Hey, a Little Shopping Helps a Guy Unwind

Juan Luis Hernandez, the new coach of Costa Rica’s national soccer team, promises to instill military discipline and ban his players from drinking, sex and even shopping in their quest for a World Cup berth. He also asked the country’s media to cooperate and maintain secrecy.

“We will start work at 6 o’clock in the morning, at which time the players must be ready and in uniform for the start of practice,” he said, adding that the working day would finish at 8 in the evening.

“I’m not going to ask them to sweat their shirts, I’m going to demand they sweat blood.”

Costa Rica’s next game is against the United States on Sept. 7 in Portland, Ore. Could be a gory mess.

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Trivia time: Which woman tennis player last won four consecutive U.S. Open titles?

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Monte Carlo West? To create a Grand Prix atmosphere for street racing this weekend around Union Station, builders used four miles of chain link fencing, 11 miles of communication lines for TV and radio, 8,000 used tires bound together as safety barriers and 700 flat-rails weighing 8,200 pounds each.

Officials promise it will all be removed in time for Tuesday morning’s rush-hour traffic.

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Looking back: Ten years ago today, Kirby Puckett went six for six with two home runs and two doubles for four RBIs in a 10-6 victory by the Minnesota Twins over the Milwaukee Brewers.

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Tiger No. 1: Who’s the sexiest male athlete?

Golfer Tiger Woods, according to a survey of 1,428 female members of the U.S. Television Fan Assn.

In other sports, the Hunk award goes to Mike Piazza of the Dodgers, Michael Jordan of basketball’s Chicago Bulls, Joe Sakic of hockey’s Colorado Avalanche, Ken Harvey of football’s Washington Redskins, boxer Oscar De La Hoya and tennis player Pete Sampras.

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Three points: Longtime promoter Len Corbosiero calls to dispute Bob Leonard’s claim that the three-point shot came from the American Basketball Assn. Corbosiero claims it started with Abe Saperstein’s American Basketball League in 1960--six years before the ABA--when George Yardley of the L.A. Jets made the first one.

The three-point shot had been approved by a committee of Saperstein, the Jets’ Corbosiero, Hawaii’s Art Kim and Cleveland’s George Steinbrenner (yep, the same one).

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Hitting back: After Barry Bonds struck out with a runner on base on three fastballs by hard-throwing Pittsburgh relief pitcher Jeff Wallace, the San Francisco Giants’ outfielder was testy when asked about his lack of RBI production.

“You get in the batter’s box and face a lefty throwing 94 and then he throws you an outstanding breaking ball and you tell me how you are with men in scoring position,” he snapped at reporters.

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Tough league: With Bonds in a slump, Manager Dusty Baker put Jacob Cruz in left field against the Pirates, but the rookie from Oxnard must wonder what it takes to stick with the Giants. Cruz went two for five with an RBI. As a thank-you, he was optioned back to triple-A Phoenix after the game.

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Trivia answer: Chris Evert, who won from 1975 through 1978. She also won as Chris Evert Lloyd in 1980 and 1982.

And finally: Offensive coordinator Fran Ganter has been with Joe Paterno for 27 years at Penn State, so long that a player said, “His parents dropped him off [as a student in 1967] and forgot to pick him up.”

Ganter, 48, who turned down the Michigan State coaching job after the 1994 season, is expected to be Paterno’s replacement, if he can outlast Paterno, 70. But as Pittsburgh columnist Ron Cook says, “That’s a big if.”