DBAHO

A 130-year-old man has died in Saudi Arabia after a life of eating only the fruit of his labor and making the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca three times on foot, a newspaper reported Friday. Zafer bin Yehya al-Asmari died in Ballasmar in southern Saudi Arabia, leaving behind around 60 grandchildren, Al-Watan said, without making clear how many times he married. His son Abdullah told the paper that Asmari, who walked to Mecca three times for the annual hajj pilgrimage, never wore shoes and never traveled by car except when he was once taken to hospital. Asmari spent a lifetime eating only the product of "what he grew or raised," including honey, butter and meat, and always warned his children to avoid chemicals, the son said. He was also "known for his boldness and daring to confront wild animals, once killing a tiger."

A GOOD education and well-paid job greatly increase a man's chance of finding a mate, according to a study that shows men with no tertiary qualifications are more likely to be single. Men and Women Apart: the Decline of Partnering in Australia, to be released in Melbourne today, reveals a startling decline in the number of unqualified men setting up households with a partner. The analysis of Census data reveals the proportion of 30 to 34-year-old unqualified men with wives or live-in partners dropped from 68 per cent in 1986 to 52 per cent in 2001. Their plight also was reflected in data showing only 41 per cent of 30 to 34-year-old men earning less than $16,000 had partners, compared with 71 per cent of their peers who earned more than $52,000. The findings led the authors - Bob Birrell, Virginia Rapson and Clare Hourigan from Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research - to argue for a new focus in the debate about declining fertility levels. "Though not denying the disincentives to having children for women who find it difficult to combine paid work and motherhood, more attention should be placed on why men and women are not partnering and thus are not in a situation to begin contemplating having children," they say. They suggest part of the explanation is economic: people without stable incomes baulk at committing to relationships. The data shows most single men in their 30s do not conform to the stereotype of the roving bachelor, luring conquests to the pad. Only 28 per cent live alone, and many live with their parents. The report, commissioned by the Australian Family Association, also challenges the notion that people with a tertiary education are more likely to guard their autonomy and stay single while pursuing a career. Graduates with healthy incomes are the winners in the family arena, forging new "collaborative partnerships" in which they share domestic and work roles. Women with a degree are also more likely than their less qualified sisters to be married or in a de facto relationship.

Also this rumor from another message board, hmmm Walker on da Bears? According to Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News draft guru on TXCN's Sports Talk, between now and June 30 there will be 20 to 25 starters available as teams make further cuts. One name I suggest you watch for: Kenyatta Walker, offensive tackle for Tampa Bay. The Bucs took Walker (6'5", 302 lbs.) from Florida in the 1st round of the 2001 draft, but he has struggled with pass protection. With their recent signing of Todd Steussie, Walker could be too expensive as a back-up for a team banging their head against the salary cap. The Bucs may not cut Walker, but there could be trade potential there

From da Cubune, It might be getting more crowded in the Bears' backfield. A league source said the Washington Redskins will trade fullback Bryan Johnson to the Bears on Monday in exchange for a sixth-round draft choice. The Raiders and Bills were the other teams in the running for the hard-nosed Johnson. The Bears initially showed interest in Johnson, a restricted free agent, before the Saints signed him to an offer sheet last week. The Redskins matched the offer Saturday and made arrangements to deal Johnson once his no-trade clause expired Sunday night. Johnson's deal is worth $4.7 million over four years but counts $2.2 million against this year's salary cap. It includes an $800,000 roster bonus due Tuesday and nearly $600,000 in incentives Johnson is unlikely to meet, language included to front-load the deal. New Orleans structured the contract in such a way to discourage the cap-strapped Redskins from matching. But the Redskins did so with the intention of trading Johnson rather than lose him without compensation. The Bears have about $3.7 million remaining under the salary cap. Johnson, 26, played linebacker at Boise State and joined the Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2001. He became a fullback known for his tenacious lead-blocking skills and soft hands out of the backfield—an ideal component in offensive coordinator Terry Shea's scheme. Johnson has carried only three times for 5 yards and has 33 receptions for 314 yards. On the Bears, he would compete with veteran Stanley Pritchett for the starting fullback job. The Bears also have made a contract offer to former Buffalo guard Ruben Brown, who is thought to have narrowed his choices to Chicago and Detroit.

