Sports Briefs: Linebacker played with broken neck

Thursday, Jan. 30, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

SUN WIRE REPORTS

Baylor linebacker Dean Jackson says he played eight games with a broken neck last fall after the team's medical staff failed to diagnose the injury.

Jackson, a two-year starter who led the Bears in tackles and interceptions last season, told the Dallas Morning News that Baylor had its doctors take X-rays the following Monday after he was injured initially on Sept 21.

No fracture was found, but Jackson said his neck didn't feel right, and he complained to Baylor trainers time and again in the next few weeks.

"I was in such pain the whole season, but they kept telling me it was muscle spasms," Jackson said.

It was only after the season that Baylor's medical staff performed a magnetic resonance imaging exam that eventually helped reveal the break in the fifth cervical vertebra, he said.

He said he complained of constant neck pain, which rose to excruciating levels during games. By December, Jackson said, he was taking 12 pain-killing tablets a day for the pain and was unable to rest at night.

He went back to Baylor officials in mid-December to insist on further tests, at which time the injury was discovered through further X-rays and the MRI.

Dr. James E. Rose, a Houston neurosurgeon, examined Jackson and advised immediate surgery, which Rose performed on Dec. 23.

Jackson remains on a football scholarship and said he is not considering a lawsuit. "I'm trying not to be mad," he said.

Jordan plans another season

Michael Jordan says he plans to return for another NBA season. It was the most definitive statement so far from the Chicago Bulls superstar who is playing this season on a one-year contract that pays him $30 million. Jordan said he believes he is playing at the top of his game and that he has been energized by support from fans, who this week voted in record numbers to make him an NBA All-Star for the 11th time. Twice this season, Jordan, 33, has reached the 50-point mark, most recently with his NBA-season best 51-point outburst against New York Jan. 21. He has scored at least 30 points in 22 of the Bulls' 43 games. He has scored at least 40 points six times.

OSU center sidelined

The Ohio State basketball program, already reeling from a four-game losing streak and speculation about the coach's future, has received another jolt. Sophomore center Jermaine Tate, the team's second-leading scorer and rebounder, will miss tonight's game against 17th-ranked Indiana after undergoing heart tests. "He's very quiet," coach Randy Ayers said of Tate. "He's a little concerned because it's an injury you can't see, and I think anytime you can't see something, you fear it."

Sabo a Mariner

Chris Sabo, a former All-Star third baseman who played in 54 games for Cincinnati last year, agreed to a minor-league contract with the Seattle Mariners. Sabo, 35, would get a $150,000, one-year contract if he makes the team and the chance to earn $150,000 in performances bonuses. He hit .254 with three homers and 16 RBIs last year before undergoing knee surgery Sept. 3.

Breaststroke record broken

China's Han Xue broke her own world short-course record in the 50-meter breaststroke Wednesday with a time of 30.88 seconds at Glasgow, Scotland. Han, 15, broke the mark of 30.98 she set at Beijing last January. Australia's Michael Klim won the men's 100 butterfly in 52.09, just 0.02 seconds off the world record set by Canada's Marcel Gery in 1990.