Collective Bargaining Agreement

ATLANTA - Usually jovial NBA commissioner David Stern was even happier yesterday as he made two announcements at his annual All-Star Game news conference. First, Stern said the first round of the playoffs, which had used a best-of-five format, will expand to best of seven, starting with this year's postseason. Second, he reported that the league will meet with the National Basketball Players Association in April in an effort to negotiate an extension of the collective bargaining agreement, which has up to two seasons to run. "We've agreed that we're going to take a bunch of owners and players away at the end of the season someplace, away from the glare of the media, and try very hard to extend our collective bargaining agreement," Stern said.

After more than a decade of foot dragging and idle procrastination, the NFL finally appears to be getting serious about the idea of expansion.Now the question no longer seems to be will the NFL expand, but when, and, more critically to Baltimore interests, where.When league owners convene in Hawaii next week for their annual spring meetings, they probably will correct the mistake of putting a Super Bowl in Arizona. They will reconsider the bad joke that instant replay has become. And they will engage in a conversation, however brief, about the blessings of adding two new teams.

Dale Hunter is happy to be back. He hasn't been on the ice for the start of a regular season in two years.He missed the beginning of the 1993-94 season because of a 21-game suspension (the longest in NHL history) for a late hit and, after returning for one game, missed 11 more with a knee injury.This season, he was ready to go, but the owners decreed a lockout that lasted 103 days, and ended only when the NHL and the NHL Players' Association reached a new, tentative collective bargaining agreement that was ratified yesterday afternoon.

GRAPEVINE, Texas -- The NFL won't be naming two expansion teams next month as planned, and a league official said yesterday it will decide within a year whether to add teams at all."I don't believe anyone here wants to keep stringing the cities out. We clearly can't leave them hanging indefinitely. They've spent too much time, money and energy on this project," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.Commissioner Paul Tagliabue announced after a meeting of the 28 NFL team owners yesterday that they decided the league won't name two expansion teams from among Baltimore and four other finalists at its Oct. 20 meeting in Chicago.

The New Community College of Baltimore has achieved a remarkable institutional feat. It has transformed itself.Only two years ago the old CCB ranked as the worst community college in the state. It sat at the bottom on every measure by which Maryland evaluates its 17 two-year campuses.The school suffered under poor management and uninspired leadership. The administration couldn't remove bad teachers or eliminate obsolete courses because of rigid restrictions in its collective bargaining agreement.

My mother taught me never to turn my nose up at a win - even if it's against the Houston Texans. I'm guessing Brian Billick lives by a similar credo, though he has to know that yesterday's 16-15 victory at M&T Bank Stadium left Ravens fans feeling about as empty as an Orioles promise. The Ravens needed to pound the lowly Texans like a cheap piece of flank steak just to get everyone to tune in for next week's game against the Denver Broncos (which apparently won't be pretty). Instead, they ran for just 73 yards against a rushing defense ranked last in the NFL and were able to work a little last-minute magic only because of a fluke play that accounted for their first defensive touchdown of the year.

The Orioles are almost done contacting free agents, and now the club is waiting for tomorrow's vote on a collective bargaining agreement before it proceeds with off-season activities, assistant general manager Kevin Malone said yesterday.If the major-league owners approve the collective bargaining agreement, it would affect the free-agent status of numerous players. The Orioles would lose their repeater rights to Jesse Orosco, Eddie Murray and Bobby Bonilla, and all three players would become unrestricted free agents.

There's no place like home for the Washington Redskins, who seem to collect homes the way some youngsters collect football cards.The Redskins, who play their home games in the District of Columbia and are trying to build a new stadium in Laurel, announced yesterday that their real home is in Virginia, where their training complex is located.The Redskins said their players don't have to pay union dues to the NFL Players Association because Virginia is a right-to-work state.The Redskins added that their players now won't be subject to suspensions for failing to pay their dues.

TAMPA, Fla. - With all due respect to the many Pittsburgh Steelers fans clogging every thoroughfare and restaurant within 50 miles of Raymond James Stadium ... and to that single Arizona Cardinals fan who has been wandering the streets, seemingly lost and still stunned that his team is playing in the Super Bowl ... and to the corporate suits who overpaid for their tents, suites and seats here - tomorrow's matchup is about as exciting as a Fran Drescher...

The reason former NHL president John Ziegler lost his job was that he couldn't produce what the owners wanted. Now, just before Christmas, the owners have installed their first commissioner -- 40-year-old Gary Bettman -- whom they fully expect to deliver what Ziegler couldn'tWhat do the owners expect Bettman to do?* Bring the NHL the same kind of popularity enjoyed by the NBA, where Bettman has been working as the league's senior vice president and general counsel.* Reach a collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association that will keep contracts under control, much the way Bettman orchestrated the complicated salary cap structure in the NBA."