FanFare 9/24/02

Briefly

Baseball

The teenager who attacked Kansas City Royals coach Tom Gamboa on the field was ordered Monday to stand trial in juvenile court.

A date will be set Tuesday for a trial on a felony charge of aggravated battery. The 15-year-old boy, who was not identified, ran onto the field at Comiskey Park with his father at the Royals-White Sox game Thursday and attacked Gamboa.

The teen's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Christopher Swanson, asked the judge to allow the teen to go home with his mother, but the judge ordered him held in a juvenile facility at least until after Tuesday's hearing.

On Saturday, the teenager's father was held on $200,000 bail. Ligue, 34, faces the same felony charge as his son.

Basketball

Shannon Johnson scored 20 points in a 94-55 victory over Spain on Monday, leading the defending champion United States into the semifinals of the Women's World Basketball Championship.

Lisa Leslie added 19 points and six rebounds, and Sheryl Swoopes scored 17 points for the U.S. team, which will face Australia in the semifinals today.

Australia won the silver medal at the Sydney Olympics.

College

Craig Ochs, Colorado's starting quarterback, won't play again this season after suffering his third concussion in the past year.

Ochs hasn't played since he was hurt in a game against San Diego State Sept. 7. Extensive medical tests came back normal but Ochs advised coach Gary Barnett on Monday that his season is over.

Ochs, a junior who has started since his freshman year, will apply for a medical waiver redshirt for this season. He also will withdraw as a student from Colorado and relinquish his athletic scholarship. In a statement, Ochs said he will reevaluate his options for returning to play football next season.

Colorado running back Chris Brown, Kansas State linebacker Terry Pierce, Texas A&M defensive Ty Warren and Iowa State punt returner Todd Miller received weekly honors from the Big 12 on Monday.

Brown was the offensive player of the week for turning 26 carries into 188 yards and three touchdowns in a 31-17 win at then-No. 20 UCLA. Twelve of his runs produced first downs.

Pierce and Warren shared defensive player of the week.

Hockey

The Minnesota Wild will announce Wednesday that they will hold the 2004 NHL All-Star game at Xcel Energy Center, two hockey sources said.

The Wild planned a news conference for a "major announcement" before an exhibition game against the Calgary Flames.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the news conference was to announce the club's host role of the showcase event.

People

The world's tallest policeman, badge No. 34, is hot on another case.

Shaquille O'Neal, who likes to dunk doughnuts with cops when he's not dunking basketballs with the Lakers, has been cleared of any wrongdoing stemming from the night he tagged along on a marijuana raid in East Baton Rouge, La., earlier this month.

WBRZ, a Baton Rouge TV station, reported that one of the bustees complained that honorary officer O'Neal stuffed said bustee's head into a toilet before police mercifully hauled him off to a different can. However, The Advocate newspaper reported that an internal investigation later ruled that O'Neal committed no foul.

The alleged dunkee obviously thinks a pick-and-roll is a joint-making technique, because if he knew anything about basketball he'd have known not to mess with Shaq anywhere near the rim.

Verbatim

Tom Arnold of the "Best Damn Sports Show Period," referring to the beating that Oscar de la Hoya dished out in to Fernando Vargas in a recent boxing math in Las Vegas:

"Until the 10th round, I had no idea there was a Fernando Vargas bobblehead doll."

-- From wire reports