http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/01/s****ts/basketball/01games.html
Playing s****ting events in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina
is such a daunting prospect that the National Basketball Association is
bracing to relocate its local franchise for the entire coming season.
The N.B.A. does not begin play until November, but the deputy commissioner
Russ Granik sent an e-mail message to the league's 30 teams yesterday to
prepare them for the Hornets' possible relocation.
"Even if the arena is operable, it still may be impossible to play games
in
New Orleans for some time," Granik wrote in the e-mail message, a copy of
which was obtained by The New York Times.
It is a similar reality faced by the Saints of the National Football
League,
Tulane University and other university and professional s****ts teams in
New
Orleans. With the city being evacuated and with an estimated two months
until power returns, uncertainty lingers.
The Saints and the Tulane football team will operate out of Texas. After a
preseason game tonight in Oakland, the Saints will fly to San Antonio and
practice there until their opening game at Carolina on Sept. 11.
Possible locations for the Saints to play their home games, including
their
Sept. 18 home opener against the Giants, are Louisiana State in Baton
Rouge,
which was relatively unaffected by the storm; Birmingham, Ala.; San
Antonio;
and Los Angeles.
Tulane's team arrived in Dallas, where it was staying in a local hotel and
sharing football facilities with Southern Methodist. Many Tulane students
have also relocated to Dallas, moving into the S.M.U. student union, which
has been nicknamed Camp Katrina.
Rick Dickson, the Tulane athletic director, said the chance of there even
being cl***** at Tulane this semester was "remote."
"That's beyond the first phase of this," Dickson said in a telephone
interview. "We're trying to make certain everyone is in safe harbor."
Granik's e-mail message said that plans were already under way to find
locations for the Hornets' training camp, which starts Oct. 3, and
preseason
games. The league will begin searching for regular-season alternatives
next
week, when there is expected to be a better analysis of the damage to New
Orleans. If the Hornets are forced to relocate - whether for a few weeks
or
the entire season - the league will seek to place them close to home.
L.S.U. offers the closest alternative, about 60 miles away, and an arena,
Pete Maravich Assembly Center, that holds 14,164 people. That is small by
N.B.A. standards, but it could accommodate the Hornets, whose average
attendance last season was a league-worst 14,221.
"Right now, we're kind of all focused on the humanitarian relief effort
and
haven't really focused on the implications yet for the Hornets," said Tim
Andree, senior vice president for communications for the N.B.A.
All Hornets employees have been accounted for and are safe, Andree said.
But
it has been an anxious time for friends and associates, who have had
difficulty reaching Hornets employees and players.
"I have not been able to get a hold of anyone," said Mark Bartelstein, a
player agent whose clients include Hornets forward P. J. Brown. "We've
been
calling pretty much nonstop and have had no luck making contact."
L.S.U. is also a speculative favorite for the Saints' relocation. Many
campus athletic facilities are currently being used as shelters and a
hospital for hurricane victims. The outdoor track has been converted to a
landing pad for helicopters dropping off people rescued from the floods.
"You'll hear three helicopters in a row and then not hear one for 30
minutes," said Herb Vincent, an associate athletic director at L.S.U.
"There's anything from private helicopters to Black Hawks."
The Maravich Center is a triage unit and the university's indoor track
field
house is serving as a special-needs unit. Nicholson Drive, a main campus
thoroughfare that would have been cluttered with tailgaters this weekend
for
the L.S.U. home football opener Saturday, is instead being used by
ambulances. L.S.U. postponed its opener against North Texas.
"Before the hurricane, it would have been one big Mardi Gras-type party
this
weekend," Vincent said. "But it wasn't appropriate to have that when
there's
people with dire needs and emergencies."
Tulane was not the only Conference USA university forced to evacuate;
Southern Mississippi's team relocated to Memphis. Southern Miss and Tulane
were scheduled to play each other this weekend.
Other than postponing that game until Nov. 26, Dickson, the Tulane
athletic
director, said no other athletic decisions had been made. Dickson said
that
there was significant damage to every building on Tulane's campus and that
the university was exploring setting up a satellite campus.
The N.C.A.A. said it would be flexible in the wake of the storm, including
letting students at places like Tulane compete if they were not enrolled
in
school.
Numerous relief funds have been set up through s****ts organizations,
including by Conference USA. The N.F.L. donated $1 million to the American
Red Cross for the hurricane victims and the N.B.A. players union announced
plans to raise $1 million.
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Wanda
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In Memoriam:
"We're trying to do something here," Shaquille O'Neal, 2000-1
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21st Century Los Angeles LAkers
NBA Champions
2000 2001 2002
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