www.miami.com Posted on Wed, Feb. 26, 2003 BY KEVIN BAXTER kbaxter@herald.com

KEY YEAR: Alex González, whose 2002 season ended when he injured his shoulder in May, wants to prove he's up to the demands of playing shortstop: "This year is very much a key year for me," he said.

JUPITER - No matter what happens during the next nine months, Alex González can take comfort in knowing it can't possibly be worse than the past nine.

Since May, González has seen a potential Gold Glove-winning season wiped out by an injury, then watched first-hand as his native Venezuela became engulfed in deadly political violence.

So when he takes the field this afternoon for the Marlins' first exhibition game of the spring, he'll be thinking of the future, not the past.

''This year is very much a key year for me,'' González said Tuesday.

And not only because his $1.7 million contract runs out this fall; after all, every Marlin but center fielder Juan Pierre will see his contract end when the season does. But only González has the added burden of proving he's strong enough -- physically and mentally -- to be an everyday player at shortstop, one of the most demanding positions.

''He knows he has a tough season to face,'' said former shortstop and fellow Venezuelan Ozzie Guillén, now the Marlins' third-base coach. ``This season can be the biggest for him in his career. He can't go two years without playing the way he should be playing.''

González got off to a great start last season and was hitting .261, 40 points above his career average, after a month. He was also dazzling in the field, committing just one error in 22 games.

''The way he played before he got hurt, he was a Gold Glove winner without question,'' Guillen said.

But then in the third inning of a mid-May game against the Giants, González dislocated his left shoulder diving for a ball hit by Barry Bonds. It was the same shoulder he hurt in 1996, during his third professional season. Only this time González had a partially torn labrum as well. So after suffering through five painful rehab starts in the low minors, González ended his season early and was operated on by Dr. James Andrews.

For the next four months, González didn't touch a ball and aimed for a mid-January return in the Venezuelan winter league. But when widespread discontent with the government of President Hugo Chávez led to a general strike and riots in the streets, the league shut down, sidelining González another two months.

''I practiced with the team. I did some rehabilitation exercises on my arm. I did everything I could to . . . prepare myself for spring training. But it affected me,'' González said of his canceled winter season.

And it might continue to affect him. Although González's girlfriend, Johanna Josely, and the couple's 3-year-old son, Alexander, will be coming to South Florida in April, the rest of his family will remain in Venezuela, amid violence and uncertainty.

Guillén said González will have to put those worries aside when he takes the field, just as Guillén did in 1995 when his best friend, former Marlin Gus Polidor, was fatally shot by robbers at his home in Venezuela.

González, who is promising to play cautiously during the exhibition season, said he feels great and his arm is ''about 80 percent'' healed. Guillén and manager Jeff Torborg said González looks better than that, although the real test will come later in spring training.

''The worst thing about it is swinging the bat,'' Guillén said. ``The next day after swinging the bat, your body will be sore. I think he's ready to play. He's got one thing in his favor: The manager loves him.''

PROBABLE LINEUP

Torborg will debut his probable opening day lineup against the University of Miami today in the first exhibition, at 3:05 p.m. at Roger Dean Stadium.

Second baseman Luis Castillo will lead off, followed by Pierre, catcher Ivan Rodríguez, first baseman Derrek Lee, third baseman Mike Lowell, right fielder Juan Encarnacíon, left fielder Todd Hollandsworth and González. Nonroster invitee Dontrelle Willis will start on the mound.

www.bayarea.com Posted on Wed, Feb. 26, 2003 By GORDON WITTENMYER Saint Paul Pioneer Press

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Gasoline was so scarce that Johan Santana once traded shifts with relatives for eight days waiting in line at a gas station that had no gas but told customers the tanker truck was due any day.

The fuel was so valuable that once he decided to buy some on the black market and paid 30 times the government rate, he sped home as quickly as possible with his 195 liters out of fear he would be robbed, or worse.

"Just carrying gas in your car is dangerous," the Minnesota Twins pitcher said. "I knew I was in danger the whole time. But you have no choice."

