A2322
v * 105 :no. 143.
-«^ie Battalion
Sports
i
Page 3 • Wednesday, June 30, 1999
y the book
ayoffs no excuse for NHL to ignore rules
■‘N:
"o Goal.”
These were the words
of Buffalo Sabres coach
Ruff to a crowd of thou-
of fans last week — fans
/hgi were blatantly gypped by the
(lational Hockey League out of a
^jce to see the Sabres win the
fanley Cup.
T1 tere are no two ways about it;
rett Hull of the Dallas Stars had
Mark
PASSWATERS
5 foot in the crease of the goal when he scored the
^Jime goal to win Game 6 and the Stanley Cup for
is team. As a result, it should not have counted.
’here was an instant-replay system put in
lace lay the NHL to prevent just such an
ecu ranee, and it was not used. When
;uff confronted NHL commissioner Gary
lettman and asked why the replay was
otjonsulted, Bettman walked away from
im.
^trhaps in an attempt to shield them-
elves from catcalls of incompetence, the
1HL is claiming Hull never lost posses
ion of the puck and by continuation the
,oal was good.
^■ontinuation? What is that? It is not in
helules. What is in the rules? If a player
ias his foot in the goalie’s crease, then no
;oal should count. Period.
If continuation is going to be the law of
heland, then Buffalo fans should not be
helnly ones up in arms. The Boston Bru
ns pad a goal very similar to Hull’s disal-
Dwed in last year’s playoffs, facing elimi-
latjbn by the Washington Capitals. The
Capitals won and went on to the Stanley
hip Finals — where a goal by Peter Bondra was dis
illowed because his foot was in the crease which
voild have been the winning goal in Game 2.
t of the Continuation sounds like something that hap-
)ertd when Michael Jordan would get “fouled” at
helhree-point line, drive to the hoop and get a foul
ihot to go with his basket. It does not sound like
iomething that should exist in hockey.
■^^■he Stars are not unworthy champions. Dallas
t63flWas the better team and probably would have won
jearo
anyway. But the NHL’s decision hurt the Stars just as
badly as it did Buffalo, since they will have to hear
they had the Cup given to them because of the NHL’s
stupidity.
The NHL had its off-season meetings last week
and abolished instant replay. However, it was still
part of the rules during the Finals and should have
been used. Rules are rules. They should not be
changed at any time, be it the NHL Finals, pee-wee
hockey or “just because.”
This is something the NHL does not get and is
part of the reason hockey will never be on par with
baseball, basketball and football in this country. The
NBA does not get rid of the 24-second shot clock in
the NBA Finals (though the New York
Knicks certainly tried during Game 5),
nor does the NFL stop calling holding
during the playoffs. Rules are in place
for a reason — to bring some sem
blance of order to the game.
If they are ignored, the game is a
sham. If they are ignored by the
league itself, the league has no cred
ibility.
A great deal of this blame must be
placed on Bettman, who still thinks a
hockey puck opens up like a can of
Skoal. Many people in America regard
the NHL as a dull, low-scoring league
with brawls between Canadians inter
spersed with things which do not
make sense. If people do not under
stand the game because of icing or off
sides Riles, wouldn’t they be even
more confused by the NHL ignoring
the Riles altogether? The one thing
that is clear is this episode will harm the
NHL’s credibility.
Now replay is gone, so Hull’s goal will be just fine
next year. Not that it really matters, since the damage
done by ignoring the rules on the books and making
up new ones will already be there. The only way this
will change is if Gary Bettman goes the same way as
replay — out the window.
Mark Passwaters is a graduate student
in electrical engineering.
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Draft-day decisions
Teams looking for surprise star among NBA hopefuls
WASHINGTON (AP) — This
NBA draft is not about Elton
Brand’s true height, Steve Francis’
vertical leap, Wally Szczerbiak’s
jumper or Lamar Odom’s where
abouts.
It is about Jerry Krause’s secret
plan to rebuild his dynasty.
