YES! MARV MAKES HIS RETURN: Marv Albert needs no introduction to a national audience, but the Turner Sports Network will give him one anyway.
Albert is to return to the screen tonight, giving viewers analysis during the Miami Heat-Utah Jazz basketball game telecast on the cable station TNT."We're just going to introduce him as a member of our team," Turner spokesman Greg Hughes said Monday.
Albert, fired by NBC in 1997 after pleading guilty to biting a woman during a sexual encounter, is scheduled to make his play-by-play debut on TNT's broadcast of the Los Angeles Lakers game at Phoenix on April 2.
"This is just a cameo," Albert said. "The toughest moments for me are out of the way. Now I'm just trying to do my job."
BLISS TO BAYLOR?: Decision time may be at hand for Dave Bliss -- stay at New Mexico or go to Baylor.
Bliss, who just completed his 11th season as New Mexico's coach, said Monday he made a second visit to Waco, Texas, over the weekend. But he said he had not decided whether to take the Baylor job.
The Fort Worth (Texas) Star Telegram, however, reported that Baylor had given Bliss until Tuesday to make up his mind.
His contract with New Mexico expires April 30, and he hasn't signed a six-year contract extension agreed upon last August. The extension deal was made to keep Bliss, 55, in Albuquerque through the 2004-2005 season.
Bliss, who received a raise last season of $18,000 to $140,000 in base pay, had given the new contract back for some fine-tuning last fall. He has not gotten it back.
CONVERSE TO DROP RODMAN: The unpredictable Dennis Rodman has been told to find new shoes to fill, according to The Boston Globe.
Basketball shoe manufacturer Converse Inc. of North Reading, Mass., has ended its $15 million endorsement contract with Rodman about one year before it was to expire, the Globe said it was told by unidentified sources in a story for Tuesday's editions.
The Globe also was told that Rodman, a forward for the Los Angeles Lakers, contends Converse owes him about $3 million and plans to fight the decision.
Converse told Rodman last week that it was using an exit clause in the 1997 contract to end the deal, the Globe said it was told.
CSI NAMES NEW COACH: Derek Zeck will take over as new men's basketball head coach at the College of Southern Idaho, according to Jerry Meyerhoeffer, college president.
Zeck, 28, takes over the Golden Eagle program from former head coach Kevin Jones, who announced his resignation Thursday.
Zeck served the past two seasons as assistant coach at the University of Idaho under the direction of David Farrar.