Threat of War Overshadows Fun and Games

The games go on, as they always do. But from the tennis courts in Australia to sports arenas across the United States, athletes and fans are thinking about something besides sports.

“I think the major concern is whether we have a war or not. That’s what I’m concerned with,” San Antonio Spurs star David Robinson, a Navy lieutenant, said near the midnight deadline for Iraq to leave Kuwait.

Robinson, who scored 26 points in the Spurs’ 124-102 loss in Utah on Tuesday night, could be called to duty in the Persian Gulf.

“If I have to serve, I’ll serve and go eagerly,” he said. “I don’t consider myself any different than anyone else.”

Professional soccer player Waad Hirmez, 29, came to the United States from his native Iraq in August, 1979, and became a U.S. citizen in March, 1986. The San Diego Sockers midfielder on Tuesday night said he worried about the possibility of a U.S. war with Iraq.

“Although my mother lives with me in San Diego, I still have two aunts, an uncle and four cousins living in Baghdad,” he said. “My parents’ home is only a mile from Saddam (Hussein’s) palace, and if anything happens, it will be gone.

“Everyone there is not a terrorist,” Hirmez said. “Most are just normal people. I was hoping that someday I could take my wife and kids to Baghdad and show them the place where I was born. But now I don’t know if I’ll ever see it again.”

In Italy, two American women basketball players left their Italian clubs because of the fear of war.

Pamela McGee informed her club, Pistoia, of her decision to leave, while Catanzaro said that Monica-Lamb Lattin left abruptly.

Shawn Kemp, a 21-year-old forward for the Seattle SuperSonics, is aware that he might be sent overseas.

“If a shooting war breaks out and a draft is started, I may be one of the first to go because of my age. If that happens, I’ll do what I have to do,” he said.

Ed Reynolds, a linebacker with the New England Patriots, is a member of a reserve unit in Salem, Va., and could be called for duty.

“Combat is a lot more serious than playing a game,” Reynolds said. “But I think it’s time we quit dragging and get it over with.”

The European golf tour called off the Dubai Desert Classic tournament, scheduled to start Feb. 7.

“I am saddened but completely understand the action taken by the sponsor,” said Ken Schofield, executive director of the tour.

At the Australian Open, there was more talk about the prospect of terrorism than there was about tennis.

Bryan Shelton, a former All-American at Georgia Tech, was worried because his brother Mark is an Army captain stationed in Germany who could be sent to the Middle East.

“Everybody’s talking about it every day,” Shelton said. “It’s a scary situation with the deadline coming up. My whole family’s a little nervous, not just for my brother, but because of what’s going to happen over there. I just hope they can come up with a way out of going to war. I’m watching and praying about it.”

The crisis was on the minds of many at NBA, NHL and college basketball games Tuesday night, where moments of silence were observed before the national anthem.