FOOTBALL:
San Francisco at Oakland, 7 p.m., WLS-Ch. 7
Given the animosity between Raiders fans and 49ers fans, this is usually a rather high-spirited exhibition. But what’s a Monday night game without Dan Dierdorf? And given his background, isn’t Lawrence Phillips with the wrong team?
FAKE MUSCLES
Bodybuilding was added to the schedule at the Arab Games in Amman, Jordan, for the first time this year, and six bodybuilders were stripped of their medals after testing positive for steroids.
The Arab Union of Bodybuilders, preparing for the Sydney Olympics, agreed to Olympic-level testing because it wanted to show that its competitors were clean. Some of the bodybuilders tested positive for more than one banned substance, according to Reda Kazem, head of the Arab Games Doping Committee.
Competitors from Iraq, Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan had to give back their medals.
FORMERLY SMART
Jim Leyland, Tony La Russa and Davey Johnson ranked 1-2-3 in a preseason poll picking baseball’s best managers. Through Sunday their teams were a combined 27 games under .500 and 50 1/2 games out of first place.
Moral? The “genius” label isn’t as useful as a roster full of good players.
RYDERS OF THE …
There will be an American on the European side at next month’s Ryder Cup competition–former Chicagoan Lance Ten Broeck, who has been Jesper Parnevik’s caddie since April’s Greensboro Classic, which Parvenik won for his second PGA Tour victory. Parvenik said he checked with some of his teammates, who indicated they had no problem with the arrangement.
The U.S. side is apparently more xenophobic. American Lee Janzen declined to use his regular caddie, Scotsman Dave Musgrove, at the 1997 matches in Valderrama, Spain.
.$ING A $ONG
Speaking of the Ryder Cuppers, one of the issues in their dispute with the PGA of America over disbursement of Cup profits was a $6 million outlay to The Country Club of Brookline, Mass., for serving as host of the competition.
Wonder if they know singer Celine Dion is getting $250,000 to perform for 18 minutes at one of the Ryder Cup dinners.
