Note From The Underground

Patrick for President
Though he was a leader in the unsuccessful fight to decertify the union in 1995, the usually low-key Patrick Ewing was a surprise choice when he was voted in by his peers as president of the players' association last September. Union executive director Billy Hunter had avidly urged Ewing to run for months, though, and in chats before Bulls games he had tried to persuade Michael Jordan to serve as vice president. "I thought I was getting somewhere when I got into the back room with Michael and Ahmad [Rashad]," Hunter says. Ewing ran for the post thinking Jordan would be his sidekick, but His Airness declined, citing a packed schedule. "By the time Mike bowed out," says Hunter, "Patrick was too pumped to change his mind."