The Courier-Journal from Louisville, Kentucky • Page 9

Thursday, September 30, 1999 DScorecard Lotteries College Football Kentuckiana Horse Racing Sports Briefs Outdoors Editor: Harry Bryan Phone: 582-4361 Fax: 582-7186 Scores Line: 582-4871 D5 D5 D6 D7 D10 D10 D10 National League St. Louis 4, San Diego 3 (1 st) Pittsburgh 7, Milwaukee 5 (1st) Montreal 5, Florida 3 Philadelphia 5, Chicago 0 Atlanta at New York Cincinnati at Houston Colorado at Arizona Los Angeles at San Francisco Roundup, notebook, American League Boston 6, Chicago 2 (1st) Toronto 6, Tampa Bay 2 Detroit at Minnesota Cleveland at Kansas City Seattle at Texas Oakland at Anaheim New York at Baltimore, rain BOX 11 www.C-JSports.com Major League Baseball Ex-Cats Bell, Maggard are teammates forever Watts task: Show latest 2nd chance is merited "He's performing functions you thought he'd never get done." Dr. Mark Wheeler, Jerry Bell's physician I 1 -HiMliMf first meeting when Bell brandished a frog-gigging spear at his new summer roommate and said, "Touch any of my stuff, I'll kill you. Want to go to His friend will never be the fun-loving, hell-raising, irrepressible Jerry of old. But Maggard wants people to know about the progress the DeSales High School graduate has made since a gunshot to the head 2Vi years ago shattered his world.

"I wanted you to see the miracle," Maggard said to a visitor to the Okolona home of Bell's parents this week. The miracle walks out of the kitchen at a good clip. He's steadied slightly by his high Lineman's miracle recovery continues one step at a time ByPATFORDE The Courier-Journal Freddie Maggard last played football with Jerry Bell in 1991, but he's never stopped being his teammate. That's why Maggard, a former University of Kentucky quarterback, still regularly visits Bell, a former UK defensive tackle. Even though it breaks his heart.

Even though Bell will never be the same character Maggard loved from their very said yesterday that the evidence is inconclusive and their investigation remains open. Bell is still a large human about 6 feet 4 and 245 pounds, down 40 pounds from his UK days but he's not the granite-bodied wildman who administered what Emmitt Smith once called the hardest hit of his career. Bell's blue eyes are sometimes bright, sometimes glassy, and the right side of his body is still partially paralyzed. He can say "Hi, but not much more. He becomes animated when watching football or wrestling on television, but he See EX-CATS Page 7, col.

1, this section Jason Watts resumes chasing a life's dream with the Denver Broncos less than a year after he drove drunk and killed two friends who also had been drinking. I believe this is a morning when we should think about the amazing second chance that Watts is receiving but Artie Steinmetz and Scott Brock never school friend and guardian angel, Dawn Felty, who has devoted much of her free time to making this miracle happen. Jerry Bell, given virtually no chance of surviving the .357 Magnum bullet that tore through the right side of his skull on Good Friday 1997, is holding Maggard's business card in his left hand. He's walking. He's laughing.

The 30-year-old Bell has lived through the shooting, which occurred when he and some friends were preparing to go fishing. Police originally surmised that the shooting was accidental and self-inflicted, but spokesman Aaron Graham FILE PHOTO Jerry Bell was irrepressible until his life was shattered by a gunshot to the head. will. I wonder if Steinmetz would have become the team leader the University of Kentucky coaching staff envisioned, talking to his --v I RICK BOZICH Mumme tells McCordl: Get it into gear Pyatt has moved ahead of him on depth chart NEXT FOR UK Opponent: Arkansas. Whens 1:30 p.m.

EDT Saturday. Site: Commonwealth Stadium. Tickets: A few remain at $22. n)flil f) TnlPJirnfi 0)(P EdTaubensee.left.high-J U1S VJfLI VkJU UUV fivedScottWmiamson after Tuesday's game. if ifr By RUSTY HAMPTON The Courier-Journal LEXINGTON, Ky.

When Hal Mumme speaks, Quentin McCord listens. Last year he reacted, too. The question is, will he do it again? Last year at this time, Mumme said the University of Kentucky football team wasn't getting enough production from McCord and fellow wide receiver Kevin Coleman. The two combined to catch 14 passes for 181 yards and a touchdown as UK nearly upset Arkansas. With the 20th-ranked Razor-backs coming to Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, Mumme was at it again this week.

Coleman is gone, but McCord is back. And through four games he has caught six passes two fewer than he caught in last year's Arkansas game alone. A fourth-year junior who might be the fastest player on the team, McCord was the preseason favorite to replace Craig Yeast as the Wildcats' big-play, go-to receiver. Mumme said it's time for McCord to start playing that way before freshman Brad Pyatt steals the spotlight. Pyatt, who got about half of the snaps against Florida on Saturday, is listed ahead of McCord as the wide receiver on this week's depth chart.

