Place an Ad Calendars Classified Forums Sports Weather

sptimes.com Text-only News sections Arts & Entertainment AP The Wire Business Citrus County Columnists Floridian Hernando County Hillsborough Letters Movies Neighborhood Times News Update North Pinellas North of Tampa Obituaries Opinion Pasco County South Pinellas Sports State Tampa Bay TV Times World & Nation  Find your local news section Weekly sections Brandon Times City Times Homes Outdoors Perspective Personal Tech Taste Travel Weekend Xpress Special Sections Arena football Buccaneers College football Devil Rays Lightning Police reports Schools Seniority Subscriber Services Subscribe Renew Help Advertise Place an ad In print Online Market Info Join Us Internships Scholarships Times Jobs Contact us

And now a few softball tips from Mr. Steinbrenner . . .

By Compiled from Times wires

© St. Petersburg Times, published September 20, 2000

SYDNEY, Australia -- She had her glove. She had a jersey with her name and number -- 00 -- on the back. And as Donna Shalala, secretary of Health and Human Services, took the mound for the ceremonial first pitch at Monday's U.S.-Japan softball game, she looked every bit the player she was as a young girl in Cleveland.

The man who taught her the intricacies of the game would have been proud.

George Steinbrenner, that is.

Yes, from the small, strange world department, comes this: a pre-New York Yankees Steinbrenner, as a college-age recreation director, offered coaching expertise to 9-year-old Shalala and her teammates on the West Boulevard Annie Oakleys of the Pigtail League.

"Our recreations director at our park came to us and said, "You little girls really know how to play, but you have to learn how to throw overhand and how to slide, and if you do those two things, you can win the city championship,' " she said.

"We said, "Great,' and he taught us how to do those things. His name was George Steinbrenner. ... And if you ask Steinbrenner today about me, he'll say I was the best, peppiest player he ever had."

DRUG TESTING: In the first positive tests at the Games, weightlifter Ivan Ivanov of Bulgaria was stripped of his silver medal and hammer thrower Vadim Devyatovsky from Belarus was banned from competition, the International Olympic Committee announced.

Ivanov, second in the 56-kilogram class, tested positive for a diuretic. Diuretics, often used to reduce weight by flushing fluid from the body, also are used to mask the presence of performance enhancing drugs.

Devyatovsky tested positive for nandrolone in an out-of-competition test in the athletes village, IOC executive board member Kevan Gosper said.

Alexander Bagach of Ukraine, the 1999 world indoor shot put champion and 1996 Olympic bronze medalist, has been suspended from competition for testing positive for steroids for a third time. Simon Kemboi, a member of the Kenyan 1,600-meter relay team, also was suspended for testing positive for steroids.

Neither will be allowed to compete.

The ruling council of the International Amateur Athletic Federation, track's governing body, announced the suspensions after an eight-hour meeting.

Bagach, 33, considered a top medal contender, tested positive in an out-of-competition exam Feb. 12. Kemboi, 33, tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in a test administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency on Sept. 12.

RATINGS GAME: NBC's Friday-Sunday coverage had a prime time rating of 14.5, NBC said, citing early data from Nielsen Media Research. That's 32 percent lower than the first three days of the 1996 Atlanta Games and 10 percent lower than the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Each ratings point represents 1,008,000 households.

NBC, which is running the Olympics on the broadcast network and on the CNBC and MSNBC cable channels, has promised advertisers an average prime-time rating of 16.3.

NOT IN THE OLYMPIC SPIRIT: American beach volleyball players Rob Heidger and Kevin Wong reacted defiantly to any implication that they lost on purpose Tuesday in order to secure an easier draw in the final 16. "They tried to win the game. That's all there is to it," said their coach, Dane Selznick. "Volleyball is a game of momentum. Anything can happen."

Entering their second consolation match, against top-seeded Julien Prosser and Lee Zahner of Australia, Heidger and Wong needed to score at least nine points to guarantee advancement to the next round, win or lose. After losing 15-11, the "lucky losers" drew the 24th-seeded Mexicans in a match for a quarterfinal berth.

JAIL BREAK: Two escaped prisoners, one an armed robber, hijacked a car leased to South Korea's Olympic committee. The four occupants, one a member of South Korea's National Olympic Committee, were freed unharmed. The escaped convicts later abandoned the car and fled on foot.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright