Soccer Event Provides Hurricane Relief

A four-team international soccer tournament will be held tonight and Wednesday night at the Coliseum to raise money for disaster relief in Central America in the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch.

Guatemala will play Honduras tonight at 7 and Mexico squares off against El Salvador at 9, with the third-place game Wednesday at 7, followed by the championship game at 9.

All four countries will compete at no expense and CONCACAF, the 38-nation North and Central American and Caribbean organization, and U.S. Soccer will donate its services. Money raised will go to CARE, earmarked for Central America.

Tickets are $15 in advance at Ticketmaster and selected outlets or $20 at the Sports Arena box office. Children under 6 are free.

Pro Basketball

NBA owners seem generally satisfied with the job that Commissioner David Stern is doing in the current contract negotiations with players, but Clipper owner Donald T. Sterling isn’t one of them.

Despite a leaguewide gag order, Sterling told the New York Times, “I have my own ideas and they’re not consistent with Stern’s. I think some owners feel that since we create and make the game and put up the seed money and take all the risk, that perhaps we should get a more equitable distribution of the revenue. Stern is going soft on them.”

Sterling said some owners call Stern “Easy Dave.”

Another owner, speaking anonymously, said he did not share Stern’s belief that high-profile agents were blocking a deal.

“I do think there is a deference to the stars in this league that you’re seeing now,” he said. “And if the stars don’t like the deal, everyone goes along.”

The NBA Jam Session, held in conjunction with the All-Star game, is the latest casualty of the lockout.

The Jam Session, the league’s interactive fan event, had been set for the Pennsylvania Convention Center Feb. 11-14.

Russ Granik, the NBA’s deputy commissioner, said that the Jam Session requires more lead time than any other All-Star event, and that vendors and sponsors could not set up in time for it.

Dennis Rodman got married Saturday at Las Vegas to actress Carmen Electra.

But Rodman’s agent, Dwight Manley, said Monday that Rodman was intoxicated at the time and taken advantage of by Electra and people he called “leeches.”

“From what I can determine, it’s not legal. It sounds like he was deeply intoxicated,” Manley said. “Obviously anyone that would marry somebody that was intoxicated to the point that they couldn’t speak or stand had ulterior motives of some sort.”

Pro Football

David Baker, commissioner of the Arena Football League, will participate in a ceremony Thursday at the Staples Center to formally announce the awarding of a franchise to Los Angeles.

The still-unnamed team will begin its eight-game regular season schedule in 2000.

Tennis

The Chase Championships in New York opened with two upsets. No. 4-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario lost to Irina Spirlea, 7-6 (8-6), 6-1, and No. 7 Conchita Martinez lost to Dominique Van Roost, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2.

John McEnroe won his 12th seniors’ title by beating Guy Forget, 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), in the ATP Senior Tour of Champions at Zagreb, Croatia.

Golf

The PGA Grand Slam of Golf, will be held today and Wednesday at Kauai, Hawaii.

The competitors in the match-play event will be Masters and British Open champion Mark O’Meara, U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen, PGA champion Vijay Singh and Tiger Woods. Because O’Meara won two majors, Woods qualified by having the best overall record in the majors.