For The Record

Grounded
By an outbreak of Mycoplasma gallisepticum, a potentially lethal
pathogen, Auburn's eagle mascots. Neither Tiger, a 25-year-old
golden eagle who performed at the opening ceremonies of the 2002
Winter Olympics, nor Spirit, a three-year-old bald eagle, is
healthy enough to carry on the three-year-old ritual of circling
Jordan-Hare Stadium before home games; nor is there time to
train a new bird for the 2003 season.

Joined
The Rainier Beach (Wash.) High football staff as an unpaid
assistant, Rick Neuheisel. After being fired from his $1.5
million-a-year job as coach of the University of Washington for
betting on college basketball games, Neuheisel called to offer
his services to coach Mark Haley, whom he had come to know during
recruiting. Neuheisel attended his first Vikings practice on Aug.
20, one day before he filed a wrongful termination suit against
Washington. Though one woman called the high school to complain
that his presence ran contrary to "character-building,"
Neuheisel, who will work mainly with quarterbacks, told his
lawyer after the initial practice that he'd "never had a better
day."

Died
In what has been ruled a suicide, William Swan, 55, chairman
of the board of trustees at St. Bonaventure. After a scandal
involving an ineligible basketball player last season led to the
resignation of the school president and the firing of the AD and
the basketball coach, Swan became despondent. He was found
hanging in his basement on Aug. 20. According to a
law-enforcement source, Swan, a St. Bonaventure alum and former
mascot who spearheaded the school's postscandal review, left a
note saying "that he let his colleagues down, that he let the
university down and that he apologized to his family."

Banned
From flying with the Romanian soccer team on its Aug. 18
trip to Ukraine, photographer Gabriela Arsenie. Romanian
superstition holds that it is bad luck for women to travel with
the national team. Among other things considered forbidden in the
country's soccer circles: the team bus's going in reverse and
players' stepping on the field with their left foot first.

COLOR PHOTO: AU PHOTO SERVICES (TIGER) Tiger