Canseco knows entertainment

PHOENIX, Ariz. Jose Canseco, who seems to have a 50-50 chance ofarriving at the park each day, says he'll be baseball's first 50-50man, as in home runs and stolen bases. Not necessarily this year -on that, we stand corrected - but sometime before he's through.

Forgive us for chuckling, Big Guy. Given your track record anddriving record, the chances you'll reach your goal - today, tomorrow,the day after - seem considerably less than 50-50.

If we could put Will Clark inside your body, the odds might bebetter. Then again, maybe not.

"No comment," Clark said when I asked him about your goal."Flat-out no comment."

Clark softened at the suggestion …

Arab protesters descend on Israeli borders

MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AP) — Mobilized by calls on Facebook, thousands of Arab protesters marched on Israel's borders with Syria, Lebanon and Gaza on Sunday in an unprecedented wave of demonstrations, sparking clashes that left at least 15 people dead in an annual Palestinian mourning ritual marking the anniversary of Israel's birth.

In a surprising turn of events, hundreds of Palestinians and supporters poured across the Syrian frontier and staged riots, drawing Israeli accusations that Damascus, and its ally Iran, orchestrated the unrest to shift attention from an uprising back home. It was a rare incursion from the usually tightly controlled Syrian side and could upset the …

Results from the Mexican soccer league

Weekend results in Mexican Apertura first-division football:

Friday

Estudiantes 2, Toluca 1

Saturday

Queretaro 2, Cruz Azul 1

Jaguares 1, Santos …

Area recruiting class overrated, scout says

Some football analysts are touting this year's senior class asthe most talented group produced in the Chicago area in 15 years.Not so, argues Tom Lemming of Prep Football Report, who has beenevaluating classes since 1979.

Lemming ranks only four Chicago-area products among the top 100prospects in the nation - tight end R.J. Luke of Waubonsie Valley,running back Antoineo Harris of Bolingbrook, quarterback Cory Paus ofLincoln-Way and defensive lineman Dan Rumishek of Addison Trail.

"It is a good class but there aren't enough great players torank with 1985 (John Foley, Russell Maryland, Tim Grunhard, Jeff Alm,Nolan Harrison, Jeff Pearson, Paul Glonek), which was the …

US state loses workers as immigration law kicks in

MONTGOMERY, Alabama (AP) — Alabama's strict new immigration law may be backfiring. Intended to force illegal workers out of jobs, it is also driving away many legal immigrant workers who work in construction and on farms doing backbreaking jobs that Americans generally won't.

The vacancies have created a void that will surely deal a blow to the state's economy and could slow the rebuilding of Tuscaloosa and other tornado-damaged cities.

Employers believe they can carry on because of the dismal economy, but when things do turn around, they worry there won't be anyone around to hire. Many legal Hispanic workers are fleeing the state because their family and friends don't have …

Merger announced with SLM Software

Beyond 2000" was the theme at the 1998 Bankline Technology Conference last month at the Mariott Hotel in Overland Park, Kan. The convention focused on new technology, products and services looking forward and beyond the year 2000.

The conference, with guest speakers and breakout sessions, included management decisionmakers from banks across 20 states. The purpose of the convention was to help financial institutions gain a competitive edge into the next millennium.

A golf tournament and a Monte Carlo Night, which included an auction, were also highlights of the conference. Attendees could earn extra bucks attending the breakout sessions.

Among the speakers was Jack McDonald, regional sales manager of Q-Up Systems. He addressed the Internet and how interactive Web sites can be a key marketing tool for the future. QUp creates Web sites to promote a bank's services to their customers.

According to McDonald, Web sites provide a doorway for the bank and gives banks the ability to compete and become successful. Bank information on a Web site allows the bank customer to do everything themselves on the Internet, from apply for a loan to balancing their checkbook.

Other speakers were Jim Maag, executive vice president of the Kansas Bankers Association; representatives from Woodforest National, Houston; John Floyd; president of John M. Floyd Associates; and Steve Onufrey, retail banking marketing executive of IBM.

On Sept. 23, John French, chief executive officer for Bankline Holding Inc., announced the merger of Bankline Inc., Kansas City, with SLM Software, a Toronto-based company.

"The merger between SLM and Bankline means a larger spectrum of products and services to Bankline customers and results in deeper capital resources and expertise for continued growth. The combination of our two organizations doubles our corporate and financial strength," French said.

Bankline, headquartered in Kansas City, supplies client server banking services and imaging technology, while SLM provides electronic transaction management solutions.

The $20-million merger will allow SLM Software immediate entry into the U.S. market, and Bankline Inc. to grow worldwide. Bankline will maintain its autonomy and continue with its current management team.

Strikers must prove they're better than Brewster

Q You were so close to getting that first SPL win until losing twolate goals at Hibs, why did that happen?

JC: We drew the Hibs game because we failed to do the basic taskof any team, which is defend as a unit.

We had two young lads at the heart of the defence and they couldhave done with a bit more help from their team-mates at times.

You need to defend from the front and in midfield as well.

If we had done that we would have taken the points and mostprobably have scored more because we were causing Hibs problems withour counter-attacks.

But we fell too deeply into our own half and invited Hibs to pushtowards our penalty area.

Our passing also started to get sloppy and we stopped gettingclose on opponents, which was what had led to us going 3-1 up in thefirst place.

Hibs are a good passing team so we were inviting trouble by givingthem more time on the ball.

If we had kept snapping at their heels we wouldn't have given awaya game we should have won comfortably.

To be fair on Scott Severin, he was trying to do that but was restricted by the ankle injury he picked up during the warm-up.

Seve needed a painkilling injection to numb the injury but themore it wore off the harder it got for him to get close to opponents.

But we did much the same against Celtic the week before in thelatter stages.

It's frustrating to only get one point from those games because wecould easily have won both. We showed how good as well as how bad wecan be in phases of both games.

Q KARIM Touzani, who would have been the ideal replacement forZander Diamond when he got injured, wasn't even on the bench. Why wasthat?

JC: I would normally have had Touzani there to act as cover forthe central defenders.

But the under-21 rule meant I had to make choices and I decided togo with more attacking options because I believed they were morelikely to be of use.

Derek Young had been brilliant in the previous two reserve gamesand I felt he would have been good to put on if we found ourselves ina position where we had to chase the game.

Richard Foster can play in either of the full-back positions and Ialso wanted to have Miller and Lovell there as back-up to Brewsterand Mackie.

So it was sod's law that we then had to take big Zander off, withSeve following soon afterwards.

It meant two of our best defensive players were gone and thatworked in Hibs' favour.

The loss of Zander was particularly hard because he was having agreat game.

Q CRAIG Brewster at least signed off in style with two goals, Howwill the Dons cope without him?

JC: I'm hoping the fact I was picking a 40-year-old before otherplayers will act as a wake-up call to some of the our strikers. Iwould be a bit embarrassed. I also hope they have learned from theway Craig conducted himself while he was with Aberdeen.

He gave them a masterclass of the right movements to make, how andwhen to play the ball and how to disguise passes.

Craig is also our top scorer, so he was doing everything I wouldexpect from a striker.

The other strikers weren't happy he was the one picked but theycould not argue against the decision.

Every team in Scotland would play Craig from the start when he isin that sort of form. It's now up to one of the others to prove theycan do as well as Craig.