ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 29, 1996 TAG: 9612310024
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM ROBINSON LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
In 1996, the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games tried to turn the Georgia city into the world's tickiest, tackiest county fair. Thankfully for the world, its people and athletes did not let that happen.
Ferris wheels, lemonade stands, T-shirt tents and giant, floating Gumbys crammed side-by-side into and above Atlanta's streets. Vendors wailed over the glut. Bus drivers got lost, provided the buses ran at all, and media people whined in hundreds of languages. Computers designed to move information faster and better than ever embarrassingly bogged down.
A bomb went off after midnight in a packed public park and killed a woman.
The list of problems that bedeviled Atlanta will live on as examples of what not to do next time. And yes, in the end, International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch declined to give Atlanta his standard ``best Games ever'' farewell.
But the Atlanta Olympics were not a step backward in Olympic history. Not only did they feature the largest cast of athletes ever from the largest number of countries, competing in the greatest number of sports, they gave Americans some incredible, indelible moments - the flying, gold-shod feet of Michael Johnson; Carl Lewis and his record-tying ninth gold medal; Kerri Strug's dramatic, nearly one-legged vault; Dan O'Brien's dominance of the decathlon; and the emergence of U.S. women as never before, notably swimmer Amy Van Dyken's record four gold medals and gold-medal performances from the women's basketball, gymnastics, soccer and softball teams.
The Olympics were uplifting as well for what they represented: the vision and determination of an Atlanta attorney named Billy Payne, who one day nine years ago wondered, hey, why not try to get the Olympics for Atlanta? - and the ultimate triumph of a city, glitches, giant Elvis figurines and all.
It was hot, expensive, tiring and amazingly crowded, the subways were suffocating, the streets were garish and honky-tonk, and you hardly could walk a hundred yards without some security guard poking into your backpack.
And then the whole, ugly specter of the Richard Jewell bombing investigation began, casting a cloud and a media frenzy over a supposed hero who was cleared - at least for the record - only a month ago.
With it all, try finding somebody who went to watch and, in their heart of hearts, wasn't glad to be part of it. It's about as difficult as catching Michael Johnson from behind.
Even if its image wasn't always flattering, you could say Atlanta truly arrived this year. Tiger Woods did the same, though there were few negative words said or written about the 21-year-old golf prodigy, who won his third consecutive U.S. Amateur championship, turned pro and won two of the seven events he entered, not to mention more than $700,000. Which, of course, was walking-around money next to the $60 million promotional contract he signed with Nike before he struck his first ball for pay.
But look around and you'll see the commonality of many of 1996's most notable sports stories, how they largely fall into the realm of comebacks, comedowns and the always-intriguing quirky.
The comebacks
Michael Jordan, in his first full season after his dalliance with baseball, and the Chicago Bulls won a record 72 regular-season games, finished 87-13 and won their fourth NBA title in six years. Evander Holyfield, who once retired because of a heart problem, destroyed Mike Tyson to become heavyweight champion for a third time. Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Brett Butler was diagnosed with throat cancer in May, and returned to major-league baseball in September. The New York Yankees, whose return to glory, and the World Series championship, featured comeback stories in pitcher David Cone (aneurysm in his throwing arm); Dwight Gooden and Tim Raines (drug rehab); Darryl Strawberry (alcohol, drug and tax problems); and manager Joe Torre (multiple firings, his brother's heart transplant), to name a few. The Yankees also rebounded from an 0-2 deficit to beat Atlanta in the Series. Mario Lemieux of the Pittsburgh Penguins, who led the NHL with 161 points despite battling Hodgkin's disease and a sore back. The Super Bowl-champion Dallas Cowboys won the NFC East Division division despite losing Michael Irvin for five games for cocaine possession and Leon Lett for the last part of this season, and all of next, for drug use. Pete Sampras endured the death of his coach and friend, Tim Gullikson, threw up on the tennis court from exhaustion and dehydration during a four-hour quarterfinal, yet went on to win his fourth U.S. Open and eighth Grand Slam title. Playing with a calf injury and as her father stood trial in Germany for tax evasion, Steffi Graf also won the U.S. Open, one of three Grand Slam titles for the year and the 21st of her career. Nebraska survived a slew of off-field troubles and whipped Florida to win its second consecutive college football championship. Terry Labonte nipped defending champion Jeff Gordon to win his first NASCAR Winston Cup title in 12 years, despite winning only two races to Gordon's 10.