That kind of danger became a way of life this winter for the major leaguers and minor leaguers who make their year-round homes in their native Venezuela - the South American political hot spot, where anti-government protesters have been killed and a nearly 3-month-old general strike by business owners threatens to destroy the economy.

"It's scary," said Twins second baseman Luis Rivas, whose hometown of LaGuaira is just outside the Venezuelan capital, and epicenter of unrest, Caracas. He now lives several hours away but has friends and family near the capital.

"We couldn't do nothing," Rivas said. "You never know what's going to happen_something bad. You have to be in your home."

Santana, Rivas and pitcher Juan Rincon, who lives in the oil-rich region around Lake Maracaibo, spent much of their offseasons as virtual shut-ins, avoiding the streets except as necessary to make discreet purchases of gasoline or to drive to Caracas for visa applications or to get to the airport to fly to Florida for spring training.

"It's a nightmare," Rivas said.

The cause of the upheaval is strong-arm President Hugo Chavez, an ally of Cuba's Fidel Castro who is trying to take greater control of what has been a representative government. As anger among the private business powers grew in the tropical nation made prosperous by oil, nationwide business shutdowns began - a one-day strike in November and then another on Dec. 2 that has yet to be lifted.

JOBLESS AND DESPERATE

The strike has put people across the country out of work, resulted in countless protests, most visibly_and deadly_in Caracas, and filled the streets of Venezuela with growing numbers of people, many with growing desperation.

"Every time you step out of your home, you're in danger," Rincon said. "People aren't working. A lot of people were fired from the petroleum plants. The malls have been closed for almost a month.

"People in the streets might think you have money. I'm lucky in my hometown (of 4 million people); not too many people know me."

Many banks are open for only a few hours daily and no longer operate a currency exchange program because of the wildly fluctuating value of the Bolivar, Venezuela's currency. The players protect their U.S. wages and bonuses with base accounts in this country, transferring funds to Venezuelan accounts as needed.

Other businesses also operate within strictly limited hours and are starting to suffer supply shortages, Rincon said. Makers of soft drinks, beer and other products have shut down.

And with the gas shortage, police cars are becoming an increasingly rare sight, along with other emergency vehicles such as ambulances.

"We've never been through this before," Rincon said.

And the Twins thought contraction was tough to survive.

"There was a lot of concern," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "You throw the baseball stuff out the window. It comes down to their lives. You have guys getting robbed for gas, people getting taken out of their cars and beaten."

As recently as 1991, economic reforms in Venezuela after oil prices dropped resulted in widespread protests, with hundreds killed. And the government endured two attempted coups in 1992.

But no political or economic crisis in the lifetimes of these early-20-something Twins has lasted this long or affected their lives so personally_and never has it canceled their winter baseball season.

BASEBALL SEASON CANCELED

With the start of the Dec. 2 strike came the end of the Venezuelan winter league. Santana was due to start pitching for his team Dec. 4. Rivas managed to play one game before the strike. And Rincon started early because he anticipated a possible strike but still got in only 11 innings before the shutdown.

Rincon, who had access to workout facilities and players to throw to near his home, has appeared strong in the early part of camp. Santana, who didn't throw all winter, brought a lingering hamstring pull from a late-December attempt at conditioning. Rivas didn't practice much and put on five to 10 pounds during the forced break.

"I'm glad I took some rest," Santana said. "But now I've got to start all over again."

Said Rivas: "You can tell the difference. It's going to be hard. But I got here early (by about a week) to start, and I don't think it's going to be a problem."

If anything, the biggest problem for the Venezuelan players, once Major League Baseball intervened to make special arrangements for teams to obtain their players' visas, also was the source of their biggest relief: Leaving behind their country_and their loved ones.

"I still worry," Santana said. "I'm glad I'm here, because I need to play. But I'm still worried because my family and friends are there. It's not easy to be here and think about friends there and the whole situation going on right now."

Rivas has a sister and grandmother living near Caracas.

"I wanted to leave, but sometimes I wanted to stay with my family," he said.

For whatever might have been lost in conditioning and practice time, the Twins were fortunate. None of their players from Venezuela, nor the handful of U.S. coaches and players sent there for winter league ball, was directly involved in any of the violence. No one was robbed or hurt.

