Tomba Comes Up Big Yet Again on Slopes

Alberto Tomba longed for this one, and it was a long time coming.

Tomba, a three-time Olympic champion from Italy, won his first World Cup giant slalom in nearly three years Thursday at Alta Badia, Italy, giving him three victories in three days and five this season.

Tomba, 28, had the fastest times in both runs to beat Urs Kaelin of Switzerland by 0.45 seconds down the steep Gran Risa track in the Italian Dolomite Mountains. Christian Mayer of Austria was third, 0.61 seconds behind Tomba.

It was the 38th victory of Tomba’s career, and he is off to his best start since the 1987-88 season, when he won nine races and two gold medals at the Calgary Olympics.

“I really wanted to win this giant slalom, in this place,” Tomba said. “The latest victory is always the most exciting, but I can’t say today’s was better than yesterday’s. I love them all.”

Counting consecutive slalom victories to end last season, Tomba now has won a record six slaloms in a row, beating the men’s World Cup record of five done three times by Swedish great Ingemar Stenmark and matched once by Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg.

The triumph also widened Tomba’s overall lead in the World Cup standings. He has 550 points, 248 more than defending World Cup champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.

College Football

USC offensive coordinator Mike Riley will be interviewed Monday for the coaching vacancy at Vanderbilt.

Riley, 41, is in his second year at USC.

Vanderbilt seeks a successor to Gerry DiNardo, who recently left Vanderbilt after four years to become coach at Louisiana State. Vanderbilt was 5-6 last season.

“I told them I’d talk to them, but that I’m really happy at USC and it’d take a great offer to get me to leave,” Riley said.

Riley will be interviewed by Vanderbilt Athletic Director Paul Hoolahan in Dallas, where USC will play Texas Tech in the Cotton Bowl on Jan. 2.

A Miami sports official said bargain housing deals given to football players who rented from boosters made it tough for him to maintain NCAA compliance and was partially responsible for his resignation last year.

Players from Miami’s 1989 and 1991 championship teams got the sweet deals on housing, the Miami Herald reported.

“I questioned whether they had institutional control and that’s one of the reasons I left,” said Doug Johnson, former associate director for compliance. “I didn’t think I could work to maintain institutional control.”

Five players also drove rental cars at discounted rates, but the NCAA found the violations were not serious enough to punish the school, the newspaper reported.

As for the housing, Johnson said he approved leases for Heisman Trophy winner Gino Torretta and two others to pay only a combined $1,000 a month to live in a $200,000 luxury Coconut Grove condominium owned by a booster in 1991.

But he said he warned school officials about the dangers of similar living arrangements in which players rented rooms from boosters.

“When people live together things happen--the borrowing of a car, the loaning of money--the kind of thing that is a definite violation,” Johnson said.

Baseball

The Texas Rangers acquired right-handed pitcher John Burkett from the San Francisco Giants in exchange for infielder Rich Aurilia and outfielder Desi Wilson.

“I was a little surprised to be going,” Burkett said. “But I can tell you that I’m really excited about it. I want to be on a winning team. The Rangers seem to be making that commitment. That’s all you can ask for.”

Burkett won 67 games for the Giants in the last five seasons. He tied for the fourth most victories in the National League during the same period.

He was tied for second in the National League last season with 25 starts, issuing only two walks every nine innings. In 1993, Burkett tied for first place with 22 victories.

Aurilia and Wilson will be assigned to the Giants’ Pacific Coast League team in Phoenix.

Veteran catcher Kirt Manwaring signed a new two-year, $3.675-million contract with the Giants, the team announced.

Manwaring, who has been with the Giants for five years, batted .250 with 29 runs batted in during the strike-shortened season.

All-Star first baseman Frank Thomas said the Chicago White Sox are in serious trouble now that they’ve lost Julio Franco to a Japanese team and traded pitcher Jack McDowell to the New York Yankees.

Franco agreed to a two-year, $7-million contract with the Chiba Lotte Marines, the richest contract in Japanese baseball history.

“After a breakthrough year for the White Sox this past season, I see this as a very serious setback to our goal of becoming the next World Series champion,” Thomas said in a statement.

The Cincinnati Reds, still trying to sort out their starting rotation for next season, signed Jack Morris, 39, to a $600,000, one-year contract that gives him the chance to earn $1.4 million more in bonuses.

Morris, a right-hander who has spent his 18-year career in the American League, was released by Cleveland in August.

Miscellany

The Royal and Ancient Golf Club announced that a change in the rules will allow Arnold Palmer to make a farewell appearance at the British Open, which returns to the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland, in 1995. Instead of offering all past British Open champions under 65 a place in the event, the club has altered the rule to read “65 or under.” Palmer, who won the Open in 1961 and ‘62, celebrated his 65th birthday Sept. 10.

Ron Newman, who coached the San Diego Sockers to 10 indoor soccer championships in 14 seasons, said he is leaving the team.