!*!« MAKM6 A WO—Kinny Bannister, formerly of St. Augustine's Colege hat spent I. Y. Knlckt (NBA) and played preteaslanal bad overseas In Italy, tMs past season m the CBA with Mississippi. Recently Bannister he Milwaukee Bucks, and was very Impressive. Bannister a free standards win be making a bid to land a spot on the Charlotte hen he attends their free agent camp in late July. Sorbid, inner View Athletes Write About Drugs BY BARRY COOPER It is with mixed feelings that we present a sordid, inner view of cocaine abuse, for by doing so we may actually help line the pockets of three ex-jocks, each of them well known, each a recovering junkie, each now shamelessly seeking to turn years of snorting and free-basing into a six-figure windfall. Mercury Morris, the former Miami Dolphins’ star, former basketball great Spencer Haywood and one-time pitching sensation Steve Howe all either have tell-all books on the market or are awaiting their publication. That is a bit of news that merits being told. But now, a tip: Save your money, for theirs is the same old story — big-time athlete tolls prey to drugs, nearly loses life perhaps his family. Finally rights himself, maybe is born again, and now wants to tell the world, by way of a $19.95 or so hardback, that it’s best just to say no. Only Morris’ story, Against The Grain, is off the press; Howe claims to be readying Between The Lines and Haywood says he is finishing Standing Up For Something dr Fall For Anything. No matter whether their tales have been bound and shipped or still are being proofed, all three men are working up advance publicity. Examples are Haywood’s admission that he and goons from Detroit, between long pulls on free-base pipes, plotted to kill former Lakers Coach Paul Westhead; Howe’s story of how an innocent, weekend excursion to Las Vegas turned into a five-day, cocaine-induced “blackout” and Morris’ blow-by-blow account of how the Miami police, in a classic bit of undercover work, legally lured Morris into a cocaine conspiracy that netted Morris a 20-year prison Will World Cup Spark American Soccer As Exciting Athletics? BY BARRY COOPER We had hoped to reach Diego Maradona, who is to soccer what Eric Dfakerson, John Elway and Dan Mi laii are to that other brand of football that Americans find so comforting. With sadness we report that our attaaipt to quiz Maradona fizzled, like a sudden-death penalty shot bussing past a helpless goalie. Please pardon if the terminology does not qalte fit. Soccer remains foreign to much of the United States. You are aware of the reasoning: soccer, so much fun for kids to play, is a pain to watch. Soccer Is a cerebral encounter, an Intellectual exercise, with all the excitement of a chess match. Okay, maybe that is a little harsh, but the game really Is for the fan more foterested In stratagems than fraqnent displays of athleticism. That contrasts with the attitudes of American sports fans, most of whom would prefer that after a day at the office, their brains act on automatic pilot. We’d rather have the pure — and more frequent — excitement that a three-point shot,_ home run or touchdown catch can provide. Goals in outdoor soccer are scored much too Infrequently, and all but true soccer junkies find themselves fighting off yawns in between scores. Yet America, seemingly so soccerless after the athletic demise of Pole and the passing of the North American Soccer League, will have another chance to embrace the sport. Think soccer, because you are going to be force fed. inundated with soccers peak. Charts. Diagrams. Mug shots. Open your mind (or an intravenous transfer, for the World Cup is coming. Mark the year: 1994. This month-long World Cup, so fervently cherished by foreigners, will offer American soccer two options. The ’94 Cup will either reaffirm America’s relative disinterest in the sport or create a new groundswell of support. Do not expect a lasting love affair. In America, bit-time soccer has been a series of one-night stands, passionately embraced early on, only to be aborted after an initial rush. We saw this with Pele and the New York Cosmos, when crowds of some 70,000 crowded into the Meadowlands for matches. We watched the old Washington Diplomats once draw more than 50,000. So did the Tampa Bay Rowdies. It turned out that those early, large audiences presented but a kiss of death. Those fans were curiosity seekers, front-runners ready to ride with whatever was hip. Once the novelty wore off, they turned away, realising that the only football they cared about was one that could be thrown. Sure, there are legions of youth soccer programs In virtaully mqr hamlet In America. The kMa In thMO programs once were soccer’s future in America. Bnt we now know that as madly In love as some kids are about soccer, the overwhelming majority eventually walk away from it. Though the chances for a quick Ox to America’s soccer apathy seem bleak, proponents of the sport cling to hope. It is all they have. The ’94 Cup will be their rallying point. The Cup will provide us with a new perspective. Like some of those early matches Involving Pele and the Cosmos, these soccer encounters will be played to sellout audiences. The intensity of the fans Is one of the reasons the Cup is the greatest sporting event In the world. Why. some 580 million folks turned in to the last Cup final, and it is estimated that a Cup can generate $2 billion for the host country. America relishes raking in that kind of money, and true believers in American soccer are hoping for some residual effects. For those soccer supporters, we offer this question: Will the Cup provide a helping hand that lasts, or another shot of morphine for a dying patient? We will see in ’94. BY BARRY COOPKK Q. I am a little surprised at how many top National Football League draft choices are able to go out and Hornets Begin Tryouts For NBA Roster Slots Profess ibnarbasketba 11 (NBA) is naming to Charlotte and the jockey ing for roe ter positions will start with a mini-camp starting at the end of the month. Charlotte Hornets’ coach Dick Harter will evaluate the talent on hand and cut the field down after two days. The Hornets will invite as many as 30 players to the workouts. The list of selected players features Atlantic Coast Conference stars Billy King (Duke), Ranzino Smith (UNC), and Bruce Dalrymple (Georgia Tech). Others included Don Plonde (UNCC) Scott Wilke (Colorado), Billy Martin (Georgetown), Leroy Combe (Oklahoma State). Both Martin and Combs played in the CBA last season. Also, former St. Augustine’s College star Ken Bannister, who once played a significant role with the New York Knicks, is pondering whether to at tend the Hornets’ camp or another NBA team’s tryout camp. , The player being listed as the sleeper before the sessions open is Duke’s Billy King, a defensive ace with all the tools necessary to be a good defensive player in the NBA. When you think of King, the com parison between him and former Celtics’ star Don Chaney is striking. Chaney, who came out of the Univer sity of Houston, existed strictly on defense his first couple of years in the league before developing a total all around game. King could very possibly do the same. At 6’6”, he has good height and long arms to play NBA-style defense. One ofthe things King has working in his favor is that he is a persistent and relentless defensive player. He may be just what the Hornets need. Another puzzling question that has bothered some local folks is why Ken BAnnister is out of the NBA. He’s getting another shot. Look for him to be collecting an NBA paycheck when the 1968-89 season begins. Bannister can draw back on his experiences with the Knicks. It has been said that the Milwaukee Bucks under head coach Del Harris are also interested in Bannister. The big question is whether Kenny can regain the form of his playing days with the Falcons and the New York Knicks. The door is ajar for his return. Also competing at the camp will be Hornets’ rookie Rex.Chapman (Ken tucky), first-round pick; Jeff Moore (Auburn), and Tom tolbert, a power forward out of the University of Arizona. buy luxury automobiles and expensive houses even before it is _ clear whether they are going to make the team. Do bankers open their arms to these guys or do the ball clubs front them some money? - T. M., Memphis, Tenn. ■ A. You’re right on both fronts. Let’s use Dallas Cowboys rookie wide receiver Michael Irvin as an example. The Cowboys recently signed him to a four-year deal worth about 9600,000 a season. In addition, he received a big bonus check - 9750,000 - as Boon as he signed his contract. Instantly, Irvin became a wealthy man, able to afford the nicest automobiles and homes. And of course, with an annual salary of some half million dollars a year, Irvin’s credit is good. For the most part, virtually all of the players taken in the first round received large signing bonuses, although Irvin’s pretty much is at the top of the scale. Q. Did Mike Tyson’s mother-in-law really pick out the house that they are staying in? I hear she and Tyson’s wife bought the house without the champ even knowing about it. - V. C„ Quincy. Fla. A. Tyson’s mother-in-law RuU. Roper, did pick out the 94 million mansion the Tysons now own In Northern New Jersey. Tyson and wife Robin Givens were away in Japan when Ms. Roper discovered the house. She called her daughter in Japan, who immediately returned to the U. S. and fell in love with the favor ufbwy tag the property sentence from which he since has been freed. To trumpet their stories, Howe, Morris and Haywood recently appeared on the morning talk show “Geraldo.” They told all you need to know about their forthcoming works. Said Morris: “It sounds crazy, but a guy comes to your house to a guy who is free-basing his brains out and he says, ‘Hey, listen, I’ll give you two ounces of cocaine and $2,000 if you will introduce me to somebody that has some coke.’ But I would later find out that this guy was sent to me by the police. It sounds like a Murder She Wrote plot, but my gardener set me up.” More chilling is Haywood’s admission, initially made to People magazine, that he wanted Westhead dead. In Haywood’s opinion, Westhead had committed an unpardonable sin: alerted to Haywood’s snorting, he kicked Haywood off the Lakers squad in 1980, only three games before LA was to win the NBA title. Haywood also said he was often so high during games that he had to rub football “stick ’em” on his fingers to help him hold on to Magic Johnson's passes. He Joked that the ball became so greased with the glue that “kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) would go up for a sky hook and the ball would stick to his fingers.” The more intriguing story is the wouia-De muraer plot. Said Haywood: “I called up old friends in Detroit and I said, ‘Come on out, I’ve got something I want you to do.’ They came out to see what it was I wanted done. Then we road around by (Westhead’s) home and they said, ‘Okay, perhaps we will have to sabotage the car.’ So we came back home and sat around and did some more coke. Strangely enough, all of a sudden my mother was on the phone and she says to me, "There is something up. What are you doing?’ I became super paranoid. I said, 'My God! What is going on here?’ I don’t think it would have happened anyway because we were sort of hallucinating (when we were) talking about these things." Howe: “1 was going to go on a trip to Las Vegas, Nev. I took a quarter ounce of cocaine. I got on the plane. I said, ‘I am not going to do this stuff on the plane.’ I talked myself into one (snort). Five days later I woke up in Mexico, in a villa, didn’t know where I was at, where I had been. That was my first blackout on cocaine." It is unlikely that today’s, youngsters will read these books and swear off drugs. It is not that easy. The drug business is too powerful, too booming, its profits stretching from the people who deal in them all the way, sadly, to the ex-athletes who chronicle their experiences. This summer, there must be better reading. Fall Leads To Charges From Former Champ CAMDEN, N. J.