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The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 8, 1995 - 25
Players vote
on fate of
BA uion
NEW YORK (AP)-NBA play-
: turned out in large numbers
Thursday to complete voting on the
Fate of their union, with opposing
si4es in the dispute optimistic about
wipping.
Players voted on union
egertification at sites around the
:ountry, and the results are to be
unuounced Tuesday.
The players were to decide
whether to retain the National Bas-
ketball Players Association as their
:oJlective bargaining representative.
* "yes" vote was considered a vote
Fo a proposed labor deal that would
increase the salary cap but close
several existing loopholes.
NBA commissioner David Stern,
who locked out players July 1, has
aid a "yes" vote is the only way to
guairantee the season starting on time.
VA large turnout would suggest
. players who favor the agree-
nent and the union came out and
voted for it," said Simon Gourdine,
ihe union's executive director.
The exact number of players vot-
ng - 423 were eligible - was
vailable, but NBA deputy com-
mssioner Russ Granik said Thurs-
Iay evening teams keeping tabs on
he oting estimated a high turnout.
"We think something over 300
players will have voted when this is
over, and maybe more," he said.
The group backing
decertification was equally sure the
vote would go its way.
"We're optimistic about the cur-
rent state ofthe election," said Jeffrey
Kessler, the lawyer representing
Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and
other players advocating
decertification. "Everything we're
heeling indicates we're going to win
A simple majority is needed to
ecertify. Votes will be counted pub-
icly at the National Labor Rela-
diis Board office in New York.
If players vote to retain theunion,
player representatives from each
ea will meet Sept. 13 to officially
tify the agreement. Twenty-one
f the 27 reps must approve it.
Team owners then will vote, and
heir approval would end the lock-
.
Patrick Ewing, along with Jor-
dWi'the leading advocate of abolish-
*ng the union, reiterated his claim
lh decertification, not a faulty la-
agreement, is the best way to
ake sure no games are lost.
"We would ratherthe season start
n time," he said after voting here.
But the NBA has locked us out. It's
11 in their hands. If anything hap-
ns (to the season), it should be
lamed on the owners, not us."
Doc Rivers, the veteran guard
ho played for San Antonio last
eason, said the summer-long labor
rmoil hasjolted his colleagues out
-f their apathetic attitude toward
:itract negotiations.
"I know far more about labor
aws than I thought I would have to
ow," he said.
"But I do know about them now
rid it's probably good. It's prob-
bly too bad I just started learning
bout it. I think all of us as players
hould have known about this stuff
or a year. It took this to get our
ttention, and that's too bad."
Among the players voting in Los
geles were Reggie Miller, who
ks decertification, and Shaquille
'Neal, who supports the union,
lthough neither would say how he
oted.
Boston's Dino Radja, who fa-
ors decertification, voted in New
ork after flying in-at the NBA's
xpense-from his home in Croatia.
hicago's Luc Longley voted in Los
geles after journeying from his
tive Australia.
To encourage voting, the NBA
ffered to pay transportation costs
or players to vote at any of the 47
ites across the country and in Puerto
+co.
The labor dispute moves into the
ourtroom Thursday, when U.S. dis-
ct judge David Doty will hear
otions on the antitrust suit against
e NBA filed by Ewing, Jordan and
14 other players.
The players will ask Doty for a
Osborne lifts ban on
Nebraska student paper
AP PHOTO
Before yesterday's 66, Russ Cochran had never broken par at Glen Abbey.
Cochran fires six-under 66,
takes lead in Canadian Open
LINCOLN, Neb. -(AP)Nebraska
coach Tom Osborne has rescinded a
ban to bar the student newspaper from
practice, vowing instead to decline in-
terviews with the paper's reporters.
Osborne declared the ban for Daily
Nebraskan reporters after two cartoons
critical of football players were pub-
lished last week. Osborne, who called
the cartoons inappropriate, said: "At-
tending our practice is a privilege, not a
right."
The first cartoon, published last
Thursday, showed a caricature of re-
ceiverRiley Washingtonpracticing ina
prison jumpsuit and a ball and chain
while four other players watched.
Washington is chargedwith attempt-
ing second-degree murderinashooting
Aug. 2 at a Lincoln convenience store.
He has practiced with the team since
late last month.
The other cartoon depicted running
back Lawrence Phillips driving a car
with dollar bills blowing out the back.
The NCAA is reviewing the rela-
tionship betweenPhillips, ajunior from
West Covina, Calif., and owners of the
group home where he lived as a teen-
ager. The owners have said they leased
a 1995 MustangconvertibleforPhillips
and provided him with other benefits.
