FanFare 12/28/02

Baseball

The Phoenix Suns placed forward Alton Ford on the injured list Friday and filled his roster spot by activating guard Randy Brown. Brown averaged 1.3 points, 1.0 rebounds and 7.0 minutes in three games before developing tendinitis in his left knee. He went on the injured list Nov. 22.

The Texas Rangers took another step toward shoring up their bullpen by signing right-hander Esteban Yan to a one-year deal. Yan, 27, went 7-8 with a 4.30 ERA and 19 saves in 55 games last season with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. His signing comes four days after the Rangers signed two-time All-Star closer Ugueth Urbina to a one-year deal for $4 million with another $500,000 deferred.

Basketball

Shaquille O'Neal married longtime girlfriend Shaunie Nelson in a private ceremony at The Beverly Hills Hotel. The couple exchanged vows Thursday night in front of friends and Los Angeles Lakers teammates at the hotel, where plainclothes security guards began chasing out reporters and photographers during the afternoon. A television news helicopter captured video of O'Neal standing with his bride as they prepared to take their vows.

Dallas Mavericks forward Walt Williams will miss 7-to-10 days because of a strained left knee. Williams was hurt in the Mavericks' 83-81 victory at New Orleans on Thursday.

Forward Bobby Simmons rejoined the Washington Wizards after being released by the team two months ago before the start of the season. The signing comes a day after the Wizards said first-round draft pick Jared Jeffries was out for the season with a torn knee ligament.

Football

Concussion-plagued quarterback Chris Chandler will not start for the Chicago Bears in Sunday's regular-season finale against Tampa Bay. The 37-year-old Chandler left during the second quarter of last week's 24-14 loss to Carolina with the fifth concussion of his career. Former CFL player Henry Burris, who replaced Chandler last week, will make his first NFL start Sunday.

Steve McNair missed another practice because of tightness in his lower back. In the previous four weeks, rib and toe injuries have caused McNair to sit out virtually every workout but he has not missed a game. Coach Jeff Fisher said that inability to prepare physically has led to the current situation.

Hockey

The Los Angeles Kings placed Jason Allison on the injured reserve list because of a sprained right knee. But since the move was made retroactive to Monday, it's possible he'll miss only one more game.

Miscellaneous

Wilt Chamberlain's Philadelphia high school career scoring record is history. Maureece Rice, an 18-year-old senior at Strawberry Mansion High School, finished with 44 points in a game Friday, pushing his four-year total to 2,209. Chamberlain had 2,206 during his three-year varsity career.

Obituary

Ward Cuff, an all-purpose running back who helped the New York Giants win the NFL title in 1938, has died. Cuff died Tuesday in Vallejo, Calif., the Giants announced. He was 89. "We were contemporaries," Giants co-owner Wellington Mara said. "He came to camp in 1937 as a rookie, and we roomed together from then on in camp and on the road.

People

As punishment, the criminals get a headlock

Maybe pro rasslin' ought to steal a page from the XFL and put cameras in the locker room.

Rowdy Roddy Piper, a veteran of more than 7,000 matches, says some of the best action he ever saw came in the changing quarters, after Gorilla Monsoon figured out which of his rivals was pulling foreign objects -- namely, cash -- from his fellow rasslers' pants pockets.

"Stealing was probably the worst thing a wrestler could do, because we all were already aware that we were being ripped off by the promoters," Piper writes in his new book, "In The Pit With Piper: Roddy Gets Rowdy."

So Gorilla came up with a plan, coating some cash with a tricky liquid like banks use and leaving the dough hanging from his pants pockets. When the thief took the bait and a shower, the chemical kicked in -- and he was literally caught red-handed. Gorilla and protégés then jumped in and added some black and blue to the thief's color scheme.

Noted Piper: "Sometimes there were better fights in the dressing room than there were in the ring."

Verbatim

Paul Gutierrez of the Los Angeles Times, after Fox commentator Michael Irvin praised DesmondHoward as "the only man on the planet" to win both the Heisman and Super Bowl MVP trophies: "Apparently, Jim Plunkett and Marcus Allen were in orbit aboard the international space station that day."

Dan Daly of the Washington Times, on the NFL trash talk between the Carolina Panthers' Todd Sauerbrun and the Gramatica brothers: "When I read about a punter 'feuding' with two kickers, all I can think of is midget wrestling."