Sports digest 10/3/01

NFL, auto dealers still negotiating

NEW ORLEANS -- Even though the mayor of New Orleans was all but certain the Super Bowl would be played there on Feb. 3, the NFL and an auto dealers group were still working Tuesday to resolve problems with switching dates.

"This is not a done deal yet," said David Hyatt, spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Association. "We have logistical problems. We have some other problems."

Hyatt said a NADA committee sent a reworded copy of the latest NFL proposal back to the league for what he called "technical clarifications." He would not elaborate.

He said four major hotels, including the Hilton, have not returned agreements guaranteeing NADA rooms on their new date. The Hilton is to be their convention headquarters. Another hotel, the Fairmont, has told NADA they will have rooms available, but not the space needed for convention functions.

New Orleans mayor Marc Morial said Monday that the switch was "99 percent certain."

But NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said the deal had not been completed. "We've asked them to get back to us and we haven't heard yet," he said.

NADA wanted the NFL to cover its multimillion-dollar expenses and losses of shifting its convention.

Blue Jays fire general manager

TORONTO -- Gord Ash was fired Tuesday as general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays, who haven't made the playoffs since 1993.

"We're not in the pennant race and that's part of the reason that we're looking for a general manager," Blue Jays president Paul Godfrey said. "I regret this, but I believe in the best interests of the club a change in direction is essential."

Ash, 49, declined comment. He will remain with the team through the end of the season this weekend.

Ash has been with the Blue Jays since he was hired to work in the ticket office in 1978 and became general manager when Pat Gillick left in October 1994. Gillick helped Toronto win World Series titles in 1992 and 1993.

"I'm very disappointed because Gord had all the confidence in my ability to manage this club. I feel like I've let him down," manager Buck Martinez said in Baltimore before the Blue Jays played the Orioles.

Toronto, which expected to contend for a postseason berth in Martinez's first season as manager, began Tuesday third in the AL East at 76-80, 17 games behind the division-winning New York Yankees.

Toronto's opening-day payroll of $75.8 million was 10th in the major leagues.

Nebraska's off-field problems continueLINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska tight end Jon Bowling, who was arrested over the weekend for not leaving a party when ordered by police, was charged Tuesday with failure to disperse.

Bowling is the fifth Cornhusker to be arrested since the summer.

Bowling will continue to practice with the fourth-ranked Cornhuskers while his legal case is pending, coach Frank Solich said Tuesday.

Bowling, 21, who police said sat on the hood of a squad car after being told several times to leave the party, is scheduled to appear in Lancaster County Court on Oct. 24.

The player arrests, all on misdemeanor charges, have grown frustrating to Solich.

"The potential for off-field stuff is there for every coach. It's never behind you," Solich said. "In this profession as any other profession, you just deal with things as they occur."

-- From wire reports