Fast Break

Baseball

Owner of HR ball an idiot, says Bonds

Barry Bonds said the man who bought his 756th home run ball and announced plans to let the public decide its fate is an “idiot.”

Fashion designer Marc Ecko (pictured above) had the winning bid Saturday in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit last month to break Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467.

Ecko, 35, has set up a Web site (vote756.com) that lets visitors vote on three options for the ball: give it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk before sending it to Cooperstown or blast it into space on a rocket ship.

“He’s stupid. He’s an idiot,” Bonds said. “He spent $750,000 on the ball and that’s what he’s doing with it? What he’s doing is stupid.”

Ecko plans to announce what he will do with No. 756 after voting ends Tuesday.

College basketball

Sampson gives fan chance to coach

All those Indiana fans who think they can outcoach Kelvin Sampson may now have a chance to prove it.

Sampson, the former Washington State University coach, plans to auction off everything from game tickets to a chance to become “coach for a day” next month as a part of fundraiser for cancer research.

The announcement comes almost exactly three months after Indiana football coach Terry Hoeppner died from complications of a brain tumor. Hoeppner took three medical leaves and underwent brain surgery twice during an 18-month battle.

Today’s poll

She’s real fast and real “hot”

Ashley Force has been named the winner of the first annual “Hottest Athlete” poll on AOL Sports.

The Web site’s users voted on the best-looking men and women in sports over several weeks and National Hot Rod Association star Force beat out football hunk Tom Brady, as well as fellow motorsports competitor Danica Patrick for the honor.

Force, the daughter of longtime NHRA star John Force, is the 10th woman in NHRA history to earn a license to compete in the Funny Car division.