Cheat's got the Mizzle Hizzle Fo' Shizzle goin.

If only LA would take Konerko.

And they made such a cute couple, THE love-split between Mandy Moore and Andy Roddick was down to kissing scenes and her showbiz lifestyle, the pop-singing teen actress has revealed. Moore, who will be 20 next month, recently told YM magazine her former beau was sick of the Hollywood thing and obviously feels singles is more suited to him than a love match. "He doesn't like Los Angeles very much and he doesn't care about the industry," Moore told the teen magazine in reference to her lifestyle. "I don't think he 100 per cent understands it (the lifestyle) and nor does he want to." Roddick, 21, also blamed his own work pressures, with life on the professional ATP Tour keeping him at long distances from Moore, a situation he claims took the focus away from his tennis. The couple began dating in the middle of last year, just as Roddick was riding a wave of success, claiming the world No.1 spot in men's tennis after his victory at the US Open. He famously pashed his girlfriend in the stands after that triumph, leaving the whole world in no doubt about his feelings for the singing beauty. Since then, however, his form has dipped and he has lost the No.1 ranking to Swiss rival Roger Federer. Currently he stands at No.4, having won only a single tournament since claiming the US Open crown. "I'm very happy. I'm very, very much in love. I have this crazy, long-distance romance," Roddick said last year when he and Moore were still very much an item. But it proved a romance neither was able to sustain.

2 weeks left. Here are this week's matchups. Championship Bracket #1 DBAH0's Magic vs #4 Manute Bol Ballers #2 THE BULL V.2004 vs #3 Teamo Supremo

Ok u 2 break it up.

Hav a good 1!

Hint #1: It's in his sig.

From FoxSports.com, Inside Dish Reserve OF Timo Perez should be a positive addition for the White Sox, but second base still looks like a problem. One scout observes that neither Willie Harris nor Juan Uribe is as good as Royals IF Tony Graffanino, who left the Sox as a free agent, or Rockies 2B Aaron Miles, whom the Sox traded for Uribe. . . .

He left out 1 important detail though Steve.

Shoe worries the hell out of me. KW saw sumthin in him, but I don't think too many otha ppl hav. Still I'm willin to giv him an oppurtunity for at least a month startin, but afta that if he's still strugglin call up da guy who's pitchin best in Charlotte, whether it's Rauch, Cotts, Diaz I don't care, they need to earn the right to pitch in our rotation. In a perfect world we would trade for Livan Hernandez but that ain't gonna happen. And there's no way Benson is gonna pitch here either. We just can't afford to hav a $6 million injury prone pitcher on our payroll.

US pet owners are being offered a second lease on life for their dying cats by a firm that is offering to clone the animals for about $US50,000 ($67,824) per "copy cat". Genetic Savings and Clone, based near San Francisco, claims to be the leading US pet cloner and has launched a commercial, albeit expensive, cloning operation. This year, the California company that announced the world's first cat clone in February 2002, plans to clone nine felines, six of which will be sold to the public, with three to be kept to show off at cat shows. The firm has already received four firm orders for the copy cats and is also working hard to duplicate the genetic make-up of dogs. It says it has received massive public interest about its unusual service, with some of the requests proving touching and others a little bizarre. "We've had people say they have a ball that their dog used to play with and it's covered with saliva and can we clone from that," said Ben Carlson, the company's vice president of communications. "We get a lot of poignant requests like that. Or they have a bit of fur or maybe a tooth or they buried their pet a couple of months ago and just heard about us. But we have to tell them unfortunately, it's too late." To create a clone, the company takes a swab sample the size of a small coin from the mouth and from the stomach of the pet. Dead animals can be cloned, but only during a short time after death. The company was formed in 2000 when founder John Sperling, inspired by the successful 1996 birth of Dolly - the British sheep who became the first cloned animal - began trying to clone his beloved dog, Missy. After eventually settling on the simpler area of feline cloning, CC - short for copy cat - was born at Texas A and M university. When pet owners heard of the success, they began calling him asking if they could have their dogs and cats cloned as well. Genetic Savings and Clone was born. The company now boasts a few hundred clients who are banking their pets' genes in the hope of reviving their beloved furry companions' genes at a later date.

