It's Official: Fatigue Shelves Lemieux For Season
Mario Lemieux made it official today, saying fatigue will sideline him for the entire 1994-95 season.
Doctors told him he has no recurrence of the Hodgkin's disease that was diagnosed in January 1993 or of the anemia he developed last season. However, Lemieux still is bothered by fatigue - apparently the effects from radiation treatment for the cancer and the cortisone shots he received last year for his back pain.
"Right now, my health is a lot more important than hockey," Lemieux said.
His physicians say he has a good chance of returning eventually.
He said he would return only if he can "play like Mario Lemieux can play," and that he would never return as a part-time player or as one who has been stripped of many of his skills.
"If I feel I'm not able to go out on the ice at close to 100 percent, another decision will have to be made," Lemieux said.
Penguins chairman Howard Baldwin said any season-ticket holders who want their money back because Lemieux won't play will get a full refund.
BASKETBALL
The Minnesota Timberwolves today named Bill Blair their new head coach. Blair, 52, an assistant coach for the Indiana Pacers, succeeds Sidney Lowe, who was fired earlier this month.
Blair signed a multi-year contract with the club, General Manager Jack McCloskey said. No financial details were disclosed.
Blair, who has 13 years of NBA coaching experience, is known as a defensive specialist.
-- With five players scoring in double figures, the U.S. Men's Junior Team won its second straight game with a 128-81 victory over Uruguay. Albert White scored 19 points and Tremaine Fowlkes of Cal and Robert Traylor of Detroit scored 18 points each for the U.S.
FRANCHISE SALES
The new owners of the New York Knicks and Rangers and Madison Square Garden say they won't meddle with a good thing.
"Happy fans, a happy press and a successful team go together," said Rand Araskog, chairman and chief executive of ITT Corp. ". . . We will leave it to the professionals."
ITT and Cablevision Systems Inc. said they would buy the teams, the arena and related assets from Viacom Inc. for $1.075 billion.
WRESTLING
Four-time world champion Bruce Baumgartner was upset by Turkey's Mahmut Demir in the 286-pound class of the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. Baumgartner finished second, the 11th world championship medal of his career.
Another American, Melvin Douglas, captured a bronze medal in the 198-pound class. That is the lowest medal total - two - by an American team since 1975.
The U.S. finished in a ninth-place tie in the team race after having won its first world team title last year. Turkey won the team title, tying Russia with 53 points but with two individual champs to Russia's one.
COURTS
The two teenagers charged with robbing and killing the father of former NBA superstar Michael Jordan could learn this week if their lives will be at stake when they go to trial. Larry Martin Demery and Daniel Andre Green, both 19, were to be in Robeson County (N.C.) Superior Court today for a hearing. Both are accused of killing James Jordan while he napped in his car on a Lumberton roadside last summer.
-- Former LSU basketball player Jamie Brandon is free on $150,000 bond after being accused of kidnapping and raping a former girlfriend. Brandon, 23, was booked on charges of aggravated rape and second-degree kidnapping.
-- Former University of Oregon basketball player David Girley was arrested Saturday on charges of rape, felony sex abuse and kidnapping involving two teenage girls. Girley, 29, also was charged with coercion and contributing to the sexual delinquency of a minor.
CYCLING
American rider Lance Armstrong lost a chesslike battle in the final grueling mile of the World Championship professional road race in Agrigento, Sicily, and failed to repeat his victory of last year. Frenchman Luc Leblanc covered the 156 miles in 6 hours, 33 minutes, 54 seconds under a broiling sun, edging Italy's Claudio Chiappucci and another Frenchman, Richard Virenque, by nine seconds. Armstrong was seventh.