National Football League
HONOLULU (AP)-Carolina kick returner Steve Smith, one of 33 NFL players making their first appearance in the Pro Bowl, sat at this locker, just watching his NFC teammates stroll by.
“I’m a fan right now,” Smith said Tuesday. “It’s nice to be here. I’d rather be here looking at them in person than being at home, watching them on TV.”
While it took 16 seasons for 49ers tackle Ray Brown to get to Honolulu, Smith is making his first appearance as a rookie. But being a rookie is something he’s not sharing with his teammates.
“Let’s not mention it,” he said. “I don’t think they know.”
Chicago Bears tackle James Williams, making his first Pro Bowl appearance after 11 seasons in the league, said he feels like a rookie again.
“It was definitely worth the wait,” he said. “I’d like to have made it earlier, but you take it as it comes, and now it comes. So, I’m happy for it.”
Arizona Cardinals receiver David Boston is making his first appearance in his third season.
“It’s just a big stepping stone for me,” he said. “Some of the guys I’m playing with have been here several times. It just feels good to be associated with these guys.”
Smith, who played in the Hula Bowl college All-Star game last year on Maui, said the practices and Saturday’s game will be a “learning lesson” for him.
“I’m here to have fun and have a chance to play with guys I watch on TV all the time and look up to,” he said. “I’m just going to watch and observe with open eyes and open ears.”
San Francisco receiver Terrell Owens, making his second appearance in as many years, has some advice for the first timers: “Just enjoy and have fun.”
“The first time, you’re kind of looking around, see what’s going, see how guys do things,” he said. “What I did last year, I enjoyed it all. It’s like your new team for five days.”
Owens said getting to know new teammates both on and off the field will take a few days. But he already likes the NFC’s chances because of the quarterbacks: 49ers teammate Jeff Garcia, Kurt Warner of St. Louis and Donovan McNabb of Philadelphia.
Garcia said this year is different than his first appearance last year.
“(Getting here) is something I wanted to have happen for myself, not to make it a one-year wonder type thing,” he said.
College Basketball
NEW YORK (AP)-The National Invitation Tournament will expand its field to 40 teams in a one-year experiment this March.
The Metropolitan Intercollegiate Basketball Association, which runs the preseason and postseason NITs, said Wednesday it’s reacting to repeated requests from around college basketball.
“Conference commissioners, athletic directors and coaches (asked) us to expand our postseason NIT field to accommodate additional teams who have had successful seasons in their conference but have failed to receive an invitation to the NCAA tournament,” NIT executive director John J. Powers said.
The NIT will have eight opening-round games at campus sites on March 12, with the winners advancing to the March 12-15 first round.
The second round is March 18-19, the third round March 20-22, and the semifinals at New York’s Madison Square Garden on March 26.
The championship game is March 28.
The NIT, the nation’s oldest postseason tournament, started with a six-team field in 1938. It increased slowly over the years, last expanding to 32 in 1980.
Tulsa won last year’s NIT, beating Alabama 79-60 in the championship game.
Winter Olympics
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)-Olympic revelers soaking up the city’s nightlife during the 2002 Winter Olympics may find it easier to get a free condom than a free drink.
“SafeGames 2002” is an effort to hand out more than 250,000 condoms at Olympic venues, nightclubs and on the street.
Community groups, including the American Red Cross, the Utah AIDS Foundation and Planned Parenthood, are collaborating in the project.
Along with the condoms, the group’s packet includes sex-safe instructions, hand-warmers and lip balm.
“We want to ensure that individuals attending the games are celebrating safely,” said Luicano Colonna, executive director of the Harm Reduction Project in his introduction of the program Wednesday.
Absent from the news conference was any of the earlier condom controversy sparked when Olympic organizers announced that 12,000 condoms will be available at the athlete’s village.
Two members from the Christian group Generation Life held a brief demonstration last week outside the Delta Center, the Olympic figure skating venue.
And Gayle Ruzicka, head of the conservative Utah Eagle Forum, said she was outraged that “immoral sexual activity” was being condoned at the Olympic village. Suggesting they could buy their own condoms if they wanted them.
“It would be irresponsible of Utah’s health agencies to impose personal values that might result in negative health consequences for visitors and residents,” said Clayton Vetter of Planned Parenthood of Utah. “The world is welcome here and the world will have safe choices.”
A team of 120 outreach workers will be easy to spot in their bright orange hats with the “SafeGames 2002” logo on the front. The volunteers will hand out small plastic bags filled with a few condoms, the hand warmers and lip balm, and numbers for social services such as Alcoholics Anonymous and taxis.
People are more likely to accept a condom if it is inside a packet of other things, said Stan Penfold of the Utah AIDS Foundation. “They’re a lot more successful if you make them fun.”