And, so far, the harrowing offseason hasn't made them start house hunting in the United States.

"Still, I love my country," Santana said. "That's where I'm from. My family's all there. As long as I can, I'll stay there, and we'll see how it goes.

"Hopefully, everything will change, and it will get back to normal."

news.mysanantonio.com Web Posted : 02/26/2003 12:00 AM   Tyson is the freak, Etienne the clown, and the rest of boxing spins with three rings, an elephant and a guy shooting himself out of a cannon.

In one ring of this circus is Don King and his hair. In another is Tyson and his tattoo. In a third is a litany of lawsuits, kidnappings, comebacks, arrests and guys getting shot in the legs while training.

What? You didn't hear?

Last week, super flyweight champion Alexander Munoz took a bullet to the knee while jogging in Caracas, Venezuela. Munoz fought with three assailants, tried to escape and got shot.

"Sadly," he told reporters, "you can't even train in peace anymore."

Fortunately, Munoz is expected to make a full recovery. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about his sport.

Boxing is on the ropes. It is bruised, it is battered, it is bleeding. But it isn't going away. Boxing might be hooked to a respirator — its every breath as artificial as Tyson's last KO — but no one will pull the plug because the dead can make the living a lot of money.

Clifford "The Corpse" Etienne made $1 million for hitting the canvas in 49 seconds. Tyson made $5 million for putting him there. Promoters and handlers left with large cuts from those purses before going to work on the next sham.

If there was any doubt about the truth of Tyson-Etienne, Tyson trainer Freddie Roach eliminated it with this post-fight comment: "Etienne had been knocked down nine times by guys who couldn't punch. I knew if Mike hit him he wouldn't get up."

I'm not sure when boxing crossed from savage to stupid, but Tyson-Etienne underscored the change. Quick, when was the last boxing show to feature a disgraced former ice skater on the undercard?

Tonya Harding, welcome to the sport of drunks, addicts and felons.

Tonya, you'll find an occasional good guy in boxing (sorry, but "Jesse" James Leija is married), you'll even find an occasional great match, but mostly you'll find lunacy and lies.

Take promoter Bob Arum. Arum is known for a lot of things, but in media circles he's best known for a career-defining admission: "OK, yesterday I was lying, but today I'm telling the truth."

Lunacy?

Where shall we begin?

Check the courthouse and you'll find more than 100 lawsuits filed against Don King. Check with police and you'll find reports numbering more than 100 pages about Johnny Tapia.

Check the sports pages, and on any given day you'll find a fighter going to court (Vitali Klitschko suing the WBC on Feb. 20 to force a match with Lennox Lewis), a fighter going to jail (Pernell Whitaker getting stopped for DUI on Valentine's Day) or a fighter getting busted at a gambling house (authorities apprehending Vinnie Paz on Feb. 20 at the Foxwoods Resort Casino and charging him with passing bad checks).

Then there's my personal favorite — a fighter who kidnaps his family, claims brain damage, then threatens to make a comeback when he gets out of prison.

You think I'm making this up?

Two weeks ago, Riddick Bowe, the former heavyweight champion, told a Nevada reporter, "I'm going to shock the world again," and you could take that a lot of different ways.

Bowe shocked the world when he abducted his wife and children in 1998. His attorneys shocked the world when they argued that Bowe couldn't help himself because he was brain damaged from 41 fights. Then Bowe shocked the world when he told a Nevada reporter that his attorneys made up the brain damage defense to keep him out of prison.

The brain damage defense was curious because, well, Bowe retired after taking blows to the, um, groin from Andrew Golota in 1996.

Groin damage. Brain damage. Whatever. Bowe wants to fight again after his release from prison, and you know who would be the perfect opponent?

The guy whom many insist is weirder than Wacko Jacko. Mike Tyson likes to eat children. Michael Jackson only likes to sleep with them.

Somewhere out there a promoter is smiling. Let the next freak show begin.

krodriguez@express-news.net

www.nola.com Wednesday February 26, 2003 By Marty Mulé Staff writer

The college career of Hector Romero, the Sun Belt Player of the Year last season and one of the league's top scorers for a second straight year, has ended because of an injury suffered Sunday.

