over a six-yeperiod, season. beginning with the '89-9- 0 Last season the Kings were 28-2- 0 on Feb. 1 8 but faltered to 39-4losing the last game of the season at Denver to enter another lottery ar 3, and receive the 13th pick, which turned out to be Corliss Williamson, who needed disk surgery. But the coin just might be coming up Kings at last, despite a horrid stopover in Los Angeles, where they lost to Lakers and Clippers. "Last year it was exciting because we got the feeling of winning." said Lionel Simmons, now in his sixth year of hard time. "But we were just hoping to get into the playoffs. This year, there's no doubt we'll get there. We're expecting to." The tloodwaters began to recede on Dec. 18. 1989, w hen the Kings subtracted Bill Russell from their brain trust and moved Jerry Reynolds from coach to general manager. Reynolds picked Simmons in that draft, then chose Billy Owens with the third pick in the '91 draft and swapped h;m to Golden State for Richmond. In doing so. he gave up an occasional twinkle for a real star. If Richmond averages 2 1 points this season (he's at 20.7 now), he w ill have done so every season for his first eight. Six other players have done that: Bird. Barry, Chamberlain. Jordan and Robertson. If you need their first names, stick with Ultimate Abdul-Jabba- r, Fighting. For '92-9- 3 the season, Reynolds hired St. Jean. Don Nelson's assistant at Golden State. St. Jean immediately talked defense. The Kings called for interpreters. "It's not something they'd been familiar w ith," St. Jean said. was 35th in the draft. "Michael didn't fit into the NBA computer." St. Jean said. "You're supposed to weigh 250 pounds to play power forward (Smith weighs 230 at You hate to rely on cliches, but Michael's got great heart." took In '95 Sacramento Williamson in the first round and UCLA's Tyus Edney in the second. Edney needed only 3 games to beat out Hurley as starting point guard, but Nick Van Exel disrupted him Friday night. And when Edney drives into the NBA lane, the ball sometimes comes out w ithout him. "I don't put a lot of pressure on rookies." St. Jean said. "Sometimes Tyus plays like a rookie, but he's been great at other times. The knock on them was that he couldn't hold up physically. But he's not playing 40 minutes a game on this level, so it hasn't been a problem." Reynolds then brought in old pros Tyrone Corbin and Sarunas Marciulionis. "Last year when Mitch had a bad game, you could pretty much write the script." St. Jean said. "That's changed, too." k But Richmond wrote HousDec. 4 at prose. ton. The Kings trailed the two-tim- e NBA champs by 10 with 10:25 left. Richmond hauled dow n Houston by himself, winding up w ith 47 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Sacramento won, 1 14-- 1 10. Routine? Not quite. Two nights earlier. Houston had pounded the Kings in Sacramento by 40. And the 23 previous times lf Kings. Mark columnist Whicker is a sports for the Orange County Register. Write to hints at: Ownge County Register. 625 North Grand Avenue, Santa Ana, Calif. 92711. Will 5H0UT? wfaustI CASES atv 14 WHlUldS 1 r7nAi VjjiV CALL TOLL rREI IN UTAH Dog Bite Casm The Kings took Grant on the three-and-a-ha- Simmons said. Sacramento." "You don't hear it anymore." The Lakers had it easy Friday, but that was one frame in a long mov ie. Finally, it's good to be the purple-and-blac- was eighth pick in '94, one pick after the Clippers look Lamond Murray. Smith, who averages a rebound minutes, every 0. 1 But w hen the Kings drafted forwards Brian Grant and Michael Smith last year, they jumped to second in defense, cutting it from .479 to .453. Today they're fifth. "It was just a new mentality," Simmons said. "Nothing working the old way." Hakeem Olajuvvon had played against the Kings, he was 23-"You used to hear players talking about hav ing an easy game in mlltntt WRONGFUL DEATH 24 HOUR MtSSAGt 942 7252 IfW CAN SIX YOU TODAY!!! ATTORNrV OM HWN ???? In WHIPLASH 1 LOW BACK CLINIC Srrrin for Oitr 25 1H fun 225-399- 3 Eat 800 South. Orem, 606 . I UT H |