ADAM SCOTT paid tribute to boyhood idol Greg Norman after winning the Players Championship by one stroke in a heart-stopping finish in Florida today. After finding the water with his second shot at the final hole, the 23-year-old Queenslander rolled in a three-metre bogey putt to become the youngest winner of the prestigious US PGA Tour event, regarded as the biggest outside the four Majors. He carded 70 to finish at 12-under-par 276 at the Sawgrass TPC, while fast-finishing Irishman Padraig Harrington shot 66, playing the back nine in 30 strokes, to finish second on 277. It is Scott's fifth professional victory, his second on the US Tour, and earned him $1.95m. "Maybe that chipping lesson I got earlier in the week (from Greg Norman) paid off in the end," said Scott, who got up-and-down from 30 metres for the victory. "I was glad I had a putt to win. I've had a few in the past and not made them. I was making it difficult for myself. It was a straight putt so it was going to be my fault if I missed it. "Greg Norman, my hero as a kid, won 10 years ago, so this means a lot to me." Scott is the fourth Australian winner in the past 14 years, joining Steve Elkington (1991 and 97) and Norman (94). He had a four-shot lead with five holes left, but bogeyed the 14th as well as the last. That, combined with Harrington's barnstorming finish, almost sent it to a playoff. Norman was among those delighted with the result: "I think he can eclipse all of us. I hope he beats my record everywhere," said Norman. Best of the other Australians was Craig Parry (74), equal 13th at four-under 284, one stroke better than Geoff Ogilvy (70), who tied for 16th with Tiger Woods. ohn Daly qualified for next week's Masters, despite a poor finish, when he remained in the top 10 on the PGA Tour money list.

Don't think Martin could handle playin SF. Watchin Drew Gooden gettin burned by Ron Artest last week playin SF just gives me that impression. In the East, it'll be interestin to see which team Okafor winds up on and if he plays PF or C. 1 guy, I think the Magic or even the Bulls could go afta is Mark Blount. Had a really good year in Boston, and will add some more size and defence. But 1 guy I think the Bulls mite actually go afta is Jamal Mashburn, because I think New Orleans is gonna leave him unprotected in the expansion draft.

UConn ova OkieDokie.

Come on now Calendar Admins, that should be stricken from the record.

Hope our resident heavy metallist has a great 1!