As the clock ticked toward the
moment Wednesday night when
commissioner David Stern will
walk to the podium and announce
the No. 1 pick, the general manag
er of the Chicago Bulls had every
one on edge.
“It’s nerve wracking,” Francis
said yesterday. “It’s the last day,
and you hear so many rumors and
so much that’s going on.”
Francis and Brand have
emerged as the consensus choices
for the No. 1 pick. Szczerbiak,
Odom and UCLA guard Baron
Davis are widely considered to be
top-five choices.
But the order of selection — the
first five being Chicago, Vancouver,
Charlotte, the Los Angeles Clippers
and Toronto — figured to change
by time the draft begins.
“It’s a mystery to me, just like
every other player is really won
dering here they’re going,” Francis
said.
Krause has been talking to nu
merous teams to explore dozens of
trade options, and most people
around the league expected him to
deal the No. 1 pick.
“He holds the key,” NBA scout
ing director Marty Blake said. “But
he’s not going to give any hints as
to what he’s going to do.”
For weeks, the widespread be
lief was that the secretive Krause
had his eyes on Szczerbiak, the
smooth shooting forward from
Miami of Ohio. The one rumor
which has refused to die had
Krause trading the No. 1 pick to
Rockets reject deal for Olajuwon
HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston
Rockets listened to their hearts yes
terday — and possibly avoided a
major public relations blunder —
when they refused a trade offer
from the Toronto Raptors for Ha
keem Olajuwon, one of the city’s
most recognizable athletes.
Loyalty to the 12-time NBA All-
Star was a factor in the Rockets de
clining Toronto’s offers.
“I believe in those things,” coach
Rudy Tomjanovich said. “It would be
very hard for me to be the guy who
pulls the trigger on something like
that. We’ve been through a lot to
gether. I’d hope that a situation like
that doesn’t come along."
The deal reportedly would have
involved Kevin Willis, who played two
seasons with the Rockets before he
was traded to Toronto last June.
The reports said Houston also
would have gotten Doug Christie, 29,
who played 3 and 1/2 seasons for
the Los Angeles Lakers and New York
Knicks before spending the last three
seasons in Toronto.
Toronto, with the Raptors giving
up the fifth pick and guard Tracy
McGrady.
“There’s a very good possibility
that we will not make any decision
on the draft choice until Wednesday
afternoon,” said Krause, who is try
ing to rebuild the Bulls following the
breakup of the team that won three
straight titles from 1996-98. “We
don’t feel there’s an advantage to us
to making it sooner. ”
Many of the players expecting
to be early picks had more of an
air of uncertainty about them
than usual on the day before the
draft.
Some of the comments were
downright odd — Brand sounding
eager to play for Vancouver,
Szczerbiak saying he would “love”
to play for the Clippers.
Brand, who left Duke after his
sophomore season, is a 6-foot-8
forward who played center in col
lege and averaged 17.7 points and
9.8 rebounds.
Francis, a 6-3 guard, averaged
17.0 points for Maryland and
skipped his senior season.
see DRAFT on Page 4.
NBA DRAFT ORDER
1. Chicago Bulls
2. Vancouver Grizzlies
3. Charlotte Hornets
4. Los Angeles Clippers
5. Toronto Raptors
6. Minnesota Timberwolves
7. Washington Wizards
8. Cleveland Cavaliers
9. Phoenix Suns
±0. Golden State Warriors
±1. Cleveland Cavaliers
12. Toronto Raptors
13. Seattle Supersonics
14. Minnesota Timberwolves
15. New York Knicks
16. Chicago Bulls
17. Atlanta Hawks
18. Denver Nuggets
19. Utah Jazz
20. Atlanta Hawks
21. Atlanta Hawks
22. Houston Rockets
23. Los Angeles Lakers
24. Utah Jazz
25. Miami Heat
26. Indiana Pacers
27. Atlanta Hawks
28. Utah Jazz
29. San Antonio Spurs
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