I hope Obama's working on this

The state of the economy has gotten to the point that I’m worried — no, not about me, about Our Athletic Heroes.

First, Tiger Woods has his endorsement deal with GM canceled by the troubled car company. Then LeBron James has his deal with Microsoft nixed.

Without that extra walking-around money from mega-company endorsements, what’s a global icon to do?

In James’ case, he might spend some time at home and more fully consider the advice of Charles Barkley, who’s suggested the free-agent-to-be stop talking about where he might land in two years, when his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers expires.

“I'm getting so annoyed he's talking about what he's going to do in two years,” the NBA Hall-of-Famer said. “I think it's disrespectful to the game. I think it's disrespectful to the Cavaliers."

James took Barkley's constructive criticism like a man.

“He’s stupid,” he said.

Oh, well. A troubled economy can make anyone edgy.

You can't buy coverage like this ... oh, wait, you can

According to The New York Times, when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt sold the rights to photos of their newborn twins, they got more than a mere $14 million in return.

Reportedly, they also got People to guarantee that its coverage of them would be positive — not just for one issue but in perpetuity.

People’s coverage of the pair, indeed, has been positive; it has focused on Jolie’s charity work and has managed to expound upon the couple without using the word “Brangelina,” which the Jolie-Pitts particularly loathe.

Brangelina, Brangelina, Brangelina.

Now, as the Jolie-Pitts are so concerned with their image that they feel the necessity to buy nice coverage from People, perhaps they should look to guarantee positive spin from other media outlets — a certain Santa Fe newspaper, for instance, and a certain sports columnist.

Brangelina, Brangelina, Brangelina.

Not that I’ve ever written about the pair — Brangelina, Brangelina, Brangelina — but I might just start. In fact, I just did. And if the couple wants to negotiate with me, I’m sure they’ll find me more than reasonable.

Perhaps some sports stars I’ve been rough on would like a similar deal — I’m looking at you, Adam Jones; I know you hate that nickname. What is it again? Oh, that’s right: PACMAN PACMAN PACMAN.

I’m certain, Pac- ... I mean Adam ... that something can be arranged.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/media/21angelina.html?_r=1&scp=12&sq=people%20magazine&st=cse

Practice random acts of showing up

Allen Iverson is at it again.

In 2002, he blew off a Philadelphia 76ers practice before a first-round playoff game, then a month later went on a famous rant ("We talking about PRACTICE") when his coach had the nerve to criticize him for missing those little team get-togethers.

Nearly two years later — same team, different coach — he blew off another practice and was fined.

In 2006, Iverson stormed out of the practice gym after a set-to with yet another coach, leading to his being traded from the Sixers to Denver.

And now in November 2008, only a month after his trade from Denver to Detroit, he's already managed to miss a practice with his new team, leading to what's been described as a "hefty" fine.

"I'm surprised when guys are late; I'm surprised when they don't show," Pistons coach Michael Curry said. "It's a pretty hefty fine to be late, or to miss, and once again, it's accountability for yourself and your teammates."

Accountability? We talking about ALLEN IVERSON.

Friday column: Reinstate Vick? Why not? He'll fit right in

Michael Vick is eyeing an early release from stir and a return to the NFL.

As Vick’s recent bankruptcy filing indicates, he has several reasons — several million, in fact — to get back to the league that once enriched him to the tune of $62 million and promised him tens of millions more.

And he has several reasons to believe he will find a job in league that would find a place for Ghengis Kahn if the Mongol could get a key first down in a big game against a division rival.

Consider Jerramy Stevens.

Stevens’ record includes a string of arrests involving alcohol, drugs and violence, and he almost certainly sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman freshman during his days at the University of Washington. Stevens was booked in the incident — in which a date-rape drug may have been used — but for reasons of incompetence and football favoritism, he was never prosecuted. Reportedly, however, he did pay $300,000 to settle a civil suit in the matter.

None of that moral baggage has stopped Stevens from finding gainful employment in the National Felon League, most recently with Tampa Bay.

I would call him an animal, but it would offend the sensibilities of PETA — and rightly so.

But the word animal, of course, brings us back to Vick, convicted in 2007 of multiple dogfighting charges.

