WORLD CUP USA '94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : MAYBE 'THE BALL'

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

June 27, 1994 12 AM PT

It’s not over until the fat lady kicks? The Chicago Tribune reports that a local opera company tried to persuade soccer greats Pele or Franz Beckenbauer to dribble a ball across the stage during Act II of “Die Fledermaus” (“The Bat”) in Grant Park on Sunday.

Regarding the offer, Pele and Beckenbauer tastefully declined.

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Chris Dufresne

Chris Dufresne was the Los Angeles Times’ national college football/basketball columnist from 1995 to 2015. He also covered skiing at the Winter Olympics and wrote extensively on most sports. He is a multiple national award winner and was named 2011 California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. A Los Angeles native, he started at The Times in 1976 as a truck loader and literally worked his way up (two floors to be exact).

WORLD CUP USA ’94 / THE FIRST ROUND : SPOTLIGHT : MAYBE ‘THE BALL’

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