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Pregnant and barefoot, my butt! i

Sue Duxbury just wanted to play softball in her local mixed slow-pitch league in Vancouver, British Columbia.

But when she got pregnant, the league banned her.

Now, almost three years later, Duxbury has won a human-rights ruling that states banning pregnant women from the game is illegal discrimination.

A human rights adjudicator ruled the decision should be made between a woman and her doctor as to whether it’s safe for her to play.

Mama Duxbury played slow-pitch while she was pregnant with two of her children, with no ill effects. But when she tried a third time in 1994, the league told her the rules had been changed and pregnant women couldn’t play.

The rule, the league said, had been implemented because the year before, a man slid into a pregnant woman at second base. He feared he had injured the fetus, but the only thing injured was his ego when he was called out.

Hot but not smokin’

Twelve blocked shots one night. Nine rejections in another game. Then last week’s 23 points, 18 rebounds and nine assists against Boston.

Those are just a few of the outstanding performances put together in recent weeks by Charlotte Hornets center Vlade Divac. And now we have a possible explanation: Divac has finally quit smoking.

“Something is happening,” Divac said. “I don’t know how much quitting smoking has to do with it, but I’m sure it’s (a factor).”

Divac, 29, began puffing at age 15 in his native Yugoslavia. Despite the Lakers’ repeated attempts to convince him to quit, it wasn’t until this summer, right around the time of his trade to Charlotte, that Divac’s 5-year-old son Luka found a pack of cigarettes at home and wanted to try one because Daddy smokes.

“That was last summer, before I go to Olympics,” Divac said. “I said, ‘You got me, little fellow.”’

But on Tobacco Road, Divac wouldn’t mind lighting a big, fat stogie this spring.

Still the Not-Yet Jets

After Peyton Manning decided to stay at Tennessee, New York Jets coach Bill Parcells called Peyton’s dad, Archie, and told him they still might have a chance to land the gifted QB in the ‘98 draft.

“You’re kidding?” said Archie, according to Newsday.

“No, I’m not,” Parcells insisted. “Have you seen our defense?”

From the mind of Barkley

Charles Barkley, taking a cue from Allen Iverson’s TV commercials, approached 76ers coach Johnnie Davis during the Houston Rockets’ most recent game at Philadelphia and said of Davis’ rookie guard, “I know the question and he’s not the answer.”

But is he as big a problem as Charles was in Philly?

The last word …

“It’s like a bowl of Cream of Wheat. It’s real sticky and it’s real slow. It’s just not exciting.”

- Chicago’s Dennis Rodman on Cleveland’s methodical style

, DataTimes