In recent days, three stories shedding light on Vick and his situation have hit the news:

One concerned Vick’s bankruptcy claims, a tale of bad judgment and excess illuminated in part by his writing “chump change” on a $1,000 check to his mother, and his sporting diamond-stud earrings and a charm with the inscription: “World Is Mine.”

Another concerned his pleading guilty to state charges in a plea deal that could spring him from prison by July 2009. Vick told the judge, “I want to apologize to the court, my family, and to all the kids who looked up to me as a role model.”

Of course, this is the same Vick who, when the feds first raided his canine gulag, told NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell “I love dogs.” Which brings us to the third story.

According to a David Whitley column in the Orlando Sentinel, a confidential report on Vick’s criminal activities paints an even darker picture of the man than we had, including his putting family pets in the ring with fighting dogs and laughing as they were mauled.

Still, in a league that that gives Leonard Little — who has a manslaughter conviction on his rap sheet — Pacman Jones and, yes, Jerramy Stevens multiple chances, what’s to keep Vick from putting on a helmet again?

Nothing that the NFL believes in, that’s for certain.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Like father, like sons?

Patrick Roy was a great goalie.

And a great diva.

And someone with, well, shall we say, “anger-management” issues. That's him at right, during his fighting ... I mean, playing ... days.

The rage apparently has been passed to his sons.

Last year, Jonathan Roy was suspended for seven games by the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for attacking Bobby Nadeau, an opposing goalie, in the midst of a game. Jonathan’s coach — his dad — apparently cheered him on as he pummeled Nadeau, who didn’t try to fight.

Now Jonathan's brother Frederick has been suspended by the same league for high-sticking an opponent, Vincent Bourgeois, in the mouth during a timeout.

The transgressor’s father isn’t commenting, but the victim's dad is.

"If it was my child who had done something like that, he would never play hockey again," Andre Bourgeois said. "Vincent was lucky. If the hit had been a bit higher or lower, it could have been fatal. I don't even want to think about it."

Frederick, meanwhile, might want to think about this: While his father is a goalie — actually a former goalie — Vincent’s pop is a lawyer.

There IS an "I" in egomaniacal

Sometimes coaches teach; sometimes, players.

Tuesday, it was a player — Davidson’s Stephen Curry. And the coach who should have learned something is Loyola’s Jimmy Patsos, but it doesn’t sound as though he did.

Patsos decided that shutting down Curry by double-teaming him was more important than trying to win the game, or even respecting the game. So two Loyola players shadowed Curry everywhere, even into the corner of the court.

The result? Curry, who came into the game averaging 35 points a contest, was held scoreless. Oh, and Davidson — essentially playing offense four-on-three — killed Loyola 78-48.

Not that Patsos seemed to mind.

"We had to play against an NBA player tonight," Patsos said. "Anybody else ever hold him scoreless? I'm a history major. They're going to remember that we held him scoreless or we lost by 30?"

Actually, Jimmy, I’m going to remember you let your players get embarrassed in order to draw attention to yourself.

"It seemed to me they were willing to risk the game at the expense of locking Steph up," Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. "When you put two people on somebody and you do it for 30 minutes and at the end of the game, you have to wonder what the reasons for that are."

For his part, Curry handled the situation with class, not forcing shots — he took only three — and keeping his poise. It seems as though for Curry, what mattered was team, not individual.

Isn’t that a lesson that coaches are supposed to teach?

Romo's ruining everything

My dislike of the Dallas Cowboys goes back a long way — at least to the Hollywood Henderson era, and has been boosted in recent years by Jerry Jones and his acquisitions of Terrell Owens and Pacman (Call me Adam) Jones.

I enjoy disliking the Cowboys; it’s been very rewarding — and very easy.

Which is why I’m increasingly disturbed by the actions of Tony Romo.

First, the Cowboys quarterback stops on the freeway and helps a couple change a flat tire. Then — this reported Wednesday in the Dallas Morning News — he sees a homeless man outside a movie theater and treats him to a film. And no — he didn’t just buy him a ticket; he went in and watched the flick with him.

When the man told Romo he hadn’t showed in days, Romo replied, “Don't worry about that. I'm used to locker rooms."

"For me, it was a blessing," the man, whose name is Doc, said. "It came at just the right time. It gave me some encouragement and faith in mankind. I just wanted to say thank you."

And I want to say, “Tony, KNOCK IT OFF.”

Now, I’m confident that with Jerry Jones running the show, Pacman Jones running his posse and Terrell Owens running his mouth, I’ll continue to be able detest the team with the star. With a little effort.

But I’d rather not have to work at it at all.

Sis, boom, bah — wait, is that the law?

This just in: You might recall that the Morton Ranch High School varsity cheerleaders were in a little trouble, having caused the suspension of all cheerleading activities for the rest of the school year by binding and blindfolding their JV counterparts and throwing them into a swimming pool.

Now, they’re in a little more trouble.

Seven cheerleaders, aged 17 and 18, have been indicted by a Katy, Texas, grand jury and charged with hazing, a misdemeanor that could bring a maximum six-month jail sentence and a $2,000 fine.

Five more cheerleaders, minors, could be prosecuted in juvenile court.

Lawyers for the poor, misunderstood angels say the legal action is a gross overreaction.

Others, NOT paid to shill, had different thoughts, and were quoted in a Houston Chronicle story.

18-year-old Mosha Washington, for instance, said the varsity cheerleaders "went beyond too far — (their victims) could have died."

And on the question of hazing in general, well, let me quote the last four graphs of the Chronicle story:

"There has been a natural negative evolution," said lawyer Gary Powell of Cincinnati, Ohio, who for two decades edited a newsletter for schools and fraternities. "It's more creative, and, unfortunately, more violent."

Chicago psychologist Jean Alberti termed hazing "child abuse by children."

"If it happened to an adult," she said, "it would be called assault, battery, robbery — all life-threatening stuff. Until we call it 'child abuse,' we won't generate the outrage to change it.

"(Youths) think it's funny, parents think it's funny. They think it's normal adolescent development, but this is an aberration. It didn't happen 30 or 40 years ago. Now we have video on YouTube showing girls kicking other girls in the head."

Friday column: Such touching personal sacrifice

This story moved Monday:

“NEW YORK (AP) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. CEO Lloyd Blankfein and six other top executives at the bank will not be receiving cash or stock bonuses for 2008, a spokesman said Sunday.

The decision was made by the seven executives themselves, said spokesman Lucas Van Praag …. The executives made the decision ‘because they think it's the right thing to do,’ Van Praag said.”

Now, the story didn’t mention that Goldman was under a bit of pressure, as it and eight other banks had recently accepted $125 billion from Uncle Sam, leading the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to wonder how — in light of that taxpayer bailout — the banks could possibly justify billions of dollars in pay and bonuses.

Still, I’m certain the Goldman honchos are just doing “the right thing.” And I, for one, am quite moved by their sacrifice. For now the execs will have to live on their paltry base salaries of $600,000.

With luck, they remembered to sock away some of their past bonus money for these hard times. Last year, for instance, Blankfein (that's him in the photo) received a $70 million bonus. I hope he didn’t blow it all on the purchase of, say, a small Third World country.

My heart goes out to the Goldman execs, not only because of their reduced circumstances but because they’re inspirations to us regular folk, as are all the recent sports figures who’ve made sacrifices for the greater good — for purely humanitarian reasons, you understand. Surely you remember these stories from recent years:

— Jan. 11, 2008
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Marion Jones will voluntarily give up competing in the 2008 Olympic Games, she said Thursday in a phone call from a federal courthouse. “I think it best to give some younger girls the opportunity to shine,” she said, adding, apparently to someone in the room with her, “Do I get time off for good behavior?”

— Sept. 14, 2007
Boston (AP) — New England coach Bill Belichick said he would voluntarily stop surreptitiously taping his opponents’ signals for the “good of the game.” Said Belichick: “It’s just not fair what I’ve been doing, it’s just not right,” adding, apparently to someone in the room with him, “What $500,000 fine?”