Romero, a 6-foot-7 senior forward, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in the first half of last weekend's 68-63 loss at DenverThe injury is not likely to prevent Romero from pursuing professional basketball possibilities, the team physician said, but it ends his college career. From Our Advertiser

In his two seasons at UNO, Romero failed to score in double-figures only once -- in his last game. He averaged 20.2 points per game in 2001-02, second in the Sun Belt, and led the conference in rebounding with a 10.8 average.

This season, after going scoreless against Denver, he is second in the league in scoring (18.3) and third in rebounding (9.1).

Earlier this season, Romero became the 20th Privateer to score 1,000 points in a career and was named to the National Basketball Coaches Association's All-District 8 first team for the second consecutive season.

The Privateers play their first game without Romero tonight at Lakefront Arena against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (13-14), winners of three straight.

Three seniors -- Romero, center Nerijus Lisauskas and forward Jason Mann -- will be recognized before the game, UNO's last home game of the season.

Either Mann or sophomore Victor Brown will start in place of Romero, Coach Monte Towe said.

Dr. Vince Morelli, UNO's team physician, said that with surgery and rehabilitation, Romero could play basketball at a high level again. "Some guys can't because they have bad associated injuries," Morelli said. "Hector doesn't have these associated problems, so there's a good chance he can play again."

Once Romero recovers the range of motion in the leg, there will be surgery to reconstruct the ligament, Morelli said.

The injury occured when Romero caught a pass near the basket, spun, then came down awkwardly in the first half against Denver. He left the game, then returned briefly in the second half but had to leave again.

He said the injury seemed fine afterward and he was walking on it without pain. But on Monday the leg swelled. MRI tests revealed the extent of the injury.

"It's such a shame," Towe said. "Hector meant so much to our team, our program, really, it's hard to put into words. I told him this won't affect his chances for later on (professional basketball), and that's the good thing. The other side of it is we have to go on without him, and I don't mean we'll miss him just as a player."

As a player, Romero left a major imprint on UNO basketball and helped in getting Towe's program in place.

The paths of the two crossed almost a decade before, when Towe was coaching Marinos de Oriente in the Professional Basketball League of Venezuela. Romero, growing up in Barcelona and enchanted with the game, came to see Towe's team win the championship.

"I remembered that he won a lot of games," Romero said when he realized the Monte Towe who was trying to convince him to come to UNO from Independence (Kan.) Community College was the same animated coach he watched in Venezuela.

A similar light had earlier registered for Towe when he ran across Romero's name while scanning a recruiting list. "The name seemed familiar, and it was," Towe said. "It was on all the junior college evaluations. We looked into it."

Going after Romero may have been the best move Towe made in his two-year major college head coaching career, and coming to UNO was a good decision for Romero. He became the platform on which Towe built his program.

"It's almost over now, and that's a little hard to believe," Romero said last week. "It's gone by so fast. I remember when (the athletic department) put my picture on posters, on programs, how surprised I was. My jaw dropped I was so stunned. It touched me because it's good to know people appreciated you.

"But UNO gave me an opportunity, and that's what I came here for."

UNO basketball would certainly have been different without Romero, who had 28 double-doubles (scoring and rebounding) in his 54-game career.

In his first season at UNO, Romero became the first Privateer to rank in NCAA's top 50 in both scoring (20.2, 36th) and rebounding (10.8, ninth) in the same season.

After Romero scored a game-high 29 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in a game at Florida, a top 10 team, Gators coach Billy Donovan offered an unsolicited opinion: "Hector Romero was the best player on the court today."

"Hector was probably better than any of us could have thought," Towe said. "He fit right in, performed at a high level and helped lift his teammates. I'm glad we didn't have to go through (that first season) without Hector."

Towe said Romero's presence gave him a leg up on his long-range plans for the program. UNO stumbled out to a 5-11 start last season before winning 10 of their final 12 games, finishing 15-14.

"It wasn't an eye-catching record," Towe said, "but it was important because we were really playing well at the end. We really were a year ahead of time, because at the start I don't think anyone predicted that for us."

This season the Privateers are 14-12.

