Thursday, October 4, 2001

Sports Briefs
Super Bowl may clash with Mardi Gras
NEW ORLEANS (AP) —Fantastic floats, masked riders tossing beads and trinkets to the crowds, costumed revelers and streets full of parades are famous images of Mardi Gras.

They don’t necessarily mix with the Super Bowl, the NFL’s biggest party.

“It’s not what you would plan,” said Arthur Hardy, publisher of an annual Mardi Gras guide and an authority on the celebration. “Either event is great, but putting them both on in the same place at the same time is not what you would want ideally. In fact, it could be a nightmare.”

The NFL, in order to play a full schedule of playoff games, is trying to move the Super Bowl, scheduled for Jan. 27 in New Orleans, to Feb. 3. The league has been working with the National Association of Automobile Dealers to switch weekends.

The complicated move would put the game squarely into the first weekend of Mardi Gras.

“Believe me, a lot of strange people are on the streets beginning with those parades, and none of them are thinking about football,” said Sara Anderson, who lives in the French Quarter. “It’s a great time, a great crowd, but I don’t know if I can handle that and the Super Bowl.”

Jordan, Wizards hold closed scrimmage
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Reporters didn’t get a chance to see Michael Jordan do anything but watch from the sidelines Tuesday as the Washington Wizards held their first day of training camp.

Anyone sneaking a peek through the windows could see Jordan handling a basketball, sometimes dribbling, sometimes shooting. He wore a white Wizards practice jersey with the uniform No. 23.

But when the doors finally opened at 8 p.m. and a media mob got a chance to watch the final 15 minutes of a scrimmage, Jordan had already finished playing. He buried his head in a towel when rookie Kwame Brown missed a free throw. He yelled something at someone. He chewed gum.

He did not, however, give anyone with a camera or a notebook any kind of glimpse into the state of his game.

Brown described Jordan as being about 90 percent effective mentally, while other teammates said they were most impressed by Jordan’s passing skills.