The Starting Five

Sporting News, The, May 24, 1999

What the sports world is talking about this week

1 The Phantom Menace. Overblown hype like this is usually reserved for Duke's recruiting classes.

2 The Indians for sale, Art Modell could buy them and bring big-league baseball to Baltimore.

3 Bernie Bickerstaff, Globetrotters scout. He's looking for players who can make fixed games look competitive. First stop: Northwestern.

4 An AOL exec buys the Caps, Tickets will be priced by the minute, and you'll get kicked out of games every half-hour or so.

5 The '02 Olympics mascot. Cuddly, indigenous critters won out over The Wall Street Journals pick: Tickle-My-Palm Elmo.