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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, June 2, 2000
Cowboys officially divorced from Deion
By STEPHEN HAWKINS
AP Sports Writer
IRVING, Texas, June 2, 2000 - The Dallas Cowboys early today released
Deion Sanders, leaving the star cornerback and punt returner free to pursue
a possible deal with the Washington Redskins and saving the Texas team
millions of dollars.
If Sanders had not returned to free agent status, he would have received
a guaranteed $23.5 million from the Cowboys over the next two years.
Dallas' decision was announced on the team's Web site.
"Deion was a great player for us," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said in
a prepared statement. "He was a major contributor in our Super Bowl team
and he has been a major contributor to the success we've had in recent
years. But because of salary-cap reasons, we just can't afford to keep
him under his current contract."
The Cowboys now say Sanders, 32, will count $2.2 million against their
salary cap this year and $3.2 million against the 2001 cap.
Besides Washington, Tampa Bay and Denver have also expressed interest
in Sanders. But Jones said he was not ruling out trying to re-sign Sanders
to a restructured contract.
"I think that's still a possibility," said Jones. "The door is still
open for that to happen and I wouldn't necessarily rule that out."
But Sanders has indicated since the end of last season that he anticipated
being a free agent and wants to play for a team that can win the Super
Bowl. He was reportedly seeking a multiyear contract with a signing bonus
of at least $8 million.
Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder, who has already signed several
prominent free agents, has indicated that he would be willing to do whatever
is necessary to sign Sanders.
In deciding not to exercise their option on the remaining four years
of Sanders' contract, the Cowboys said the move was strictly for salary
cap reasons.
And the Cowboys said that whatever team Sanders joins, he has already
proven he can aid in a turnaround, since he helped both Dallas and the
San Francisco 49ers win the Super Bowl in his first season with each team.
Sanders, who has been especially talkative when he's the subject, hasn't
been talking publicly about what will happen.
"I'm not going to talk about football," Sanders told the Fort Worth
Star-Telegram, refusing to comment on "where I'm going or what I'm going
to do."
The player's agent, Eugene Parker, did not return phone messages left
by The Associated Press.
Jones and his Cowboys' staff, including new head coach Dave Campo, are
in Las Vegas, where they are expected to stay until Saturday.
When Sanders arrived in Dallas at the start of the 1995 season, his
five-year, $35 million contract was the richest in free-agent history.
Jones said then that the deal was designed to get the league's best cornerback
as well as a player that could return kicks and play offense.
Sanders last year signed a five-year, $51.5 million contract, $5.4 million
of which is counting against the Dallas salary cap over the next two years
even after the cut.
Now regaining his status as one of the NFL's top free agents, Sanders
is more likely to get his market value because of his failed baseball comeback
with Cincinnati this spring.
Athletic program start-ups continue
PECOS, June 2, 2000 -- Registration for the last of the Pecos-Barstow-Toyah
summer athletic programs to get started this year will be next Monday and
Tuesday, after tennis, golf and basketball programs started up this week.
Registration for the summer track program is set for Monday from 8 a.m.
to noon. Practice will begin Tuesday and run weekdays from 8 a.m. to 12
noon through June 30.
Varsity girls track coach Lily Talamantez will be the instructor, and
the program is open to students between the ages of 7 and 18. Track meet
dates will be in the upcoming days.
Summer weightlifting and volleyball also get underway on Tuesday. Weightlifting
will be daily from 6 to 8 p.m. at the PHS field house, and will run throughout
June and July with the exception of the Fourth of July weekend. Head football
coach Gary Grubbs will be the supervisor.
Volleyball will run on even-numbered weekdays through July 6 from 6
to 9 p.m., along with even numbered weeknights from July 18 through July
28. Becky Granado will be the instructor for the course and students can
sign up the first day they participate.
The annual summer clinic for seventh and eighth graders will be the
week of July 17 and the ninth grader clinic will be the weeks of July 24,
both running from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2000 by Pecos Enterprise
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