Team Owners

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Richard Childress walks through the garage alone. He never really thought it would be like this - never spent any time considering how he and his race team would operate without his longtime friend and driver, Dale Earnhardt. Oh, the two of them had talked about it a few years back when they were on a hunting trip in New Mexico and Childress had "wrecked his horse" and cracked his head while falling off the side of a mountain. They had told each other at the time that if anything happened to one, the other was to continue with the business.

The lights will glint off the brightly colored Indy Racing League cars Saturday night at Richmond International Raceway, as the open-wheel series makes its debut on a short track. For some IRL drivers, such as veteran Billy Boat, the prospect of racing in the SunTrust Indy Challenge at 8 p.m. (ESPN) on the .75-mile oval brings thoughts of younger days and visions of victory. "There are probably a handful of us who started our racing careers on quarter-mile and half-mile tracks," said Boat, noting the IRL cars will complete a lap in just 17 seconds or less.

A sense of urgency is already built into the AFC Championship Game, but the Baltimore Ravens will be on a mission of a more personal nature when they take the field against the Oakland Raiders this afternoon at Network Associates Stadium. This game, more than any other in the Ravens' brief history, is for Art Modell. The once-embattled owner who braved a firestorm of criticism for moving his tradition-rich franchise from Cleveland to Baltimore in 1995 is one step away from his first Super Bowl, and getting it for Modell has become a postseason priority for virtually every member of the Ravens organization.

IF THE ORIOLES, as a major-league and also a minor-league entity, have existed in Baltimore for well over a century, then it would seem in all basic fairness they enjoy the same equitable treatment from the Maryland Stadium Authority as a football team, the Ravens, which has been organized for only four seasons. Baltimore, in a football sense, has been victimized by carpet-bagging tactics. The permanent seat license scheme and putting a corporate name on the stadium were regrettable actions.

NEW YORK -- NFL team owners yesterday launched a reform of the league designed to meet the business demands of the new century and render more accountable top executives whose hefty pay has raised accusations of back-room dealing. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue was not invited to the nearly-two hour session of sometimes-contentious debate that was attended by one representative from each of the 32 franchises. Among the ideas raised: hiring an "executive director" for the league or a consultant who could suggest ways the team owners can be better involved in matters some feel are handled by a clique of influential franchise and league executives.

Most coaches would be in the catbird seat if they were 4-2 and had the Chicago Bears at home next Sunday.Coach Norv Turner of the Washington Redskins is in that situation, but he's back on the hot seat because new owner Daniel Snyder is irate that both losses were to the Dallas Cowboys.Snyder took over the trainer's room after the 38-20 loss to the Cowboys on Sunday, and he spent about a half-hour lecturing Turner."This team is going to be focused," a hoarse Snyder said after the meeting.

ATHENS, Greece -- Orioles owner Peter Angelos took another step forward in his desire to help field a Greek baseball team for the 2004 Athens Olympics yesterday, when he was in Athens meeting with members of the Hellenic Amateur Baseball Federation.A reception for Angelos was held at the residence of U.S. Ambassador Nicholas Burns, who is a baseball fanatic and avid follower of the Boston Red Sox. Joining Angelos was Orioles director of player development Syd Thrift and president of the Greek federation, Panos Mitsiopoulos.

Orioles owner Peter Angelos showed grace under fire, even if his team only grudgingly showed up for the second game of its historic goodwill exhibition series against a team of Cuban all-stars."

The sale of the Redskins for $800 million yesterday caps off a breathtaking 12 months of new highs for the sale of franchises in all four major-league sports.And with each mega-dollar deal, fans accustomed to pleas of poverty from the home team are left scratching their heads.Critics say the bidding wars for teams reveal an underlying profitability that sports leagues are loath to acknowledge. To do so would endanger the millions of tax dollars that can be won to build new arenas, or weaken the teams in negotiations with players unions.

THOUGH IT is difficult to choose sides in the dispute between National Basketball Association owners and players, a referee would have to hit owners with a technical foul for whining about outrageous salaries of their own making.Team owners drove a gigantic loophole through a strict salary cap in 1983 to allow the Boston Celtics to re-sign superstar Larry Bird for an amount that exceeded that limit. It was this salary cap that was supposed to rein in owners' competitive impulses when bidding on top players.