LITTLE ROCK — Survey says public loves Tiger, Kobe
Tiger Woods isn’t having as much success on the golf course since returning to the sport following a sex scandal, but his problems apparently aren’t affecting his popularity much.
Woods dropped into a tie with Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant as the favorite American sports star after holding that title alone since 2006. Bryant moved up from fourth last year to grab a share of the top spot, Harris Interactive said Tuesday.
LeBron James dropped from third to sixth in the company’s survey of 2,227 adults conducted online from June 14-21, before he left Cleveland to sign with Miami. Retired NBA star Michael Jordan fell from second to seventh.
New York Yankees captain Derek Jeter moved up one spot to third and quarterback Brett Favre went from ninth to fourth.
Indianapolis quarterback Peyton Manning was fifth, up from seventh.
New England quarterback Tom Brady, who failed to make the top 10 last year, returned at No. 8, followed by New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees and NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Among female athletes, sisters Serena and Venus Williams were 1-2, followed by race car driverDanica Patrick, retired soccer star Mia Hamm and tennis stars Maria Sharapova and Anna Kournikova.
Wild chefs
The Minnesota Wild hosted 37 players at their annual development camp last week, but the prospects had to do the cooking, swapping pucks for parsley for a night.
They crowded around grills and skillets as they chopped, sliced and stirred various meat cuts, vegetables and seasonings to produce a menu featuring bourbon honey salmon and chicken pasta primavera. There was plenty of stubble and shaggy hair, but this was a baseball cap crowd, no hair nets.
The cooking class was held at a store in St. Paul as a way of teaching the players about nutrition.
“It’s not like my grandparents, where they would live strictly from the farm,” 24-year-old defenseman Nate Prosser said.
“We’re kind of unaware of what nutrition’s all about. It’s good to learn about.” Here’s your stuff, King
They’re taking the jerseys off their backs for LeBron James.
Then tossing them away - for a good cause.
Stung by the NBA superstar’s decision to leave Cleveland and play for Miami, Cavaliers fans have been unloading their unwanted No.
23 jerseys, Tshirts and other clothing items bearing James’ name at locations around Cleveland. Organizers areshipping the discarded James gear to homeless shelters in South Florida.
“It’s like any breakup,” said Beau Miller, who began the campaign with three friends. “You want to give all your stuff back.”
For the past week, Cleveland fans have been dropping off their LeBron-related items at Yours Truly Restaurants in Northeast Ohio. Miller said he and his friends wanted to turn a negative situation into a positive and that the response has been “extraordinary.”
“We wanted something good to come out of this,” he said. “We didn’t want another ‘I hate LeBron campaign.’ There’s enough of that going around.”Quote of the day
“Lance Armstrong is over in about four days.” Lance Armstrong on his cycling career plans
Sports, Pages 20 on 07/21/2010