By
Nobody
Spurs' Sean Elliott May Be Back
Associated Press
SAN ANTONIO - Sean Elliott, who helped the San Antonio Spurs win the world championship in 1999, is leaning toward returning for another season with the team, the San Antonio Express-News reported yesterday.
The forward told the newspaper that he will return to San Antonio later this week and set up a meeting with Spurs management.
"Am I 99 percent sure I'll be back? Well, maybe not 99 percent - but it's sure way up there," Elliott told the Express-News during a phone interview Tuesday about making a decision.
Elliott missed more than 60 games last season after recovering from a kidney transplant, but returned at the end of the season.
He had not yet confirmed whether he'd return to the Spurs for another season.
Elliott, 32, just completed a week of practice at Pete Newell's Big Man camp in Hawaii and pronounced himself fit.
He has said that he wouldn't have joined the camp if he hadn't planned to return.
"I feel better than I did four or five years ago," Elliott said. "Back when I was 29, 30, I felt old. I feel young, physically. Maybe this is the way you're supposed to feel when you're 32. I took a lot of hits; I was banged around a lot at (Newell's) camp. I played a lot of defense.
"I felt like I was in my prime ... really great, physically,'' he said. "I'd say my mind is pretty much made up."
He discounted any idea that he would restrict himself to just 15 minutes or so a game.
"I'll be out there ready to play full time, a regular game," he said.
Elliott became the first professional athlete to return to play after receiving an organ transplant.
He said he last spoke to coach Gregg Popovich before leaving for Hawaii, and that the coach was positive about the Spurs' 2000-01 chances.
"I figure they may still have caution in the backs of their minds," Elliott said. "I just want to make sure they want me back and are not thinking about my retiring."
Wife of Fred Lane charged with his death
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The wife of Fred Lane was ordered to be held without bond yesterday as prosecutors said she could be charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of the NFL running back.
Deidra Lane, 25, appeared close to tears as she appeared before Mecklenburg County District Court Judge Philip Howerton.
Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit and shackles on her legs, she answered "yes" when Howerton asked if she knew she had been charged with murder.
Under North Carolina law, she was charged with one count that covers both first- and second-degree murder. Prosecutors did not indicate which level they would pursue.
First-degree murder is punishable by execution, while second-degree murder carries a maximum penalty of life in prison.
At the request of prosecutors, Howerton declined to set bond.
She had surrendered to police earlier yesterday morning, accompanied by her lawyer.
Deidra Lane's parents and pastor sat in the courtroom with her. Her mother held the baby girl born to the Lanes just a week before the football player was shot at close range in their home.
Deidra Lane also has a young son from an earlier relationship
"This is a major, major, traumatic event for this family," defense attorney Henderson Hill said. "She's a mother of two very young children. She is frightened to death. She misses her children. She's scared - what any young mother would be going through."
Fred Lane, 24, was shot in the chest and head July 6 as he walked in the front door of the couple's home after flying home from Nashville, Tenn. He had been staying with relatives in Tennessee after training with the Indianapolis Colts, which acquired him from the Carolina Panthers in April.
Investigators have offered no details on the circumstances of the shooting or a motive for it. Hill refused Wednesday to discuss Deidra Lane's motive or version of the shooting.
Woods Doesn't Use Balls He Endorses
Associated Press Writer
SAN FRANCISCO - Tiger Woods endorses "Nike Tour Accuracy" golf balls in TV and magazine ads, but he really plays with custom-made balls unavailable to everyday duffers, Nike acknowledged yesterday after being sued in federal court.
Nike Inc. said the balls Woods uses for his monster swings that produce 300-plus-yard drives have a slightly harder inner and outer core than the balls sold to the public.
"Those two elements are slightly firmer than the marketed ball," Mike Kelly, marketing director for Nike Golf, told The Associated Press.
Kelly said it's common practice in the golfing world to sell the public different products than what the pros really use.
"It's an industry practice to make minor specificationchanges to golf products: irons, putters and golf balls for tour players," Kelly said. "Slight specification and modifications need to be made to their equipment for their game."
But other leading names in golf say their customers get exactly what their pros endorse.
Joe Gomes, a spokesman for Titleist, of Fairhaven, Mass., said its players use the same products they advertise. And if a player uses a "tweaked" version of a club, he said, a consumer could special order it.
"We are very particular about our advertisements. We don't make any claims that cannot be substantiated in both golf balls and clubs," Gomes said.
Callaway Golf of Carlsbad, Calif., said that if one of its golf pros says he uses a certain club, that identical club is available retail.
Spokesman Larry Dorman did say, however, that in February, one of its golf balls had a different number of dimples on it than the ones its pros used.
That occurred, he said, because Callaway was awaiting approval of the new ball by the United States Golfing Association, so the company's pros were briefly forbidden from using it in tournaments.
"We used a prototype with a different number of dimples," Dorman said. "As a result, for a very short period of time, there was a little bit of a lapse from what was being marketed. We were very up front about it."
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, did not immediately return a call requesting comment on the lawsuit.
