Call Him Mr. Inspiration

For winning the women’s marathon in the 1999 world track and field championships, North Korea’s Yong Song-Ok was given a luxury house and a deluxe car by her government. Yong’s response:

“I ran all the way, picturing our great leader Kim Jong II in my mind. This was great encouragement to me and a source of my strength.”

Quite a find Spain’s Valderrama Golf Club picked up a rare feather-filled golf ball for $42,600 at an auction by Christie’s.

The “feathery” was made in 1830 and stamped W. Robinson. An inscription in ink read: “St. Andrews, 30, Made by Lang Willie.” Leather-cased “feathery” balls were used between the 1600s and early 1850s.

The rewards of success

Phil Jackson’s speaking fee has climbed to $75,000 since coaching the Lakers to the NBA championship. His fee had been $50,000 for each appearance.

All in a day’s work

Two of the most difficult feats in sports are making a hole-in-one in golf and rolling a 300 game in bowling.

David Howard of Brookings, S.D., did both in the space of 26 hours.

He made a hole-in-one Monday. The next night he was telling his pals about the ace during league bowling while he was rolling a 300 game.

“I’m definitely going to go buy some Powerball tickets,” said Howard, a tool company supervisor.

Spreading the joy

Folks in hockey-crazed Alaska apparently love the Stanley Cup.

When the New Jersey Devils’ Scott Gomez, an Anchorage native and the NHL rookie of the year, took the cup home with him, more than 8,000 people showed up at a downtown park where the cup was on display for six hours.

“This is yours too,” Gomez told the crowd. “Kiss it, grab it, do whatever.”

Gomez also took the cup to bars, a senior citizens home and two hospitals.

Nothing new

While in Australia, Formula One driver Pedro Diniz spent a day scuba diving among the sharks in Melbourne’s new aquarium. “In F1 we get used to dealing with all kinds of sharks,” Diniz said. “So I felt quite at home.”

You the man, Dale!

Dale Earnhardt has heard enough about fellow drivers wanting to slow speeds in their NASCAR Winston Cup stock cars. The seven-time champion comments:

“I’ve heard some drivers saying, `We’re going too fast.’ I say, get the hell home. If you’re not a race car driver and not a racer, stay home. Don’t come here and grumble about going too fast. Get out of the car if you’ve got feathers on your legs.”

The last word …

“I think they took all their sponsorship money and gave it to Tiger.” - Buy.com CFO Mitch Hill, on Nike dropping its sponsorship of the PGA Tour’s developmental tour.