Such Offenses May Earn Them Red Light Card
Bribery and lavish gifts are one thing, but according to European soccer authorities, a Romanian team may have taken the giving of favors to a new level. Under investigation are claims that the team tried to offer prostitutes to referees in charge of an Intertoto Cup match.
“It is mentioned [in the delegate’s report] that Romanian officials have offered prostitutes to the referees,” UEFA spokesman Thomas Giordano said. The team manager said the women were members of a folk ensemble.
For the record, the match with Austria Vienna ended 2-2.
More from Romania: Two women were suspended from Romania’s track and field team for one year after they were accused of shoplifting razor blades and tweezers while competing in England. The two were Monica Bumbescu, national 100-meters champion, and Adelina Gavrila, a triple jumper.
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Trivia time: Which famous basketball personality was once thrown out of a major league baseball game, yet never played in one?
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Who’s who? Two men say they are the rightful coach of the Clearview High football team in Sheffield, Ohio, leaving players in the middle with practice ready to begin.
The school board appointed Dan Parent, an assistant principal and athletic director, as coach. His appointment was challenged by Nathan Newman, a teacher who had been an assistant coach for five years.
Newman got a restraining order to keep Parent from practicing with the team, claiming a union member must get the job if qualified.
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Slice of life: New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick sees nothing out of the ordinary about the trash-talking, stare-down warfare between sprinters Michael Johnson and Maurice Greene.
“Given what American sports culture has become, their rotten behavior is downright patriotic.”
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Tiger & Marilyn: From Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune:
“The latest tour de force by Tiger Woods has surpassed the fabled feat of Joe DiMaggio, and I don’t mean Joe’s marriage to Marilyn Monroe--which, for an athlete, of course, never will be surpassed in fable, reality or song.
“Tiger played 63 major championship golf holes in a row without a bogey. Different sport, true, but how does that stack up with DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. In my little book . . . what Tiger did was more difficult.”
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Just asking: Dick Butkus, who has never coached football at any level, has taken on duties as coach of Chicago’s XFL franchise. Asked about his lack of experience, the old Bear linebacker snapped, “How difficult is it, man?”
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The first: Spring training has been part of baseball’s tradition almost since the game was first organized. Cap Anson of the Chicago Cubs was dubbed the “Father of Spring Training” after he took his team to Hot Springs, Ark., in 1886 for preseason workouts in a warm climate.
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Trivia answer: Former Laker coach Bill Sharman, after being called up late in the 1951 season by the Brooklyn Dodgers, was on the bench when umpires cleared it after an altercation. The season ended before he got in a game.
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And finally: Olympic gold medalist Gail Devers has a sneaker contract, but you wouldn’t know it from Nike’s attention to detail.
In an e-mail inviting journalists to a press gathering in Sacramento, the company twice spelled her last name “Devoirs.”