"We're trying to get Quentin to step up his game," Mumme said. The fact that half of McCord's catches have been for touchdowns shows how valuable he can be to the Cats, who have had trouble stretching their vertical passing game against the soft, deep zone defenses they see each week. McCord has had some bad luck, Mumme said. There was the touchdown catch against Louisville that was disallowed (the referee said he was out of bounds, but replays showed he wasn't). And in the 38-10 loss to Florida, McCord couldn't come up See MUMME Page 6, col.

2, this section lv Rlf -tf l-i 1.U VKf I tiuX jams mates congratulated Sean Casey after his solo homer in the first inning teammates congratulated Sean Casey after his solo homer in the first inning (qqj ASSOCIATED PRESS Reds Tuesday night. Countdown starts as team moves into first teammates about playing aggressively as well as telling them not to abuse alcohol. I wonder if Brock would have led a caravan from Leslie County to Nashville, when Tim Couch, his high school teammate, made his first pro start for the Cleveland Browns. I wonder about two sets of parents who still must b.e learning how to live without sons who left them entirely too young. BUT MOST of all I wonder about the message delivered by Jason Watts receiving the gift of a second chance from the Broncos so quickly after his 110-day shock probation from the pair of guilty pleas he made to reckless homicide.

Those pleas, made in April, could have left him'in jail until 2009. From 10 years in jail he has upgraded to football heaven, a spot on the developmental squad of the team that won the past two Super Bowls. Only on Planet Sports. THIS ISN'T Watts' first in-, stant second chance. UK let him play in 1998 after he was involved in another alcohol-related incident that resulted in the accidental shooting of another UK player.

He never finished taking advantage of his first second chance. He couldn't. Watts was unavailable for the final two games last season because on Nov. 15 he drove drunk and wrecked his truck, killing his friends. Now he is going to practice with Terrell Davis and the rest of the Broncos, who said Watts was given an "unqualified recommendation" by UK coach Hal Mumme.

Denver needed a blocker. Watts was a free agent with some potential. End of story. Or so they want us to think. IT IS another example of the hurry-up approach to rehabilitation and personal responsibility you see in sports eveiy day, an approach that keeps Leon Lett and John Daly and Darryl Strawberry and Leonard Little and Tonya Harding and Patrick Valenzuela and others spinning in and out of the arena.

It is an approach that risks blurring the message of compassion with the powerful message that how well you piay a game is more important than how well you behave when the game is over. It makes you ask if special privileges go to people with special talents. It makes you wonder whether a school system would have been as quick to hire Watts if he had been a teacher or if a major bank would have pursued him if he had majored in finance. IT MAKES you ask if Watts could have made a more powerful statement about his commitment to getting his life solidly in order by taking advantage of his probation quietly and sitting out one full season. One season with no football as a gesture of respect for two friends who were just as reckless but not as fortunate as Jason Watts.

You won't find these answers on a scoreboard, in a playbook or anywhere else. These are not easy answers to uncover. But now it is not Jason Watts' responsibility to block. It is his responsibility to prove that another second chance so quickly awarded is justified. And it is our responsibility never to forget this is a second chance Artie Steinmetz and Scott Brock didn't receive.

Bozich's column normally runs Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays in Sports. You can reach him at 582-4650. i Ex-Ballard star Johnson runs up accolades at IU NL CENTRAL W-L Pet. GB x-Cincinnati 95-63 .601 x-Houston 94-64 .595 1 WILD-CARD RACE x-Houston 94-64 .595 x-NewYork 92-65 .586 114 x-Late game not included Today's game Atlanta at New York, 7:10 p.m. I if 'w 1 From Cincinnati Enquirer and Houston Chronicle Dispatches HOUSTON Go ahead, say it: Cincinnati's magic number for clinching the National League Central title is four.

It became permissible to speak in those lofty terms Tuesday night, when the Reds' early aggression on offense complemented Pete Harnisch's resilient pitching in their 4-1 victory over the Houston Astros. The Reds (95-63) broke a tie with Houston (94-64) atop the division standings while winning their sixth game in a row. So any combination of Reds victories or Astros defeats equaling four in the teams' remaining four games will give Cincinnati the Central title and a Division Series confrontation with West champion Arizona starting next Tuesday. The magic number is even we don't have to worry about holding them off, because we don't have the lead anymore. Let them see how it feels for a while." The Reds took over the lead by winning eight of 10 while the Astros were losing eight of 11.

