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For the Record
Won
By Marco Andretti, the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Marco, 19, the grandson ofIndy legend Mario Andretti and the son of Andretti Green Racing co-ownerMichael Andretti (above left, with Marco and Mario), is the youngest driver towin a U.S. open-wheel racing event. Making his 13th IndyCar series start, hedrove with a swashbuckling style, gambling on fuel when most cars pitted on Lap51 and then ignoring his father's advice to conserve gas on the final 10 laps.Aided by a late caution flag, he held off Dario Franchitti to win by 0.66 of asecond. "He was so smart and so patient," said his grandfather."Marco drove like a true champion today."
Sentenced
To three months in jail, former slugger Albert Belle, who pleaded guilty inJuly to stalking an ex-girlfriend. Belle, 39, who was arrested last Februaryafter the woman told Phoenix police that he had attached a GPS tracking deviceto her car and threatened her, was taken into custody in May after againthreatening the woman. Belle has been jailed since the second arrest but wascredited for time served only since his plea.
Agreed
To pay the Broncos a reported $982,000, Falcons receiver Ashley Lelie, who wastraded from Denver to Atlanta on Aug. 23 after a 23-day holdout. At $14,000 aday, Lelie's contract dispute with the Broncos cost him $322,000 in fines, andthe team also demanded that he refund $660,000, a prorated portion of the $3.3million signing bonus he was given in 2002. Lelie's contract calls for him tomake $600,000 this season--which means he will play this season in the red.Said Denver coach Mike Shanahan, "We would not have released him unless heagreed to [the payback] and signed a contract to do it."
Charged
With theft by deception, Brian Jackson, a Pittsburgh man who allegedly stole$3,200 from an unidentified woman by pretending to be Steelers tight end JerameTuman. It wasn't Jackson's first turn as a fake Steeler: Last year he wascharged with pretending to be quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his backup,Brian St. Pierre, to get dates with women. (Jackson, 32, was sentenced to 30days in jail for disorderly conduct and ordered to undergo counseling in theearlier case.) According to Pittsburgh police, he introduced himself as Tumanto a woman last March. Over the next several weeks, "Tuman" borrowedmoney from her by saying he had lost his wallet or had his bank account frozenin a child-support dispute. Jackson faces seven years in prison ifconvicted.
Tested
Positive for the steroid nandrolone, sprinter LaTasha Jenkins (above), the 11thathlete to be caught doping while working with coach Trevor Graham. Jenkins,28, the 2001 world indoor championships silver medalist in the 200 meters,faces a two-year ban if the B sample of a urine test she took in July also ispositive. Last week former 100-meter world-record co-holder Justin Gatlin,another Graham client, received an eight-year ban from the U.S. Anti-DopingAgency for failing a drug test in April. Last Thursday, Nike ended itssponsorship of Graham. Graham, however, may seek a settlement with the company.Said his lawyer, Joseph Zeszotarski, "The contract cannot be terminatedbased upon innuendo and suspicion."
Returning
For another season as coach of the NBA champion Heat, Pat Riley, who endedspeculation that he would retire at age 61. Riley, who added coaching to hisduties as team president after Stan Van Gundy resigned last December, made nosecret of how exhausted he was after the season. But on Aug. 23, Riley releaseda statement announcing he was coming back, saying, "Winning thechampionship showed me that I am definitely in the right place, at the righttime, with the right people. I can't wait to get started."
Frozen
By a Nevada judge, half of former Hollywood agent Jamie Gold's $12 millionprize for winning the World Series of Poker. On Aug. 21 Bruce Crispin Leyser, aTV development executive, filed suit against Gold, alleging that the champagreed in July to split his winnings if Leyser helped him find celebrities toendorse gambling site Bodog.com at the WSOP's main event. (Bodog paid Gold's$10,000 entry fee.) Leyser says he held up his end by delivering actor MatthewLillard (Scooby-Doo) and comedian Dax Shepard, but Gold has refused to pay him.The judge prohibited the Rio casino in Las Vegas from disbursing $6 million ofGold's winnings for 15 days.
Bought
By Ann Iverson (below), mother of 76ers star Allen Iverson, the RichmondWarriors, an expansion ABA team. Ann, 46, a former Virginia resident whoattends many of her son's games in Philadelphia, paid $20,000 for thefranchise, and most ABA teams require around $400,000 for operating costs. TheWarriors, who will be coached by former Virginia Tech guard Michael Davis, opentheir 36-game season on Nov. 10.
Charged
With sexually exploiting teenagers in Ontario between 1995 and 2001, formerhockey agent David Frost, who in '04 was the target of a murder-for-hire plotby one of his clients, former Blues center Mike Danton. (Danton, who pleadedguilty to murder conspiracy, is serving a 7 1/2-year sentence in New Jersey.)Frost, 39, a former youth hockey coach in Toronto, was the target of a two-yearinvestigation and is accused of "exploiting" four boys and three girlsbetween the ages of 14 and 16. None were identified, and police would not sayif Danton was an alleged victim. Frost, who told reporters he is"innocent" after being released on bail, is due at a court hearing inNapanee, Ont., on Sept. 19.
Go Figure
144.85
Diagonal length, in feet, of the new scoreboard at Texas's Royal-MemorialStadium; nicknamed Godzillatron, it's the world's largest high-definition videodisplay.
$8.2 million
Merchandising royalties generated by Longhorns teams last academic year, anNCAA record and $2 million more than the previous mark, set by Michigan in1993--94.
13'2 3/4"
Combined height of American University freshman volleyball players Ann (6'71/2") and Claire (6'7 1/4") Recht, the world's tallest femaletwins.
$21,604,272
Career prize money won by Lindsay Davenport, who could pass Steffi Graf($21,946,277) during the U.S. Open for the most ever on the WTA tour.
Shopping Guide
HOW MANY times have you finished a workout, swigged asports drink and thought, I wish this were brinier? O.K., never, but you'reprobably not an NFL player. On a brutally hot Texas afternoon in 2000, theCowboys and the Eagles stayed hydrated, and followed an NFL custom, by downingpickle juice, which--besides tasting awful--is high in the electrolytes peoplelose when they sweat. Brandon Brooks, a Dallas grocery store assistant manager,was watching, and an idea was born. With the help of the Golden Pickle Company,which has been preserving things since 1923, Brooks invented Pickle JuiceSport, a noncarbonated drink that tastes heavily of salt, vinegar and dill.Sound disgusting? Tell that to Cowboys tight end Jason Witten (left), who isthe official spokesman for the product. What, they couldn't get Heinz Ward?(Available at www.goldenpicklejuice.com)
On the Road with ... MIKE TYSON
AUG. 12
Our man begins an extended stay in Las Vegas with the Hasim Rahman--OlegMaskaev bout at the Thomas & Mack Center, where Iron Mike rocks the mike asa color commentator for the international broadcast feed. Working alongsideformer Saved by the Bell star Mario Lopez and broadcaster Alan Massengale,Tyson--his go-to catchphrase is a high-pitched "Awwww man"--at timesforgets he's on the air. He can be heard coughing into the mike and chatting upfans.
AUG. 19
A report in the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Tyson plans to return to the ringfor 10 exhibition fights. (He has also agreed to a bout for a Japanese mixedmartial arts circuit.) What kind of shape is he in? Fans can see forthemselves. Tyson, 40, who hasn't fought since June 2005 and lost three of hislast four bouts, will reportedly start training at the Aladdin Hotel andCasino, with daily workouts open to the public.
AUG. 26
Showing that he remains open to unorthodox training methods, Tyson--whorecently was seen bopping on a table at the Vegas club Body English andboogying in the front row during a Toni Braxton show at the Flamingo--turns upat the club OPM at Caesars Palace, where he gets down at the go-go dancingstation until dawn. It's a memorable scene, and Mike makes sure everyone gets akeepsake. At one point he grabs a few dozen towels from the bar, mops his browand tosses the sweaty rags to appreciative spectators.
Ye Old Ball Game
Former pitcher Jim Bouton organizes the burgeoning"vintage base ball" movement
THEY ARE the Civil War reenactors of sports: groups ofmen who gather on grassy plains wearing 19th-century-style uniforms and flat,palm-sized gloves to speak of "daisy cutters" (ground balls) and"aces" (runs) as they toss around a sphere of horsehide deader thanJohn Wilkes Booth. The aficionados of vintage base ball, as it's called, usingthe antique spelling, have organized themselves into about 225 teams across theU.S., and now Jim Bouton (right), the ex--major league pitcher and author ofthe classic 1970 tell-all Ball Four, wants to organize those teams into theVintage Base Ball Federation. Bouton, 67, who is assisted in the venture byformer baseball commissioner Fay Vincent and SI senior writer Frank Deford,says that 24 teams have already signed on, agreeing to abide by the rules andcustoms of pre-1890 baseball (no pitcher's mound, the bat handles are fat asfence posts, six balls is a walk) and, in a bow, to the post-1890 era, sellbranded merchandise.
Bouton would eventually like to have at least 50squads, plus European and Asian representatives, playing toward an August worldseries. But vintage ball, he stresses, is not just a set of musty rules--it'san old-fashioned attitude, a humble approach he believes is highly marketable."[Major league baseball] has become a game of 'Look at me; I just hit ahome run,'" says Bouton. Pray there are no laudanum busts.
TWO PHOTOS
CHRIS PUTMAN/WIREIMAGE.COM (2)
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TEDDY B. BLACKBURN/TBB ENTERPRISES (TYSON)
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JEROME YULSMAN/GLOBE PHOTOS (KEROUAC)
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GEORGE LANGE/CORBIS OUTLINE (KURALT)
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RANDAL VANDERVEER/GLOBE PHOTOS (NELSON)
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DERO ROSCO/FOODPIX (PICKLE)
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CLEAR CHANNEL OUTDOORS (PICKLE JUICE SPORT)
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JAMES D. SMITH/WIREIMAGE.COM (WITTEN)
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EZRA O. SHAW/GETTY IMAGES (IVERSON)
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RAY SHAW (VINTAGE BASEBALL)
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BEBETO MATTHEWS/AP (BOUTON)
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ANDY LYONS/GETTY IMAGES (JENKINS)