From da Cubune, Michael Reinsdorf was a 14-year-old 9th-grader at North Shore Country Day School in 1981 when the annual "Intern Week" required him and his classmates to learn firsthand about a specific business. As luck would have it, Michael's dad was just starting in a new business—his ownership group having purchased the White Sox—and Jerry Reinsdorf invited his son to fly down to Sarasota, Fla., stay with him at the Day's Inn and attend the club's instructional meetings. "So there I am, sitting in a room with Roland Hemond and Tony La Russa," Michael Reinsdorf says of the team's general manager and manager at the time. "I mean, I'm sitting there when Roland Hemond says, 'I think we can purchase Greg Luzinski's contract from the Phillies.' It was unbelievable. "Then I got to go along when they took [batting instructor] Charlie Lau to dinner, trying to entice him to come to the Sox. And I drove to spring training with Tony La Russa, just he and I, and Tony had me fill out the lineup card and then I shagged balls in batting practice. That was the best." Small wonder that when it got out that Michael planned to attend the White Sox marketing meetings last month, the assumption was that the third of Jerry and Martyl Reinsdorf's four children must be positioning himself for a place on the payroll. It was only a small leap from there to guess that Michael was being groomed to take over his father's position as chairman of the Sox and as well as the Bulls. Of course, Michael is not 14 anymore. Nor does he need a job. He's a little busy these days as a partner in one of the fastest growing real-estate development and consulting firms in the country to think much about it. Headquartered in Northbrook with his partner, close friend and brother-in-law I. Steven Edelson, the two, along with White Sox vice president of operations Terry Savarise, founded International Facilities Group, which has been involved in more than $2 billion worth of sports and non-sports development projects, including Detroit's Comerica Park and Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park. But perhaps just as significantly, Reinsdorf, 37, and Edelson, 44, have tapped into the trend of major-league sports owners over the last decade to manage the facilities in which their teams compete by doing the same thing on the minor-league level. The two recently purchased the Cedar Rapids (Iowa) Roughriders of the U.S. Hockey League and have plans to buy another minor-league hockey team and a developmental arena football team, both of whom will play in the $113.5 million sports and entertainment complex in Stockton, Calif., the operations of which Reinsdorf's and Edelson's firm is overseeing. "When a fan has a bad experience, they don't think of the owners as the third party," Edelson says. "They say, 'Boy, the Roughriders don't know what they're doing. Reinsdorf and Edelson don't know what they're doing.' Owning a team and operating the facility are two diametrically opposed things. A team owner wants the best of everything. Then you bring a third-party operator in who makes his living off the margin—charging the most he can for a hot dog—and you have a conflict. "We said to Stockton [officials], 'If you want us to own the teams, we have to manage the facility and we need a 10-year commitment." They both agree in retrospect that having Savarise join them, given his operations role with the White Sox and the United Center, was their "big break." Michael Reinsdorf also refers to Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz as a mentor in learning about the day-to-day operations of a major facility. But it was Savarise's involvement, Reinsdorf says, that assuaged most concerns his father may have had in trusting his son. "If he wasn't a little worried, I'd be shocked," Michael says. "He said to me often, 'Don't take on anything you can't handle.' That was the main thing. Then, when we were at the All-Star Game last year, [Reds CEO] Carl Lindner came up to him and was just beaming about the job we did for the Reds [in overseeing Great American Ball Park] and I have to be honest, it wasn't my involvement. We're successful because we built an incredible staff of people around us who are smarter than us and have done an incredible job. "But when Carl Lindner said, 'Your son's company is just incredible, I couldn't have done it without them,' just to see the smile on my dad's face, I could have hugged Mr. Lindner because it felt great. It just felt great because I know he was proud of me and proud of what we've done." John McHale, former president and CEO of the Detroit Tigers when IFG was overseeing the development of Comerica Park, said the company first came to his attention because of the work of Savarise on U.S. Cellular Field and the United Center. But McHale says it took him "all of two or three minutes" for Reinsdorf to make an impression as a "first-class person." "Michael is a little extra bashful, reticent, because of whose son he is, but it doesn't take much time to determine that he got the full measure of his father's creativity and level-headedness," says McHale, himself the son of a baseball father, former Braves President John McHale Sr. "The salient quality of the Reinsdorfs is that they are straight shooters, which is a very valuable quality. If I were to say anything, it's that Michael gets [his point across] with a little more tact than his father. He has a little softer-edged." Reinsdorf, the father of three, does not pretend that his father has not been a major influence on his career. "When I was going into college [at Arizona], I'd