Towe said Romero's success could have been from being in the right place at the right time. "He could have gone to other places, Manhattan or Charlotte. But at those schools he might not have played right off, and he might not have developed as quickly. We needed him, and we benefitted from Hector coming here. But Hector benefited from being here, too."

Romero's statistics aren't the most telling sign of his contributions to the rebuilding of the UNO program, said Towe, who remembered point guard A.J. Meredith hugging Romero after a game during the Privateers' stretch run a year ago.

"A.J. grabbed Hector and said, 'We love this guy,' " Towe recalled.

"And you know, it's hard to just walk into a program, with guys who were already here, and be the loved one."

. . . . . . Marty Mulé can be reached at mmule@timespicayune.com. or (504) 826-3413.

www.miami.com Posted on Tue, Feb. 25, 2003 By RICK HURD Contra Costa Times (Walnut Creek, Calif.)

PHOENIX - Ramon Hernandez had only one thing on his mind when he hopped on a plane and headed home to Venezuela this winter. He said he wanted to wipe away the memory of a disappointing 2002 season.

"I just wanted to forget it," he said. "Sometimes, that's just the best thing you can do."

He had no idea how easy that would be. Hernandez's winter was marked by snapshots of fights in the streets, protests in the capital, long lines for gas and food, military marches and general unrest.

Turned out the only thing on his mind was keeping his family safe.

"It was sad, very sad," he said. "I've never seen anything like it before. I hope I never see it again."

What Hernandez witnessed was a crippling nationwide strike that nearly tore apart his country. Workers throughout Venezuela went on strike to protest the policies of president Hugo Chavez, and the fallout was tumultuous.

Violence erupted in Venezuela in December, shortly after the strike began. The importing and distribution of gasoline and oil is a huge industry in Venezuela, Hernandez said, and the strike left the country with a huge shortage.

Thus, he said, workers in other industries who relied on gas were unable to earn money.

"You'd see hundreds and hundreds of people lined up for gas. It might take two or three days to get some," Hernandez said. "But if you drove a taxi, then you can't work. So people like that would go hungry. There were lots of people in my country who couldn't get food."

Hernandez wasn't one of them. He said the country's baseball players are considered among the elite citizens of Venezuela and that he "had ways around" the mess that was causing so much misery. But the violence that resulted wasn't lost on him.

"I'd turn on the TV, and you'd see the army marching in the capital city (of Caracas), and you'd see fights between (Chavez's) supporters and opponents breaking out all over the place," he said. "It was very scary."

So scary, Hernandez said, that his family rarely left its home. Hernandez said his home was several miles on the outskirts of any big city, and that his neighborhood was relatively safe.

"But you couldn't take any chances," he said. "You never knew where it might be dangerous."

That point hit home early in December, when a fellow major league became a victim. Houston Astros outfielder Richard Hidalgo was shot in the left arm during a carjacking attempt in early December.

"It's a scary thing, what happened to him," Hernandez said. "It could've happened to anyone."

The turmoil also wrecked something else that was so close to Hernandez's heart. The Venezuelan winter league was canceled after only two weeks, because adequate security to protect the players couldn't be found. Hernandez had been named the league's MVP in 2001.

Thus, he said, the dawn of spring training was more welcome than ever. He reported to Arizona with his wife, Bellatrix, and son, Randy, but the rest of his extended family remains in Venezuela.

"I was glad to get started," he said. "I talked to family, and they say things are getting much better down there. It was getting better before I left, so hopefully it keeps going in that direction."

As for baseball, Hernandez said he hopes his offense moves in a better direction this season, too. He hit only .233 after signing a four-year, $9.5 million contract in March. He hit just seven home runs after totaling 29 over the previous two seasons.

"Hey, guys have bad years sometimes," manager Ken Macha said. "Hopefully, that was one of his. But that still doesn't take away from the work he did for us handling our pitching staff. He's as big a reason for our pitchers' success as any. As long as he keeps doing that, we'll be happy."

Hernandez seems happy already. He said he has put the memory of 2002 out of his mind. And he said the memory of his 2002 winter will be a nice reminder that some things are more important than batting averages.