NBA Talks Resume Thursday as Glimmer of Hope Emerges

Locked out NBA players felt another squeeze on their wallets Tuesday, when they missed their second payday, before a glimmer of hope suddenly emerged.

Collective bargaining talks, on hold for nearly two weeks, will resume Thursday in New York with “everything back on the table,” Deputy Commissioner Russ Granik said.

Commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter spoke by telephone and agreed to a session involving the owners’ and players’ full negotiating committees--the first since Nov. 20.

“Billy called David and it was agreed that there are no deal killers or other preconditions,” Granik said. “Neither side is now committed to anything, and whatever was put on the table at the last meeting is now undone.”

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A trust that benefits urban youth in New Jersey is the largest shareholder in the New Jersey Nets, the new owners of the NBA team announced.

Lewis Katz, the managing owner and co-chairman of the new group, said the trust, Community Youth Organization, owns 35% to 40% of the team.

Jurisprudence

Mike Tyson pleaded no contest in Rockville, Md. to charges that he assaulted two men after his wife and they had been in a traffic accident.

Although the plea is not an admission of guilt, the former heavyweight boxing champion faces up to 20 years in prison--10 years on each count--when he is sentenced early next year.

“He admits to losing his temper on the side of the road,” Paul Kemp, Tyson’s attorney, said.

Tyson told Judge Steven Johnson he was not promised leniency and does not expect preferential treatment in sentencing. He also said he was aware his plea could affect his probation for a 1992 rape conviction in Indiana.

Occasionally defiant but under control, NBA player Chris Webber took the stand in Upper Marlboro, Md., and denied striking a police officer and using marijuana before he was arrested on his way to a Washington Wizard practice last January.

“I had to go to work. It’s not the time or place,” Webber said when asked if he had used drugs that day. “Not that any time is the time or place.”

Webber is charged with second-degree assault, resisting arrest, disobeying an officer, marijuana possession and several traffic-related offenses stemming from a traffic stop Jan. 20 for speeding near the Washington Beltway. The arrest was one of several off-the-court matters that prompted the Wizards to trade Webber to the Sacramento Kings last May.

Closing arguments are set for today. Prosecutors have said they will ask for jail time if Webber is convicted of the more serious charges.

Names in the News

Joe DiMaggio is experiencing a rocky recovery from lung cancer surgery.

After a weekend of intensive treatment, the 84-year-old baseball Hall of Famer was recovering from a lung infection.

“We have every hope that he will survive, but anything can happen,” said Dr. Earl Barron, who heads the six-member team treating DiMaggio at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla. “Considering his age, it’s going to be a long road back for him.”

Five-time Olympic gold medalist Jenny Thompson broke her short-course 100-meter butterfly world record at the FINA World Cup swimming meet at College Station, Texas.

The 1998 world champion in the event won in 56.90 seconds, breaking her record of 57.79 set in 1997.

Gary Hall returned to international competition with the help of a court order that allowed him to compete against FINA’s wishes. According to the sport’s international governing body, Hall had not fully served his three-month suspension for testing positive for marijuana more than six months ago.

Hall, 24, a double gold and silver medalist at the 1996 Olympics, finished 13th in the 100 freestyle and 11th in the 50 butterfly.

Marion Jones, who was undefeated in the sprints this year, and John Godina, unbeaten in the shotput, are the winners of the Jesse Owens Memorial track and field awards for 1998.

Raul Gonzalez scored with eight minutes to play at Tokyo, lifting Real Madrid of Spain to a 2-1 victory over Vasco da Gama of Brazil in the final game of the Toyota Cup, giving Real Madrid its first title in the soccer tournament since 1960.

Long Beach State setter Misty May was name the Big West women’s volleyball player of the year for the third consecutive year and the 49ers’ Brian Gimmillaro was coach of the year.

Miscellany

Jockey Linda Hughes took a severe spill at Calder Race Course in Miami and was airlifted to a hospital. Hughes, 34, was initially listed in critical condition, but Tuesday night her condition was upgraded to serious but stable.

Vancouver and the nearby ski resort of Whistler have been chosen as Canada’s candidate to bid for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Tennis, one of three Olympic sports that dissented from an international agreement to unify drug policies, expects to fall into line before February’s summit on drugs in sports, said Brian Tobin, president of the International Tennis Federation.

The ITF had joined the governing bodies of soccer and cycling in expressing reservations about a package of anti-drug measures adopted Friday at a meeting of 35 Olympic sports federations.