Players’ Ballots Counted Today; NBA Optimistic

The fate of the 1995-96 NBA season will be determined today when the ballots of a players’ vote on a new collective bargaining agreement are counted.

The National Labor Relations Board held two days of voting, during which members of the NBA Players Assn. could choose to ratify a six-year contract with the league or disband the union.

NBA Commissioner David Stern has said that if the contract is not ratified, the season will not start on time, and could be canceled. If the union is broken up, the league could be subject to an antitrust suit seeking to end the current lockout and to abolish the league’s salary-cap system.

“We are cautiously optimistic about the results of the voting because we have always believed that a large turnout would favor the union and the deal,” NBA Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik said. “Our best guess is that the number of players voting may exceed 300.”

About 425 players were eligible to vote.

Guard Mitch Richmond of the Sacramento Kings has already filed unfair labor practice charges against the league, citing Stern’s comments that the season was in jeopardy if the contract was not ratified, as putting undue pressure on players.

College Basketball

Forwards Jason Osborne and Alex Sanders are ineligible to play for Louisville during the 1995-96 basketball season after failing to meet academic requirements.

Osborne, a 6-foot-8 junior, averaged 11.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists as the Cardinals went 19-14 last season. Sanders, a 6-7 sophomore, averaged 19.3 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior for Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., in 1994. He sat out last season after failing to meet NCAA freshman academic requirements.

Golf

Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal has been forced to withdraw from the European Ryder Cup team because of an injury to his right foot. Olazabal was replaced by Ian Woosnam of Wales, for the competition Sept. 22-24 at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.

Jurisprudence

Pittsburgh Penguin strength coach John Welday and former defenseman Peter Taglianetti, now of the Boston Bruins, went on trial in Pittsburgh on charges of assaulting an art student in a bar just after the Washington Capitals had ousted the Penguins from the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring.

Names in the News

British driver Keith Odor, 33, died of injuries suffered in last weekend’s Super Touring Car race at Berlin. . . The Edmonton Oilers re-signed goaltender Bill Ranford to a $2.2-million, one-year contract. . . . All-Star defenseman Brian Leetch of the New York Rangers is expected to be sidelined the first two weeks of training camp because of a stress fracture of the right foot. . . Daniela Bartova of the Czech Republic broke her women’s world pole vault record, leaping 13 feet 10 inches at Salgotarjan, Hungary. . . . Steve Campbell of the United States upset third-seeded Alex Corretja of Spain, 0-6, 6-3, 6-4, in the first round of the Club Colombia Tennis World Series in Bogota.