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Daily Sports Capsule
FOOTBALL
A woman who underwent surgery after a stage-diving incident involving two New England Patriots at the Paradise nightclub suffered from a pre-existing injury, according to a club lawyer. Carolyn Conway told the Boston Licensing Board Tuesday that an earlier injury led to the surgery of Tameeka Messier after the Nov. 13 incident. Two damaged disks were removed from Messier's neck, and pieces of bone were taken from her hip to fuse her spinal column. Messier has sued Patriots' quarterback Drew Bledsoe, 300-pound Patriots lineman Max Lane and the club. Conway did not provide medical evidence of a pre-existing injury. Bledsoe and Lane have denied they were responsible for Messier's injuries.
BASEBALL
A St. Louis radio station reported yesterday that Ozzie Smith is negotiating to play baseball again. But another broadcast report quoted Smith as saying it's just not true. KSHE-FM Radio said Smith is negotiating with an unnamed National League team other than the Cardinals. Smith, who turned 43 last month, retired at the end of the 1996 season. ... Right-hander Pedro Astacio, 5-1 with a 4.25 ERA for the Colorado Rockies last season, agreed yesterday to a four-year contract with the team worth about $23 million. Astacio earned $2.9 million last season. He has a career record of 53-38 with a 3.71 ERA in 181 major league appearances. ... The San Diego Padres acquired speedy outfielder James Mouton yesterday for pitcher Sean Bergman, whose 6.09 ERA last year was the worst of his career. Mouton, who started 40 games in a crowded Astros outfield, hit .211 with three homers, 23 RBIs and nine stolen bases. ... Left-handed reliever Alan Embree and the Atlanta Braves agreed yesterday to a two-year contract worth $1,475,000. Embree was 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA and no saves in 66 games last season. ... Right-hander Darren Dreifort and the Los Angeles Dodgers agreed yesterday to a $685,000, one-year contract, more than triple his salary last season when he was 5-2 with a 2.86 ERA and four saves in 48 relief appearances.
BASKETBALL
Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz and Stephon Marbury of the Minnesota Timberwolves moved up yesterday in the latest voting for the Western Conference All-Star team. Malone received 178,264 votes, passing Kevin Garnett (168,319) of Minnesota and Tim Duncan of San Antonio (160,496) for the lead among forwards. Marbury received 107,010 votes and passed Eddie Jones (102,042) of the Los Angeles Lakers to move into second place behind Seattle's Gary Payton (156,865) among guards. ... Charles Barkley pleaded innocent yesterday to charges he threw a bar patron through a window during a disturbance at an Orlando nightclub and asked for a jury trial. No trial date has been set, but a pre-trial hearing was scheduled for Feb. 2.
HOCKEY
An arbitrator ruled yesterday that holdout center Petr Nedved can return to the NHL this season without clearing waivers.. The league ruled in late December that Nedved violated its labor agreement by playing four games last fall for Novy Jicin, a low-level Czech team. The union argued that the games shouldn't count because he did not have a professional contract. ... The National Hockey League and the NHL Players Association are completing terms on an agreement that will forbid teams from making trades during the Feb. 8-24 break the NHL takes next month for the Olympic Games in Nagano, Japan. The league and union are looking for a ban because neither wants to upstage the Olympics and many team offices will be closed.
GOLF
Andrew Magee, seeking his first tour victory in more than three years, clipped seven shots off par on the front nine yesterday in a 9-under 63 that gave him the first-round lead in the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic. Fred Couples, Brad Fabel and Steve Lowery were a shot behind after the opening day of the 90-hole tournament held at four different courses in Bermuda Dunes, Calif.
MISCELLANY
Persistent cases of drug use by Chinese athletes may hurt that country's hopes of one day hosting the Olympics, the head of the IOC said yesterday. In an unusually blunt assessment of a sensitive international sports issue, Juan Antonio Samaranch spoke of a possible bid by a Chinese city for the 2008 Summer Games and beyond. "They have the right to pursue a bid," he said. "But it is up to the IOC members what is acceptable. I think they would be in trouble." Samaranch spoke hours after four Chinese swimmers tested positive for drugs at the world championships in Perth, Australia. The test results brought to 27 the number of Chinese swimmers who have failed drug tests since 1990. That's more than for the rest of the world combined. ... Organizers think they know why the Olympic flame being carried to the Winter Games keeps going out -- tired runners are tilting the three-pound torch and blocking the flow of fuel. About 1,200 runners are carrying the flame three-fifths of a mile over three routes toward Nagano, where it will arrive on the eve of the Feb. 7 opening ceremony.
LOCAL
Apponequet Regional High School will honor its 1997 Super Bowl football team with a testimonial on Jan. 31 at Independence Harbor in Assonet. The affair begins at 6:30 p.m. and tickets ($25) may be obtained by calling athletic director Mitch Kuliga at (508) 947-2660 no later than Jan. 26. ... Tryouts for the Bristol Stars' AAU basketball teams will be held Saturday at 4 p.m. at the New Bedford Recreation Center. Tryouts will be conducted for the girls' 11 and 12-and-under teams as well at the boys' 12-and-under team. Additional information may be obtained by calling Gary Trahan at (508) 763-5193.
-- COMPILED FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS
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