— Dec. 10, 2007
ATLANTA (AP) — Michael Vick said today he would voluntarily give up playing quarterback for the Falcons, allowing the team to “move on” and find another signal caller. “I’ve caused them some embarrassment, so this is just the right thing to do. They don’t even have to pay me my salary,” said Vick, adding, apparently to someone in the room with him: “Officers, are those leg irons really necessary?”

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Honest to goodness

I have a new favorite golfer.

OK — let me reword that: I have a favorite golfer.

That would be J.P. Hayes, who, during a PGA qualifying tournament last week, called a penalty on himself for playing the wrong ball. In a sport with a long and illustrious honor code, that’s not that surprising. What happened next is.

Two days later, after realizing the ball he accidentally played on two shots was a non-regulation prototype, he informed the PGA of that violation, whereupon the association disqualified him — meaning he won’t qualify for the 2009 PGA Tour.

Even better — almost — is what he said about it.

Anyone else on the PGA Tour in his situation "would have done the same thing," he claimed.

Quite a contrast with, say, NASCAR, whose code is said to be, “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t competin’. ”

Now, this year the 43-year-old golfer made $312,000 despite having his worst season ever. So don’t cry for Hayes. He won’t.

"It's not the end of the world. It will be fine. It is fine."


http://sports.espn.go.com/golf/news/story?id=3712372

Exactly what you DON’T want, Coach

Rich Rodriguez, coach of the 3-8 Michigan football team, thinks something’s out of whack. Some fans of the maize and blue, it seems, are taking the game much too seriously.

Rodriguez is displeased with the vocalizing that’s been heading his way as the Wolverines have lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, lost, lost and lost this year.

"It's amazing some of the things that people would say [on a message board] or yell at you of a personal nature," Rodriguez. "You almost want to tell them, 'Get a life.'

No, no, Rich. You don’t want them to get a life. If they have a life, they might not buy tickets to watch your football team and subsidize your $15 million, six-year contract. They might even object when the university pays your former employer, West Virginia, $3 million as compensation for your having broken your contract to come to Ann Arbor in the first place.

Trust me, Rich: You want those fans to avoid a healthy perspective at all cost. Verbal abuse might be difficult, but at $2.5 mil a year, you can afford a real good pair of noise-blocking earphones.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=3710474

Mercy, mercy

Some in Detroit are suggesting the NFL show some compassion for the city of Detroit — home of the ailing and perhaps terminal Big Three automakers and their unfortunate workers. How? By lifting the blackout for Lions home games.

But considering the sorry state of the Lions — 0-9 in 2008 — surely the more compassionate move would be to continue the blackout. Actually, true compassion demands the league not only continue the blackout, but expand it — black out even games that have sold out.

Oh — and hang curtains around the field to protect the eyes and fragile psyches of the remaining paying customers. Just listening to the ineptitude is be bad enough.

This is getting hard to keep up with

The latest incident of coach-bashing ... wait, let's encapsulize what's come before:

1) a coach bashed by the father of two players for telling the kids to get on the team bus;

2) a coach bashed by the father of a player for making the kid run laps;

3) a coach bashed by his own player for trying to break up a fight;

OK, for now the latest in coach bashing ... drum roll, please ...

4) A coach bashed by a former player.

This is out of Eagle Rock High near Los Angeles, where Johnny Lopez was bending down to pick up a ball during practice when a young man, a former footballer, hit him from behind.

Reportedly, the incident was related to the unpopular firing of the previous coach, a move that resulted in students circulating petitions and holding a protest. When I went to school — back in the day — I remember protests against Vietnam and racism.

Protesting over a coach's firing? I'm not sure that's progress.

Recommended reading: Billy Witz's New York Times story on the way Major League Soccer player Andy Williams and his wife, Marcia, both Jamaican-born, have been embraced by Salt Lake City, particularly since Marcia was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.

Witz writes that when Williams was drafted by Real Salt Lake four years ago, his wife was fearful of moving to a largely white, Mormon community.

“I was terrified,” Marcia said. "My first thought was I was going to have to wear long dresses and I’d see men with many wives."

Now, the story says, she describes her neighbors as caring and color-blind.

“God must have put us here for a reason,” her husband said. “If we were in New York or Chicago, I don’t think the support would be the same.”

But whether the story ultimately has a happy ending depends on the finding of a match for Marcia for a bone-marrow transplant.


http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/sports/soccer/11soccer.html?ref=soccer

Can't trust that day

If you're a current NFL player, Monday was a bummer. If you're an NFL player who uses human-growth hormone, it was a double bummer.

First, a jury told the NFL Players Assn. to cough up $28.1 million in damages to retired players who were victimized when the players union blew off contracts that should have given the old guys money for the use of their images in video games, trading cards and the like.

Herb Adderley, shown above, was the name plaintiff in the class-action suit.

“(The union) betrayed us,” said Adderley, who played for the Green Bay Packers back in the Vince Lombardi days. “We put our trust and faith in them, and they betrayed us.”

The verdict may be just the beginning, as it, in one former player's words, "opens the door for Congress to revisit the many wrongful denials of disability benefits."

Second, an L.A. Times story reported that Don Catlin, called "the guru of sports doping," is getting close to a test for HGH. For all the cheaters in the NFL — and you know who you are — that can't be good news.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-nflretire11-2008nov11,0,62056.story


http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-hgh11-2008nov11,0,2162471.story

In did, indeed, SEEM like a big deal

Recommended reading: Bob Kravitz's Indy Star piece on Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy's reaction to the election of the first African American president.

Kravitz points out that a hubub was made two years ago when two black football coaches — Dungy and Chicago's Lovey Smith — competed in the Super Bowl.

"Not even in the same universe, was it?" Dungy told Kravitz. "Not even close."

Writes Kravitz: "Just two years ago, it was a big thing when Dungy and Smith made sports history. Two years later, it feels like ancient history."

http://www.indystar.com/article/20081107/SPORTS15/811070421/1034/SPORTS15

This week's Head in the Sand award goes to ...

Formula 1 honcho Bernie Ecclestone has a funny idea of what constitutes a sense of humor.

Lewis Hamilton, F1’s first black champion, has been the target of racial abuse on a Spanish Web site and of other insults on the run-up to Sunday’s Brazilian Grand Prix, but Ecclestone thinks it’s a laughing matter.

"[It was] probably beginning as a joke rather than anything abusive," Ecclestone told an interviewer. "I don't see why people should have been [insulted by it]. These things are people expressing themselves."

Not surprisingly, the target of the abuse disagrees. As does his father, Anthony, who said he had often considered withdrawing his son from the sport because of racism.

Back in February after similar incidents in Barcelona, Spain, Ecclestone sang the same song:

"I don't think we should even be talking about racism," Ecclestone said. "I really think that they are against Hamilton for his ability, not because he is black. I always thought it was a bit of a prank — they're probably not racist at all."

The color of money

That an African American has been elected president of the United States has thrilled many in the world of athletics, but there’s a couple of groups out for whom the event is not an unalloyed joy.

That would be baseball players and their agents.

Barack Obama has proposed upping the top federal tax rate from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, which could cost ballplayers a nice chunk of change.

Obama’s proposal would affect those making more than $250,000 a year and, yes, ballplayers qualify — the league minimum is $400,000.

So look for agents to push to complete any new deals before the end of the year. If signing bonuses are paid before Jan. 1, they likely would be taxed at the current rate and would not be subject to any increase.

"It's something we'll consider," agent Craig Landis said.

See, it's one thing to vote for Obama; it's another to pay more taxes in order to help fund his planned decrease for workers and families earning less than $200,000.

It’s cool, of course, that 61 years after Jackie Robinson integrated baseball, a black man is president-elect of the U.S. — but for many players, the color they’re most interested in remains green.

Friday column: Coaches, pride and payback

In America, successful football coaches are praised, well-compensated and in some places, darn-near worshipped.

For what? For winning games — and thereby bringing apparently badly needed self-esteem to the community (We’re No. 1 … We’re No. 1!)

Yet San Francisco 49ers coach Mike Singletary managed to get lionized without winning so much as a single contest. How? By having the pride to be embarrassed by his team’s dismal first performance, by sending a malcontent to the dressing room, and by going in a mini-tirade in his first post-game press conference.

“Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach them,” Singletary fumed about players like Vernon Davis, whom he sent to the locker room after the tight end committed a mindless personal foul, them mouthed back to Singletary when he was chastised for it. “Can’t do it,” Singletary went on. “I want winners. I want people that want to win.”

The praise rolled in as Singletary became, in one columnist’s words, “the king of coaching law and order.”

Which was all fine and good — until it was leaked that in order to make his point about being embarrassed, Singletary at half-time had dropped his drawers for three minutes during his locker room oratory (he was wearing boxers, but still …).

Now some are wondering if Singletary is too tightly wound for the job. Because of his emphasis on effort and discipline, I hope the answer is no. But the jury’s out on old crazy eyes.

* * *

The jury’s long been in on Florida coach Urban Meyer — as far as wins and losses go. He wins.

But coaches, whether they want to be or not, serve as role models. On Saturday, Meyer modeled the joy of the put-down and the payback.

A year ago, Georgia coach Mark Richt ordered his team to go nuts on their first score, and it did — every Bulldog rushing to the end zone, jumping up and down and taunting Meyer’s team. It was a bush-league tactic, but it ignited a Georgia victory in Gainesville.

The Bulldogs’ karma caught up with them this year in Athens, Ga., when the Gators beat them 49-10. The payback and putdown came when Meyer called two late timeouts which served no purpose other than to extend the humiliation.

Then, after the game, Meyer insulted everyone’s intelligence by saying he stopped the clock in order to get a couple of more carries for his third-string tailback.

Using last year’s game to motivate his team is one thing — accepted and smart coaching tactic. But then rubbing it in — and lying about it — is quite another. I’m not saying it isn’t common; I’m saying it’s common in more than one meaning of the word.

It’s also a bad example for every player on his team and every young Florida fan who watched the game.

Oh. And from the tactical side of things, it gives Richt that much more motivational fodder for the Bulldogs to get their revenge next year.

Contact Jim Gordon at gjames43@msn.com.

Yet ANOTHER reason not to coach

OK. In recent weeks, we've written about two high school football coaches clobbered by parents in separate incidents. Now comes a new twist in the genre: a coach beaten up by one of his own players.

In Nampa, La., Nampa High School coach Scott Woolridge tried to break up a fight between an opposing player and one of his running backs, Kipton Ramos.

For his trouble (no good deed goes unpunished), Woolridge was attacked by Kipton, hit not once but several times, and sent to the hospital with a broken nose and eye socket.

Ramos has been booted from the team and suspended from school, but he’s got bigger problems — such as being charged with felony aggravated battery.

What was that old line in "Hill Street Blues?" It was said by the sergeant to the officers right before they hit the pavement, but it looks as though it should be said to high school football coaches right before they hit the field.

"Hey, let's be careful out there."


http://www.wwltv.com/national/stories/wwl110208tpbattery.174577b00.html

Now this is a tough call

So.

A judge in Houston is deciding whether to throw out Roger Clemens’ defamation suit against Brian McNamee.

If the judge does toss it out, McNamee, whom I believe is telling the truth about his former boss’ use of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs, is spared further legal expense — which he certainly can’t afford — and justice prevails.

On the other hand, if the case goes forward, we move to the discovery phase, which almost certainly means more embarrassing revelations about Clemens, including his alleged fling with a teenage Country-Western singer.

So.

What should we root for here? Justice or dirt? Justice or dirt? Justice or …?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/sports/baseball/04clemens.html?scp=2&sq=roger%20clemens&st=cse

The best of sport

Recommended reading: Charles Wilson’s New York Times piece on two competitors in last week’s New York Marathon: Nadine McNeil and her son, Tyler.

McNeil, who doesn’t have use of her right arm or right leg, raced in a handcycle. Her son, who is autistic, ran.

The closeness of their relationship and their interdependence is moving. Athletics has been a sort of savior to both of them but as Wilson writes, “Neither would have ever made it to this year’s starting line without the other.”

The article was written before the race. To see it, click on the first link below. Then to see how they fared, click on the second link, and go to the second item (the first deals with the two deaths that marred this year’s marathon).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/01/sports/othersports/01marathon.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/04/sports/othersports/04marathon.html?scp=1&sq=Nadine%20McNeil%20&st=cse