For one game at least, Randy Moss will trade slant-ins for slam
dunks.
Moss, an All-Pro receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, will play
basketball for the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs, a minor league team
coached by former NBA star Darryl Dawkins.
| |  | |
| Moss |
The USBL team, based in Bethlehem, Pa., said Tuesday that Moss
is expected to play Thursday night. He will decide on future
appearances after that, Dawkins said.
"It's a game-by-game thing," team spokesman Joe Heyer said.
"He wants to play the first game and see how he feels. He
hopefully will be playing for a number of games. He's very much
into it. But he doesn't want to commit himself to the season and
then disappoint everyone by not showing up."
Moss, who will make about $3.5 million with the Vikings this
year, was twice selected as high school basketball player of the
year in West Virginia and has been playing in a Los Angeles summer
league.
The 6-foot-4 Moss will play guard and forward in the USBL, a
spring-summer league. He is expected to practice Wednesday night
and join the lineup Thursday against the Long Island Surf.
The ValleyDawgs are coached by Dawkins, perhaps most noted for
breaking backboards during his 14-year NBA career.
The team has talked with Moss since last year after one of Moss'
workout partners began practicing with the team, Heyer said.
"With his athleticism, he'll be a good scorer, I would think,
and a slam-dunker," Heyer said.
Moss scored a school-record 1,713 points at Dupont High School
in Rand, W.Va., and was a teammate of Jason Williams, now a
starting guard for the Sacramento Kings.
In the NFL, Moss has caught 43 touchdown passes in his three
seasons, making the Pro Bowl each year. He has 226 catches for
4,263 yards and 43 touchdowns in his career.
He is in the final year of a four-year contract he signed as a
rookie in 1998.
In 1999, the Minnesota Timberwolves said they had been contacted
about Moss moonlighting in the NBA. At the time, Moss said he had
no immediate plans to pursue professional basketball and didn't
want his offseason venture to become a distraction for the Vikings,
who were 2-3 at the time.
Vikings coach Dennis Green was out of town Tuesday, but he has
been supportive in the past of Moss' basketball ambitions.
"Randy is 100 percent committed to the National Football League
and to the Minnesota Vikings," Green said last year. "He is
playing this all-star league for fun and enjoyment and he will be
100 percent for the summer camp."
Still, the Vikings have reason to worry about Moss playing
basketball. After he was drafted in 1998, Moss sprained an ankle
doing just that two days before the team's May minicamp. Green said
the injury hampered Moss' play his rookie season, which was
nonetheless outstanding.
"Randy plays basketball regularly as part of his offseason
workout," Moss' agent, Dante DiTrapano, said Tuesday. "This is
nothing more than that."
DiTrapano said Moss would not be available to comment Tuesday.
A number of pro athletes have excelled in two sports, notably
Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson in recent years. Danny Ainge played
for the Toronto Blue Jays and in the NBA for the Boston Celtics and
Phoenix Suns. Michael Jordan tried his hand at minor league
baseball. Charlie Ward won the 1993 Heisman Trophy at Florida State
and now plays for the New York Knicks.
Moss will become the second big-name athlete from another sport
to play in the USBL. Light heavyweight champion Roy Jones Jr. plays
for the Lakeland Blue Ducks.
| |
| More from ESPN... | All Moss needs is a calendar
Randy Moss should be ...
AUDIO/VIDEO
Head coach Darryl Dawkins is getting ready for Randy Moss to join the Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs.
wav: 2507 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Minnesota head coach Dennis Green is not concerned about Randy Moss playing in the USBL.
wav: 843 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
| |
|
