Olympics
ATHLETES ON GAME SHOW: Ten U.S. athletes who competed at the Sydney Olympics will now compete to sit in front of Regis Philbin.
Two special Olympic editions of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" will air on ABC Oct. 22 and 24, the network said Monday. Half of the athletes' winnings will go to a charity, and half they can keep themselves.
Given NBC's lower-than-expected ratings for the Olympics, it sets up an interesting test: Will the athletes be seen by more viewers answering Philbin's questions than they were seen in their events?
The scheduled athletes: swimmers Lenny Krayzelburg, Jenny Thompson, Dara Torres and Gary Hall, Jr.; basketball player Lisa Leslie; sprinter Maurice Green; diver Laura Wilkinson; wrestler Rulon Gardner; soccer player Julie Foudy; and pole vaulter Stacy Dragila.
Each player is guaranteed $16,000 for appearing on the show, ABC said.
GERMAN WRESTLER MAY LOSE GOLD: The IOC medical commission recommended that Germany's Alexander Leipold be stripped of his gold medal from the Sydney Games after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone.
If approved as expected by the IOC's ruling executive board, the gold will go to Brandon Slay of Amarillo, Texas.
Softball
LYONS NAMED U.S. COACH: USA Softball, under the auspices of the Amateur Softball Association of America, has named Tim Lyon of South Jordan head coach of the 2001 Junior Men's National Team. Lyon, an assistant coach for the Men's World Championship Team this past summer, will lead a squad of 17 players in next year's Junior Men's World Championship tournament, which will be played April 19-29 in Sydney, Australia. The team will be selected later this year at a camp being held Dec. 28-31 in San Diego. Lyon's two assistant coaches will also be named after the selection camp. In addition to assisting with the 2000 Men's World Championship Team — which won a bronze medal — Lyon, a graduate of BYU, was also an assistant for the Men's National Team that took home a silver medal from the 1998 Pan-American Games Qualifier. The Junior Men's World Championship, which is held every four years and is comprised of teams whose players are 18-years-old or younger, represents the highest level of international competition for junior men's fast-pitch softball.
Baseball
A'S DECLINE STAIRS: The Oakland Athletics announced they will decline to pick up the $4 million option on right fielder Matt Stairs' contract for next season. Stairs, who earned $3.05 million this year, struggled after posting consecutive 100-RBI seasons. He batted .227 with 21 home runs and 81 RBIs in 143 games.
Basketball
MOURNING OUT FOR YEAR: A common but serious kidney ailment will keep five-time All-Star Alonzo Mourning sidelined for the entire season, depriving the Miami Heat of their biggest star and the key to their quest for an NBA title.
Doctors said that the illness, first spotted just after Mourning helped the U.S. team to the basketball gold medal earlier this month, was focal glomerulosclerosis, which leads to kidney failure in about half the cases.
They said there were no immediate plans for a kidney transplant or dialysis. Mourning's condition was discovered during a routine physical two weeks ago.
Mourning finished third in voting for the NBA's Most Valuable Player last season, when he averaged 21.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game. He has missed only seven games the past two seasons.
NUGGETS TRADE WITH CELTS: Chris Herren and Bryant Stith finally were traded to the Boston Celtics, who sent Robert Pack and Calbert Cheaney to the Denver Nuggets.
The announcement came two weeks after Celtics coach Rick Pitino hinted that the deal had been agreed upon and 60 days after Pack was traded from Dallas to Boston. Under an NBA rule, the deal could not be consummated until 60 days after Pack was first traded.
REF SENTENCED: NBA referee Bennett Salvatore has been sentenced to a year of probation, 150 hours of community service and fined $500 for his role in an airline ticket scam.
The 50-year-old Salvatore pleaded guilty on July 26 to filing a false tax return with the Internal Revenue Service for the tax year 1993.
Salvatore was one of about a dozen NBA referees accused of not reporting income when they were reimbursed for first-class airline tickets after buying less-expensive tickets, prosecutors said.
Football
LANE'S WIFE INDICTED: A state grand jury formally indicted the widow of NFL running back Fred Lane for his murder.