For the Record

Won
By Cory Spinks (above) the IBF junior middleweight title, with a decision overRussia's Roman Karmazin in St. Louis last Saturday. It was a career-saving winfor the son of former heavyweight champ Leon Spinks-the younger Spinks, 28,hadn't fought since surrendering his welterweight title in a loss to Zab Judahin February 2005. Spinks (35-3) prepared for Karmazin (34-2-1) by training inisolation at the Orwell, Ohio, ranch of promoter Don King (inset, with Spinks),and the regimen paid off. He danced around Karmazin's punches and landed enoughto win on two cards. "I'm back," Spinks said. "I feel like I'm ontop of the world."

Returning
To the ring, former heavyweight champ Joe Frazier ... for a charity boutagainst Memphis mayor Willie Herenton. Frazier, 62, and Herenton, 65, willfight in Memphis on Nov. 30 to raise money for a local drug treatment program.This will be Frazier's first fight since 1981. Last week Herenton got a headstart on the prefight trash talk. "My hands move so fast, they scare mesometimes," Hizzoner said. "You're going to see a good senior citizenwho has a great array of skills."

Barred
By a Maryland judge, from signing free agents to contracts longer than oneyear, the NBA's Hawks and the NHL's Thrashers. Both franchises are owned by theAtlanta Spirit group, which is embroiled in a court battle with estrangedpartner Steve Belkin. Last month Montgomery County (Md.) Circuit Court JudgeEric Johnson said that Belkin was entitled to buy out his Spirit partners, aruling that the group appealed. While the appeal is pending, Johnson orderedthat neither team can "initiate the purchase, sale, trade or negotiation ofany NBA or NHL player contract" unless the deal is for a year or less. Thedecision does not apply to draft picks or players with whom negotiations havealready begun-such as guard Speedy Claxton, who was expected to sign afour-year deal with the Hawks when NBA free agency began on Wednesday.

Jailed
For contempt of court, Greg Anderson, Barry Bonds's personal trainer. Anderson,39, served three months in prison last year after pleading guilty to steroiddistribution and money laundering related to the BALCO scandal. In March he wasordered to testify to a federal grand jury investigating whether Bondscommitted perjury before the BALCO grand jury in 2003. Anderson refused, andlast week U.S. District Court judge William Alsup ordered that Anderson bejailed until he agrees to testify. He will be released when the grand jury'sterm expires, which is expected to be in a few weeks.

Announced
That he will join the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team next year, Formula Onestar Juan Pablo Montoya (above). The Colombian, 30, who won F/1's Monaco GrandPrix in 2003, took the CART series championship in 1999 and the 2000Indianapolis 500 while driving for Ganassi's team, before bolting to FormulaOne in '01. He will be the only foreign-born driver on the Nextel Cup circuit,and his international popularity is expected to bolster NASCAR's effort to drawa more diverse fan base. Montoya is confident about his chances, even thoughfew drivers have successfully made the switch from open-wheel to stock carracing. "Three years down the line," said Montoya, "I'll be a lothappier doing this."

Discussed
By Danica Patrick's father and manager, T.J., with several NASCAR teams, thepossibility of his daughter's jumping from the IRL to the Nextel Cup circuit,according to a report in the Orlando Sentinel. Patrick's contract with RahalLetterman Racing expires after this season, and according to the Sentinel, T.J.and his wife, Bev, were guests of Roush Racing at NASCAR's USG Sheetrock 400 inChicago on Sunday. The Patricks are reportedly negotiating with other NASCARteams as well: "I'm trying to get her [into NASCAR]," T.J. told thepaper. Patrick has struggled in her second IRL season and has failed to finishhigher than sixth in eight races.

Remembered
By 900 mourners in a memorial service in Evanston, Ill., last Thursday,Northwestern football coach Randy Walker (right), who died of a heart attack onJune 29. Walker, who was 52, took over the Wildcats in 1999 and went 37-46 withthree bowl appearances in seven seasons. (He's the first Northwestern coachwith four six-win seasons since 1902.) "He was a father figure, a friend, amentor and a spiritual leader of our team," said kicker Joel Howells. LastFriday, Northwestern promoted assistant coach Pat Fitzgerald to replace Walker;at 31, Fitzgerald's the youngest coach in Division I. "[It's] the mostbittersweet feeling I've ever had in my life," said Fitzgerald.

Died
At age 86 after a long battle with cancer, Gert Fredriksson, the Olympics' mostsuccessful male canoeist. The Swede won his first gold medals in the 1,000- and10,000-meter kayak singles at the London Games in 1948-he won the 10,000 by30.5 seconds, a record margin that still stands-and in three more Olympiads headded four more golds, a silver and a bronze. Fredriksson's total of eightcanoeing medals is surpassed only by that of Germany's Birgit Fischer, who woneight gold and four silver medals.

Suspended
For six months by the Louisiana Racing Commission, Steve Asmussen, NorthAmerica's top money-winning thoroughbred trainer in 2004 and '05. In March oneof Asmussen's horses, No End in Sight, tested positive for the bannedanesthetic mepivicaine after a race at Evangeline Downs in Opelousas, La.Asmussen denied giving the medication to the horse, but he said that a positivetest result is the responsibility of the trainer. "I'm not going to appealit," Asmussen, the second-leading trainer with $7,520,468 in purses thisyear, told the Daily Racing Form. "I didn't, nor did anyone in myemployment administer mepivicaine to No End in Sight."

Go Figure

$111,000 Annual cost to the All England Club fortowels stolen during Wimbledon; towels are supposed to be left on the court byplayers after matches, but 2,500 of them disappear each year.

56.9 Seconds it took Estonia's Margo Uusorg, with hiswife, Sandra Kullas, aboard, to cover a 250-meter course at the WorldWife-Carrying Championships in Sonkajarvi, Finland, an event record.

1 Players who have hit five grand slams before theAll-Star break: Cleveland's Travis Hafner, one of four players to hit that manyin a full season.

63 Consecutive games in which the Angels' OrlandoCabrera reached base before he went 0 for 4 against the A's last Friday, themajors' longest streak since 1960.

Undergone
By Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, surgery to treat an infection in his injuredright hind leg, a complication doctors called "potentially serious."The colt shattered the leg during the Preakness and underwent surgery to insert27 screws and a titanium plate to fuse his leg bones together. Last weekdoctors at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center noticed that hehad a fever and discomfort in the limb, so they operated again to replace thehardware and clean the infected area. Barbaro's recovery had been goingsmoothly, but Dr. Dean Richardson said, "I think we're in for tough timesright now."

Separated at Bank

Sick of being mistaken for Michael Jordan, an Oregonbus driver sues for $832 million

MICHAEL JORDAN can't buy a gallon of milk or fill hisgas tank without being recognized. Allen Heckard says he knows how MJ feels.Heckard, 51, a shuttle-bus driver at the Portland airport, claims he is alsorecognized wherever he goes-though people think he's Michael Jordan, not AllenHeckard. "I get people stopping me two or three times a day," saysHeckard, who with his shaved head, goatee, gold earring and footwear (AirJordans) bears a passing resemblance to His Airness. "Enough is enough. Ican't take it anymore."

Last week Heckard filed a civil suit against Jordanand Nike chairman Phil Knight, claiming he is owed $832 million for 15 years ofharassment by a public that mistakes him for the NBA's greatest player.Heckard-at 6'2" and 195 pounds he's four inches shorter and 20 poundslighter than Jordan-says he's taken steps to change his appearance, includingshaving his goatee and wearing two earrings instead of one. But, he says,"nothing works-people still think I'm Mike."

Nike says it will move to dismiss the suit, andHeckard himself isn't holding out much hope that he will rake in millions-oreven recoup the $206 in court fees he paid to file the suit in WashingtonCounty, Ore. "It's not about the money," says Heckard. "A man hasto have principles to stand on. If any money comes my way, great. If not, well,you can't miss what you never had."

Costume Drama

It's no joke: Two mascots face charges for allegedcrimes of sex and violence

THEY'RE FUN! They're furry! They're allegedlyunlawful!

The mascot community-still reeling from the firing ofStanford's Tree for being drunk on the job last February-was rocked last weekby news of two arrests. On June 27 police in Greenville, S.C., busted CecilMcLaurin Amick III, who portrays the Class A Greenville Drive's frog mascot,Reedy Rip'It. Amick stands accused of grabbing a woman's breasts during a gamein April. He faces a misdemeanor charge of molesting; he has declined tocomment and has been suspended from the organization while police investigate.Five days later the Chicago Bulls' mascot, Benny the Bull, was stopped forriding a minimotorcycle through the Taste of Chicago festival in Grant Park.But police say that instead of responding with some bit of delightful mascotishhigh jinks, Barry Anderson (a former National Mascot of the Year as theUniversity of Montana's Monte the Bear in 2002) attempted to flee on foot. Inthe process Anderson/Benny allegedly scuffled with a deputy, breaking theglasses and watch of his fellow man in uniform and earning himself an arrestfor misdemeanor battery. A representative for the Bulls, who receivedAnderson's costume from police, said Anderson's status with the team hadn'tchanged.

TWO PHOTOS

BILL GREENBLATT/UPI (SPINKS, 2)

TWO PHOTOS

JOHN PYLE/ICON SMI (JORDAN); COURTESY ALLEN HECKARD (HECKARD)

DOUBLE CROSS Heckard (left) wants to be compensated.

THREE PHOTOS

BILL FRAKES (BARBARO); JOHN BIEVER (WALKER); DAVID BOILY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES (MONTOYA)

TWO PHOTOS

TOM PRIDDY/ICON SMI (REEDY RIP'IT); GARY DINEEN/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES (BENNY THE BULL)

CHARACTER FLAWS The bull kept his job; the frog was fired.