It Just Goes to Show That Winning Isn’t Everything

Winners, losers and coin tosses:

Coin toss: St. Louis Rams.

St. Louis will discover soon whether it wants to name any more schools after Georgia Frontiere.

Based on how she and John Shaw ran the team in Anaheim, you could predict that the Rams won’t do everything they can financially to re-sign free-agent starters such as offensive tackle Fred Miller, center Mike Gruttadauria, guard Tom Nutten, cornerback Todd Lyght, cornerback Dexter McCleon and safety Billy Jenkins.

They also have a multimillion-dollar most-valuable-player quarterback making $250,000 a year. They’re not obligated to renegotiate with Kurt Warner, but right is right.

Frontiere says that she can afford to pay the players more in St. Louis than she could in Anaheim because the team is making more. But will she?

Maybe Dick Vermeil knows something.

Coin toss: Tennessee Titans.

Unlike Frontiere, Tennessee owner Bud Adams has never been considered cheap when it comes to paying players. Free-agent starters such as offensive tackle Jon Runyan, tight end Jackie Harris and linebacker Joe Bowden, and backup quarterback Neil O’Donnell will receive fair offers.

But Adams doesn’t place as much value on coaches. He made a show of pulling a contract out of his pocket during a news conference last week, saying that he would take it to Jeff Fisher immediately if he thought Fisher would sign it. Adams didn’t say, however, what the figures were on the contract.

He presumably is quite pleased to have Fisher under contract for another season at $800,000. But will Adams pay the $2 million or so that it will take to keep his gifted young coach after next season?

Winner: Bud Selig.

Although John Rocker certainly has the 1st Amendment right to make any comments he wishes, however inane or insensitive, Selig clearly has the right to punish him. More to the point, he has the responsibility.

Recently promoted to czar, one of his duties is to protect baseball’s best interests. All he did was his job when he fined and suspended Rocker. You can argue that the punishment was too severe, but, in this case, it was better to err on the side of right. Selig had to make a statement that was equally as strong as the ones made by Rocker.

Losers: Atlanta Braves.

Selig should never have had to act against Rocker. The Braves should have recognized it as their responsibility.

Loser: Atlanta.

After the anguish of the Rocker episode, the Ted Turner-Jane Fonda separation and Madonna opting out of a chance to perform at the Super Bowl, Atlantans weren’t even able to enjoy Super Bowl week because of the weather.

Pete Rozelle never would have allowed ice storms to spoil his party. Paul Tagliabue couldn’t even get the teams inside the Georgia Dome to practice except for one day.

Unlike the 1996 Summer Olympics, there was no one in Atlanta to blame. Winter happens. But I say the same thing about both events: Never again in Atlanta.

Winner: Tagliabue.

Because I’m about to give him this idea:

Play the Super Bowl each year in either the Rose Bowl or the Coliseum. The NFL would be guaranteed 1) good weather and 2) a neutral site.

Loser: Glen Rice.

Give Rice some credit. At least he’s honest. Most athletes, even if they’re lying, will say that their focus during the season is on winning a ring. Not Rice. He makes it more than clear that he’s in this thing for himself and his contract.

After Rice’s latest diatribe, in which he complained, in effect, that the triangle offense has two too many angles, Laker Coach Phil Jackson responded by saying that perhaps it’s time to start thinking “about moving personnel on.” He was smiling when he said it, and he wasn’t specific about the player or players who should be moved, but let’s assume he wasn’t talking about Shaquille O’Neal or Kobe Bryant.

Losers: Angels.

Who’s on second? Who isn’t?

After signing Carlos Garcia on Monday, the Angels have five second basemen.

Let’s hope at least a couple of them can pitch. Strike that. Let’s hope at least a couple of them can play second base.

Winner: Pebble Beach.

Tournament marshals at the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am this week will wear Hogan caps in honor of the late Payne Stewart, who won the tournament last year. They traditionally wear plus fours, which also were part of Stewart’s sartorial repertoire.

Winner: Women’s sports.

The women from the U.S. World Cup soccer team, who have done more for the sport in this country than the men, were not quite adequately rewarded when they signed a new contract this week with the U.S. Soccer Federation. But they were at least paid as much as the U.S. men’s team.

They had to strike in order to get that. So you can’t give the USSF too much credit. But it is a step forward for women’s sports.

The next front: Tennis. Of the four Grand Slam tournaments, only the U.S. Open pays men and women equally.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at his e-mail address: [email protected].