SPORTS NOTES

Peter Withe Agrees To Thai Deal - Michael Jordan Scores 30,000th Point

James Loving - National Radio Text Service

Monday January 7, 2002

PETER WITHE agreed to a one-year deal to remain as coach of Thailand's National soccer/football team.

Withe took a 25% cut in salary. Over the past three years the Englishman received 600,000 baht ( $13,636) a month that was paid by England's Football Association. The organization fulfilled their commitment and it was up to the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) to take it from there.

Under the new agreement the former Aston Villa striker will receive 450,000 baht ($10,227) a month. Other reports said that Withe will also be furnished a car and his lodging will be paid for.

The Bangkok Post reported that Withe was pleased. "I initially hoped to coach Thailand for five years and this will be my fourth year," he said.

For the past year there has been speculation that Withe would not be offered a new pact. When Withe's three-year contract expired in October he didn't have a written agreement with the FAT to continue. The FAT said they couldn't afford Withe's salary and that they couldn't find sponsors.

Withe led the Thai team to qualify for the World Cup Qualifiers for the first time in their history. It was reported in the Post's July 31st edition that the FAT and the Thai Rath newspaper announced that they would provide the Thai squad 100,000,000 baht bonus ($2,272,000) to reach the finals.

The project was to be coordinated with five other sponsors DTAC, IMG, Siam Sport Syndicate, FBT and Beer Chang.

When the FAT was looking for funding to pay Withe for a new agreement none of those sponsors stepped forward with money to retain the coach.

Related stories: Soccer

 

Michael Jordan

MICHAEL JORDAN remains great at thirty-eight. Jordan continued his assault on the new generation of NBA players. After his NBA record breaking 51 point performance against the Charlotte Hornets Saturday December 29, 2001, the soon to be 39-year-old Jordan followed with games of 45 and 29 points respectfully against the Chicago Bulls and the New Jersey Nets. The results are the Wizards have won three in a row giving them a 17-14 record and are in strong contention for the playoffs.

Jordan's 51-point game made him the oldest NBA player to score over 50 points. His 29 point output Friday, January 4th against his former team the Chicago Bulls Jordan scored his 30,000th career point. He is only the fourth player in NBA history to reach that mark.

Charles Oakley is the only player that previously played with Jordan at Chicago on the current Bulls roster. They were teammates for three season 1985-86 to 1987-88. Those teams never won a championship. Oakley returned to the team this year in a trade with the Toronto Raptors.

"It's great to see a guy like that coming back at the age of 38," NBA.Com reported the also 38-year-old Oakley as saying after Jordan's 30,000 point accomplishment. "He is still able to do great things on the court. He is one of the greatest players ever and I'm glad to see him do it."

The still productive Oakley remains a major force to be reckoned with. The 6-9 power-forward contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds in the Bulls losing effort.

When Oakley was traded back to the Bulls in July, CNN.Com reported him as saying about his own NBA longevity, "I feel like I'm an old car that just keeps riding," he said. "If you've got a car with 15,000 miles on it do you stop driving it? I try to get 100,000 miles out of every car I have."

The two teams meet again in Chicago January 19th.

OOPS!!!: After the loss to the Wizards the Bulls remained the NBA's only winless road team at 0-17.

BULLS IRONY: The Bulls current coach Bill Cartwright played on three championship teams with Jordan. In June 1988 Oakley was traded to the New York Knicks for… Cartwright.

TRIVIA QUESTION: Who are the three other NBA players who scored 30,000 career points?

Wang Zhizhi

ASIAN INVASION: NBA.Com reported that the Dallas Mavericks Wang Zhizhi was honored with a set of legal tender stamps in recognition of his contributions to the sport of basketball and as China's first NBA player.

The set is part of the Legends of Sports postage stamp series issued by the government of Liberia and produced by IGPC, the world's largest postal agency that represents more than 70 governments worldwide.

The stamps are valid for postage globally. Liberia has issued stamps to honor the achievements of major international athletes such as Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali, Pele, Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson and George Foreman.

What goes around comes around: The Los Angeles Dodgers resigning of Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo might be boiling the blood of some in the Los Angeles sports media. A few years ago a sports talk radio host staged a fake show that had a phony caller saying he was a friend of Rupert Murdoch whose Fox Corp owned the Dodgers.

The caller said Murdoch wasn't happy that Nomo didn't take the time to learn English. He went on to say that too many press credentials were granted to Japanese journalists.

A reader read our story and suggested that the sports talk host be fired. The host of the show wasn't fired but his contract that ended that year wasn't picked up.

The sports talk host is now an employee of ESPN radio. The writer is also an employee of ABC/Disney the owners of ESPN. [See: Racist Radio ]

ASEAN UNDER-20 CHAMPIONSHIP: The first Asean Under-20 (football) Championship will be held January 27-February 4th. The first round will be played in Bangkok, Thailand and Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar (Burma) will compete in Group A in Bangkok. Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Brunei and the Philippines will play in Group B in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The semifinals and finals will be played in Bangkok.

Fifa regulations do not permit any teams to field players that are on their national squads. The rule was made to enable younger players more competition to develop their skills.

TRIVIA ANSWER: Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and Karl Malone. The now 38-year-old Malone remains active and is playing with the Utah Jazz.

MORE TRIVIA: Malone and Jordan were teammates on the original Dream team.

Coming: What a Mess The LA Press [See: Racist Radio]

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