Page 10- The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, January 30, 1991

Giants turn down
offer for celebration

Thomas unlikely to

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The
New York Giants yesterday turned
down invitations to celebrate their
Super Bowl victory with the New
Jersey governor and mayor of New
York City, saying it wouldn't be
right with war raging in the Persian
Gulf.
New Jersey Governor Jim Florio
and New York City Mayor David
Dinkins had invited the Giants to
celebrate their 20-19 victory over
the Buffalo Bills with fans on ei-
ther side of the Hudson River.
"We're turning down all deals,"
Giants spokesman Ed Croke said.
"It would be inappropriate to show
celebration."
In New York, workers had al-
ready started setting up stands for
a scheduled ceremony for today.
Dinkins was to present the keys to
the city to Giants coach Bill Par-
cells and owners Wellington and
Tim Mara. The mayor also had
planned to issue a proclamation
honoring the Giants.
"I understand and respect this
gesture and share their desire to
support the young men and women
fighting in the Persian Gulf," Dink-
ins said.
He said he was "disappointed

that the people of New York and I
will not be able to demonstrate
how proud we are of the Giants,"
but Dinkins congratulated the team
and said he joined them "in wish-
ing for the safe and swift return of
our troops."
Florio joined about 500 fans at,
Giants Stadium in East Rutherford
on Monday night to welcome the
team home and invite the players
to the statehouse. Florio wanted
the team to come to Trenton so he
could publicly thank the Giants on
behalf of New Jersey fans.
Owner Wellington Mara did not
immediately accept the invitation,
and yesterday he issued a state-
ment turning it down.
"The Giants greatly appreciate
the spontaneous enthusiasm of our
fans as displayed in their welcome
last evening when we returned to
Giants Stadium," he said.
But out of respect for the
"hundreds of thousands of men and
women serving in the Persian Gulf
area, we respectfully request that
no such additional public celebra-
tion be held."
Florio spokeswoman Emma
Byrne said: "We understand. We'll
celebrate in spirit here."

play again
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP)
- Detroit Pistons captain Isiah1
Thomas underwent a successful
operation yesterday to fuse bones1
in his right wrist, but the surgeon
says it's unlikely he'll play again1
this season.
Thomas and Pistons officials+
had expressed hope he could rejoin1
the team in time for the NBA+
playoffs in late April. Detroit is1
two-time defending NBA cham-
pion.
"I suppose if his wrist is real
solid and the bone is real sturdy,3
he could play sometime in May,
but I'm a little nervous setting him
loose on a basketball court until
I'm convinced he's ready," Dr.
Kirk Watson said.
Thomas, 29, was in surgery at
Hartford Hospital for 45 minutes
early yesterday morning and
headed back to Detroit in the af-
ternoon. Thomas, the most valu-
able player in last year's NBA fi-a
nals, will be in a cast until March
19 and cannot play basketball for
eight weeks after the cast is re-
moved, Watson said.1
That 15-week minimum recu-
peration compares with 12 weeks4
the Pistons had mentioned earlier
- eight weeks in a cast and four
weeks of rehabilitation.
The Pistons' team physician
was slightly more optimistic than1
Watson. "It is anticipated that his1
return to basketball might be as1
early as the first week in May,"
which would be 13 weeks fromJ
now, Dr. Benjamin Paolucci said
yesterday.
Piston coach Chuck Daly and
Piston general manager Jack Mc-
Closkey were unavailable forl
comment yesterday, the team said.{
The deterioration of Thomas'
wrist also had caused some minor
arthritis, but that may clearWat-1
son said.

this year
"I would not have wanted him
to wait until June to underg
surgery or the arthritis might have
been much worse," Watson said.
During the surgery, Watson
took a graft from Thomas' forearm
and fused the scaphoid bone, one
of eight small bones in the wrist,
to two other bones to keep it from
rotating and damaging ligaments
further.
Watson performed similar
surgery on Adrian Dantley in 1983,,
and he camhe back to lead the
NBA in scoring at Utah in 1984
with a 30.6 points per game aver-
age.
Watson said that he is confi-
dent that Thomas will come back
strong. "I'm very pleased," he
said.
Thomas decided to have the
surgery last week after Watson exn
amined him and Thomas went on
to perform poorly against Boston
last Wednesday. The wrist had
been bothering him for about nine
months.

"He has a very,
threshold of pain,"
said at the time. "He j
go on."

very high
McCloskey
ust couldn't

Morris elects for free agency

DETROIT (AP) - Detroit
Tigers pitcher Jack Morris decided
yesterday to test the free-agent
market rather than re-sign with the
team for a guaranteed $9.3 million
over three years.
As a new-look free agent, Mor-
ris had until midnight last night to
choose between re-signing with the
club, staying under his existing
contract or becoming a free agent.
He selected the third option and
abandoned his roster spot with De-
troit.
Morris, who spent all or part of

the last 14 seasons with the Tigers,
was asking for $3.35 million.
Team spokesman Dan Ewald
said Morris turned down the
Tigers' offer of a guaranteed $9.3
million over three years. The 35-
year-old righthander made $2.1
million in 1990, when he was 15-
18 with A 4.51 ERA. He was to
earn the same amount this season.
"The offer that was made to
him was a very generous offer, a
very fair offer," Ewald said.

Thomas will miss his scheduledO
start in the NBA All-Star Game on
February 10, where he and
Chicago's Michael Jordan were
top-voted guards for the Eastern
Conference team.
After placing Thomas on in-
jured reserve, the Pistons signed
former Detroit guard John Long,
34. The club is 3-0 since then.
Detroit picked Thomas out of9
Indiana University as the second'
player taken overall in the 1981
draft. He has averaged 20 points
and 9.8 assists in 10 NBA seasons,
all with the Pistons. Playing hurt
this season, he averaged a career-
low 16 points a game.

Remember when he could do this?
Detroit Piston guard Isiah Thomas had a strong move to his right until he
injured his wrist. Thomas underwent surgery yesterday to correct the
ligament damage.


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Michigan
Alumni
work
here:
The
Wall Street
Journal
The
New York Times
The
Washington Post
The
Detroit Free Press
The
Detroit News
NBC Sports
Associated Press
United Press
International
Scientific
American
Time
Newsweek
Sports Illustrated
USA Today
Because they
worked here:

9!

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In addition to this great travel program, you'll also enjoy all
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But remember, there's only one way to get all this-and that's
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a lot of money And that's by getting the American Express"'Card.
It's the only card that offers an exciting new travel program
exclusively for students-including three roundtrip certificates on
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