Morceli rebounds from Barcelona...The politics of age...Crowe quits Arkansas

Broken
By Noureddine Morceli of Algeria, Said Aouita's seven-year-old world record in the men's 1,500 meters. Morceli, 22, had been favored in the distance in Barcelona but finished seventh. Last week at a meet in Rieti, Italy, he led at 400 meters in 53.73, an astonishingly swift first lap, and ran the final lap in 54.96 to finish in 3:28.86, .60 of a second faster than the old mark.

Accused
Of misrepresenting their ages, some members of the world champion Zamboanga City Little League team, by sports columnist Al Mendoza of The Philippine Daily Inquirer. The charges were made the day the team arrived in Manila and was feted with a ticker-tape parade. Mendoza, quoting unidentified sources, claimed that birth certificates and other records had been faked to enable Zamboanga City players who were over the 12-year-old age limit to compete in last week's Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. Philippine sports authorities have denied the allegations, and as of last weekend no official complaint had been lodged. Bob McKittrick, a Little League administrator for Long Beach, Calif., whose team lost to the Filipinos in the series, says that he intends to pursue reports that the age rule was broken and that some players were not from the Zamboanga City area. "Let's hope these kids are legal," McKittrick said. "If they aren't, then my kids are the champs. And I'm going to fight for my kids."

Hazed
By The Citadel, Arkansas, the powerful SEC, whose ranks Arkansas joined only this year, and Razorback coach Jack Crowe, with a 10-3 beating in Fayetteville last Saturday. Crowe, 44, who resigned the day after the game, had suffered through a 3-8 season his first year at Arkansas and a 6-6 record in '91. "It is obvious the program is not where we want it to be and not where it should be," he said. When asked if Crowe had been fired, athletic director Frank Broyles said the decision was mutual.

Died
Hall of Fame second baseman Billy Herman, 83, of cancer; in Palm Beach, Fla. Named for silver-tongued orator William Jennings Bryan, Herman played a gilt-edged second base in the National League from 1931 to '46, was named to the All-Star team 10 times and batted a career .304. He debuted with the Chicago Cubs and played in three of their pennant-winning years (1932, '35 and '38). In 1941 he helped the Brooklyn Dodgers win their first pennant since 1920. Herman, who coached and managed in the majors from 1947 to '66, had a 189-274 record in four seasons as manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Red Sox. But he was best known as a hit-and-run artist, a clutch hitter famous for his ability to drive the inside pitch to the opposite field and a brilliant second baseman on the double play. And he owned Dizzy Dean. "Ask Dizzy if I didn't hit .400 off him," Herman said years later. "Uh-uh," said Ol' Diz, "it was .500."

PHOTO

BRUNO MOSCONI/AP

The 1,500 record falls to Morceli.