Still, Houston led the wild-card race because of the Mets' collapse. "I'm concerned, because I don't want to play all this way and not go to the playoffs," Dierker said. "I'd be happy to get in as the wild card. I don't care how we get in there." Considering their recent play, the Astros are well aware that words such as collapse and choke loom near. Nevertheless, they insist they don't feel pressured by the situation.

"People are going to say what they want to say," Astros second baseman Craig Biggio said. "When you're not winning, it looks like you're tight, but we're not tight." Fullback Jeremi Johnson's size (5-11, 263 pounds), speed and smarts have made him a favored IU freshman. Astros starter Jose Lima chewed on a towel in the dugout after giving up two runs In two innings. smaller three to secure the wild-card playoff berth, since the New York Mets (92-65) lost their seventh in a row. "Right now, every game's the playoffs," said first baseman Sean Casey, whose first-inning homer off Astros right-hander Jose Lima gave the Reds a fast start.

We can't sit back now." The Reds, who assumed their first one-game lead over Houston since July 9, can do no worse than leave here with a first-place tie. Said manager Jack McKeon, "We're not jumping up and down in the streets. We know (Houston's) a good ballclub." The Astros had been in first place in the NL Central since July 9, and they had spent only five days out of the top spot since April 30. "Maybe that's a good thing, Astros manager Larry Dierker said. "Now, NEXT FOR IU Opponent: Illinois.

When: 12:10 p.m. Saturday. Site: Memorial Stadium. Tickets: Available at $26. By MIKE GRANT The Courier-Journal BLOOMINGTON, Ind.

Jer-emi Johnson had to earn his respect. Nothing was handed to him as a member of the Indiana University football team. It didn't matter how good he was at Ballard High School and he was great. What did matter is what role he could fill to immediately help the Hoosiers. Jeremi Johnson a role player? The highly recruited high school star is being asked to do the dirty work, such as pass protection and laying out lead blocks.

That might be the complete job description for most fullbacks, but Johnson's unusual combination of size 5 feet 11, 263 pounds and speed defies the mold. In 1998 he rushed for 1,517 yards and 17 TDs; as a junior he totaled 1,089 yards and 15 TDs. Why not just hand him the ball? IU coach Cam Cameron intends to perhaps as soon as Saturday against Illinois (3-1, 0-1 Big Ten). But he will do so only because Johnson has earned the faith of the coaching staff and his teammates. "He's picked up the blocking really quickly and he's willing to block, Cameron said.

"I think that is an indication of his attitude. He's a guy over the next few years that if he can stay healthy is going to be a guy to be reckoned with, especially running with the Harding finally gets chance to skate as pro fessional event there is, and it was just a question of who would have the guts to take her," said Michael Rosenberg, her adviser. True freshmen in the IU football program are under a media gag- order, but Johnson's play might say it all. He has appeared in all four games, rushing 20 times for 104 yards, and has caught four passes for 41 yards. His most impressive statistic? Johnson has yet to be stopped for a loss.

Recently IU has had a good run of fullbacks, led by the dependable Chris Gall. But he wasn't a 263-pounder with 4.7-second speed at 40 yards. It's not enough that defenses have to worry about option quarterback Antwaan Randle El and tailback Levron Williams. Now they must be concerned with a bowling-ball fullback going downhill at full speed. See EX-BALLARD Page 6, col.

1, this section I Stone, and two other men served time for planning and carrying out the attack. Harding avoided jail time despite her guilty plea to a charge that she covered up the attack. She received a lifetime ban by the U.S. Figure Skating Association and apologized to Kerrigan. The USFSA has no jurisdiction over the Huntington event, which will be televised by ESPN on a delayed basis.

Also entered are Elizabeth Manley, Surya Bonaly, Tonia Kwiatkowski and Pasha Associated Press Five years after receiving a lifetime ban from amateur skating for her role in the knee-bashing of rival Nancy Kerrigan, Tonya Harding will compete as a professional for the first time Oct. 18-19 in Huntington, W.Va. "I'm a little nervous because I haven't skated in front of an audience for some time," Harding said yesterday from Portland, Ore. "I'm sure there's going to be skeptics out there, but I'm sure the skeptical people would even like to see me skate. "When I was an amateur, I skated for myself.

As a professional, I will do it for the fans." The event is expected to be a sellout at the Huntington Civic Arena. Harding, 28, said she has been training for seven months and can hit all of her triple jumps except the axel. She is the only American woman to land that jump in competition. Harding announced her intentions to skate professionally in February, but it took awhile for a promoter to bite. "I've been calling every pro- Harding "Everybody was nervous to be the first one to put her in." Kerrigan was whacked with a baton as she left the ice during practice at the 1994 U.S.

championships in Detroit. Harding's ex-husband, Jeff.