The comedowns
Greg Norman blew a six-stroke lead in the final round and lost the Masters, an unprecedented major-tournament collapse, thus introducing the phrase ``to do a Norman'' to the language. Speaking of which. The NFL's Washington Redskins, once 7-1, lost six of their next seven games and missed the playoffs in their final season at RFK Stadium.
Baseball was particularly bruta. Umpire John McSherry suffered a fatal heart attack on the field in Cincinnati on opening day. Roberto Alomar, Baltimore's second baseman, spit in the face of umpire John Hirschbeck during a regular-season game and drew a suspension for next year. Reds owner Marge Schott was suspended from day-to-day operations of her team, largely for making favorable remarks aboutAdolf Hitler. More Albert Belle high jinks: The Cleveland Indians star hit a photographer with a baseball. He was sued. Later, Belle flagrantly bashed Milwaukee second baseman Fernando Vina with a forearm during a game. He was suspended. On a related topic, Belle signed a baseball-record $55 million free-agent contract with the Chicago White Sox.
NASCAR team owner Rick Hendrick was indicted on federal bribery charges relating to his car dealerships. Dale Earnhardt missed no starts after breaking his collarbone and sternum in July, but endured a 29-race winless streak, the longest of his Winston Cup career. The split on the Indy-car circuit pushed the sport's better-known drivers to the new U.S. 500 in Brooklyn, Mich., on the same day as the Indianapolis 500. Pole-sitter Scott Brayton was killed during a practice session at Indianapolis.
Magic Johnson's return to the NBA was largely unsatisfying to him and to the Los Angeles Lakers, and he retired again. Despite a record career of nearly $10 million in winnings, nearly $5 million of which came in '96, Cigar lost three of his last four races before retiring to stud. So he's got that going for him. Quarterback Neil O'Donnell sold out for big money, bolting the Super Bowl runner-up Pittsburgh Steelers for the horrid New York Jets, who went 1-15. Thirteen Boston College football players were suspended for gambling; two allegedly bet against the Eagles. UCLA basketball coach Jim Harrick was fired for doctoring an expense report, then lying about it three times to school officials.
The quirks
The Yankees beat the Orioles in the playoffs thanks in part to Jeff Maier, their 12-year-old angel in the outfield who, by reaching over the wall and deflecting the ball into the seats, turned an apparent flyout into a home run that tied a score in a game the Yankees went on to win. Princeton beat defending champion UCLA in the first round of basketball's NCAA Tournament in coach Pete Carill's next-to-last game - and what turned out to be Jim Harrick's last game. Heavyweight Andrew Golota not once but twice was soundly beating Riddick Bowe before being disqualified for low blows. Golota's first DQ set off a brawl in the ring, from which trainer Lou Duva had to be carried after being whacked on the head with a cellular phone. Dennis Rodman won the NBA's rebounding title, changed hair color regularly, turned up at his own supposed wedding in a white gown, wrote a book of profanity disguised as an autobiography and drew the ire of his teammates for his lack of self-control on the court. Role models, anyone? Houston Astros catcher Jerry Goff allowed six passed balls in one game, tying a major-league record. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown called 49ers back-up quarterback Elvis Grbac a ``disgrace to humankind'' after Grbac had a bad game, leaving no doubt the Grbacs are not San Francisco voters and that Brown is a fool.
LENGTH: Long : 144 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. The Atlanta Olympics gave us the golden-shod feet ofby CNBMichael Johnson, here celebrating his victory in the men's 200-meter
final in a world-record time of 19.32 seconds on Aug.1. KEYWORDS: YEAR 1996