A Tourney, By Josh

Florida Marlins owner John Henry isn’t accustomed to getting money from his players, so he was surprised to receive a $100,000 check for charity from a 19-year-old pitcher.

“It floored me,” Henry said. “I’m still speechless about it.”

Josh Beckett, the second player taken in last June’s amateur draft, donated the money to start a baseball tournament in Miami for 500 youngsters 12 and under.

Beckett said he made the contribution as a gesture of appreciation for the $7 million contract he received from the Marlins last summer.

“We had been talking about it before I signed,” he said. “It’s kind of a token of appreciation, because they’ve been generous with me. I’m just trying to help everyone out a little bit.”

The youth tournament is part of a new Marlins’ program to benefit children.

A day at the training table

Look for “Ma’s Army” to march all the way to Sydney.

Chinese track coach Ma Junrun, whose female runners broke several world distance records in 1993, has been enlisted by his government to help prepare runners for this year’s Olympic Games in Australia.

Junrun, out of sight for several years because of health problems and a dispute with government officials, is a firm believer in high-altitude training, daily marathons and concoctions of herbs, turtle blood and fungus.

Maybe they’re all running so fast to get away from those concoctions.

Revisionist history

From Tony Kornheiser in the Washington Post:

“Continuing (owner) Daniel Snyder’s quest to employ everybody who has ever played in the Pro Bowl, the Redskins signed Bruce Smith to a five-year contract, which would make him nine years older than Sonny Jurgensen at the end of it. Smith, now 36 and having been in Buffalo so long he remembers Bob McAdoo, joins Irving Fryar, now 37, and Darrell Green, 40. With Joey Galloway spoken for, The Danny turns his eyes to Jerry Rice, now 37.

“With all (of) them in the lineup, the Redskins will surely be favored to win the 1991 Super Bowl.”

Basketball for the faint-hearted

In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Philadelphia 76ers selected 76 couples to participate in a halftime wedding ceremony at Tuesday night’s game against the Charlotte Hornets.

Unusual appeals to participate were given high priority. For example, one man claimed he’d hyperventilated an hour before his wedding four years ago, then passed out four times at the altar. He and his wife wanted to renew their vows under more serene conditions.

Serene, as in boring?

The last word …

“The PGA Tour’s slogan is, `These Guys Are Good.’ It should be edited to read, `This Guy Is Great and the Rest of These Guys Are Good.”’

- Nick Canepa, writing in the San Diego Union.