THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 9, 1995 TAG: 9506090685
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BOB MOLINARO
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
Lucky man: One person who can't lose no matter how the NBA Finals turn out is Leonard Armato, agent to both Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon.
Draft news: Len Elmore, agent for Norfolk's own Joe Smith, on why it wouldn't bother him if his man were chosen by the perpetually inept Los Angeles Clippers: ``Quite frankly, there are worse places to go right now.'' Name one, Len.
Big shot: Until he lit up the Magic in Game 1 with seven three-pointers, former North Carolina guard Kenny Smith had earned a reputation as a soft player who melted in the big games.
That's the style: Though he missed the shot - which Hakeem Olajuwon tipped in - Clyde Drexler's aggressive drive to the basket in the Houston Rockets' victory Wednesday was a revelation in a sport that relies on too many jump shots in clutch moments.
TV timeout: Bill Walton is trying to raise goofy to an art form.
Court time: If Lance Ito were NBA commissioner, the playoffs would last until Labor Day.
A ``rouge'' awakening: If the temperature is starting to climb into the 90s, it can mean only one thing: Canadian Football League exhibition games begin next week!
Add football: The popularity of the CFL in America appears to be as shortlived as a summer shower, even in Baltimore, where season ticket sales are down 11,000.
Net results: The exhibition between Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles will tell us more about where women's tennis has been than where it is going.
An attempted hold-up: If the cable systems eventually cave to Don King's ridiculous demands, Mike Tyson's return bout against Peter McNeeley could cost the pay-per-view customer between $45.95 and $54.94. Why doesn't King just go from house to house with a pistol?
Numbers game: The Chicago Cubs are upset with the high school coach of Kenny Wood of Grand Prairie, Texas. Seems that Wood threw 177 pitches in a prep doubleheader a few days after the Cubbies made him their No. 1 draft pick. The decision of the ``so-called coach,'' protested Chicago general manager Ed Lynch, ``is borderline negligence.''
Doesn't add up: The news that Orioles Ben McDonald, a pitcher with a 56-50 lifetime record, won an arbitration case for a salary of $4.5 million brings out the Bud Selig in all of us.
Disappearance: By now, somebody should send a search party after Jennifer Capriati.
Clothes make the man: His early dismissal from the French Open will give Andre Agassi more time to sift through dumpsters for his Wimbledon wardrobe.
Futbol: Although it's normal that the new U.S. pro outdoor soccer league, set to start in March, wants at least 75 percent of each team's rosters to be made up of U.S. players, there is a lot to be said for soccer with a foreign accent.
Update: In the American League East, expected to be the best division in the major leagues, only one team (the Red Sox) is above .500. by CNB