Osborne lifted the ban Wednesday
evening and replaced it with stricter
rules for all reporters. Nebraska sports
information director Chris Anderson
said she didn't know why Osborne
changed his mind.
Reporters, including those from the
Daily Nebraskan, will be allowed to
attend the first 15 minutes of practice,
Anderson said late Wednesday. The
first 15 minutes have traditionally been
open. After practice, reporters will be
escorted to a briefing. Reporters can
requestprivateinterviewswithOsborne,
but he will exercise his option to refuse
requests from the Daily Nebraskan.
Osborne defended the ban during a
call-in radio show Wednesday evening.
When a caller suggested that he
overreacted, Osborne said, "I don't do
anything where I fly off the handle
pretty much."
Journalism professors said that the
ban was illegal.
"I don't think the coach has any
legal authority to do what he's doing,"
prcfessor Alfred Pagel Jr. said Wednes-
day. "He's the coach. Coaches tend to
think that everything that affects their
team is their business."
The university's legal team began
looking into the matter Wednesdaybut
declined to comment. Pagel and Daily
Nebraskan editor J. Christopher Hain,
meanwhile, said they thought the ban
was illegal.
"This sort of issue is one that's left
to each institution," said Steve Mallonee,
director of legislative services for the
NCAA. "I've neverheard of something
like this before, but that doesn't mean
it's not happening."
Coaches have closed practices for
years to avoid being scouted by the
opposition. But the ban raised ques-
tions of whether Nebraska reporters,
who are fee-paying students, can be
kept from practice or anywhere else on
campus.
School officials said there was no
official policy on barring people frorm
team practices.
Professor John Bender, who teaches
communications law and freedom of
information at Nebraska, said there are
several court opinions that protect re
porters from being denied access by
government entities.
"I think he has overstepped his
bounds,"Bendersaid. "Asanofficialof
the state... hecan'tdiscriminateagainst
different media on sex, race or religion
- or on the basis of whether he likes a
cartoon or not."
Osborne said the Daily Nebraskan
will continue to be welcome at his
weekly news conference.
James Mehsling, who drew the car-
toons, said Osborne was overreacting.
Hain said the Washington cartoon
was intended to criticize Nebraska's
decision to allow the junior to practice.
The Phillips cartoon, he said, raises
questions under investigation by the
NCAA.
"Whether successful or not, sports
figures and their mishaps are part of the
public discussion," Hain said.
OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) -
Cold, blustery weather was just what
Russ Cochran needed Thursday to
tame Glen Abbey, a golfcourse where
he had never before broken par.
Cochranbirdied the final hole from
the back bunker for a 6-under-par 66
and a one-shot lead over New
Zealand's Grant Waite in the wind-
swept first round of the $1.3 million
Canadian Open.
Temperatures dropped to the low
50s near the shores of Lake Ontario.
Many players wore sweaters or foul-
weather gear, walking with hands in
their pockets between shots.
Waite had a one-shot lead over ev-
era players, including Bill Glasson and
Andrew Magee. Jim Gallagher Jr., a
two-time winner this season, was in a
large group at 69. Hawaiian Open win-
ner John Morse led a group at 70.
Fred Couples shot 71. Defending
champion Nick Price and Lee Janzen,
a three-time winner this season, were
among those at 72.
In three previous trips to this
Toronto suburb, Cochran missed the
cut twice and withdrew once after a
miserable first round. On his last trip
north, in 1992, he was sent packing
after consecutive rounds of 80.
Glen Abbey, perhaps Canada's
finestpublic golfcourse, was designed
by Jack Nicklaus.
"It's a great golf course. It just
doesn't necessarily suit my game,"
said Cochran, who was sidelined al-
mos thre months this season with a
herniated neck disc.
"I hit the ball low. These greens
favor a player who hits the ball high."
% Cochran, whose only career vic-
tory on the PGA Tour was the 1991
Western Open, said he came back for
a simple reason.
"I needed to make some money,"
he said. "I had to make an effort.
When you're not playing well, you
have the same pressures arookie does.
Making money is on my mind and
trying to get my card back."
Cochran, No. 154 on this year's
moneyhlist, ran off a string of four
straight birdies and turned at 5-under.
His bogey-free round included a three-
putt par at No. 16.
"I'm very surprised,"aCochran
said. "Nothing I've done lately mer-
ited shooting a round like this. Maybe
now I can make something out of it."
Waite, whose only win on the PGA
Tour came in the 1993 Kemper Open,
has missed the cut in 10 of the 22
events he has entered this year.
He was 3-over after the first three
holes but made an eight-stroke swing
over the next 12 holes for his 67.
"More than anything, I kept my
emotions under control," he said.
"That's important to me in the evolu-
tion of my game."
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