turn to my dad and ask him for advice, what I should do in school," Michael says, "and he clearly said, 'You should go into business school. Real estate has been good to me. Maybe that's something you should look at, but obviously you have to make your own decision.' But I saw his success and thought, 'Wow, that's probably a good idea to follow in those footsteps. That's why I got involved in real estate." But Reinsdorf says he resisted the temptation to work for his father. "I wanted to try to be successful on my own without anyone saying I hung onto my dad's coattails," he explains. "People were always going to say, 'He was born into a wealthy family.' And clearly, I grew up differently than my father. My father is a self-made person. All his success he was responsible for. He didn't have a father to lean on and clearly I have that opportunity and it has been very helpful. But I still wanted to be out there in the real world, trying to make it on my own. "The negative of being a Reinsdorf is that people think I have all the money in the world and live a certain lifestyle. But anyone could come over to my house and see what kind of home I live in. I don't drive an $80,000 car. I live a pretty conservative lifestyle. I'm pretty down to earth." If pride kept him from depending on his father financially, however, he was also smart enough to use his name and his connections, as well as tap into the vast experience that continues to be no further than a phone call away. "It's more valuable to me to have his advice than to have his money right now," Michael says. "I don't get into every specific nuance of the deals that we're working on. But I give him the big picture and he equates it to situations that he has been in in the past. "From a negotiating standpoint, he said, 'You don't fall in love with your deals.' I've had to pull myself back sometimes from certain deals that I really like. I like the people involved, I think it's a great idea, a great deal and I've had to pull back because if you don't pull back, then you don't make the best deals for you or the company." Both Reinsdorf and Edelson take exception to the notion that Jerry Reinsdorf is an unyielding negotiator. "My father is a good negotiator," Michael says. "He's a fair negotiator. What he is, he's not someone who squeezes every last ounce of blood from you. He's always said to me, 'A good deal is not when you win and the other guy loses. It's when you both walk out saying that was a fair deal.'" Michael Reinsdorf often refers to the Sox and the Bulls as "us," reflecting the kinship he feels to both organizations. Right around the time of SoxFest last month, Michael saw the direction he was headed with minor-league sports ownership and decided it would help if he could sit in on some of the White Sox marketing meetings. "I've always been involved through my father in what goes on," Michael says. "We'd talk about, 'Did the organization [do the right thing]?' Of course, my questions were always more, 'Are we going to make a trade?' because that's the most fun. But I started thinking, 'I know we can take the best practices of the Bulls and the White Sox, the things we do right, and apply it towards these minor-league teams.' "You look at the Bulls and unfortunately we don't have a great record right now, but we definitely have to have one of the best marketing departments in the NBA. And I want to emulate that throughout the minor leagues, teams we're involved with. "At the same time, I think there are probably things we'll be doing with the minor-league sports that I can suggest—and just suggest because I have no official capacity with the White Sox or Bulls—that we could possibly do on the major-league level. "So all I was doing was going to some meetings and next thing you know I'm next in line to take over for my father." In Arizona, Suns owner Jerry Colangelo has asked an investment firm to look for potential buyers and has made clear his intentions to sell his interest in the team to avoid what would be a hefty estate tax. Was there ever a time when Michael foresaw taking over for his father? "No, because it's not an entitlement," he says. "I always get uncomfortable when people come up to you and they say, 'Your dad owns the Bulls.' My answer is, 'He's chairman of the White Sox and Bulls. He's a general partner. He has other investors. There are a lot of owners.' I kind of try to downplay it. "I guess maybe if my dad owned 100 percent of the team, it might be something I would think about. But because it's not, it's not something I've given a tremendous amount of thought to. I've never really gotten into it or had that discussion with him." Nor, he says, have he or his brothers Jon, 34, or David, 42, both involved in real-estate development, ever strived to be part of the Sox or Bulls organizations. "I've never asked him to hire me for the teams," Michael says. "I love sports. But what I didn't want to have was the situation, for example, when Carroll Rosenbloom was the owner of the Rams and his son was the president of the team. He passed away and next thing you know, his son was out of a job. "I remember it happening and I didn't want to be working for a team and have my dad sell the teams and now, 'OK, now what do I do?' So I said, 'You know what, maybe I should try to make it on my own without getting involved with the teams. I can still enjoy it just as much. Everyone who knows me knows how many games I go to." And everyone who spends any time at all with Michael Reinsdorf can feel the same sense of wonder he had at 14, sitting in the same room with Roland Hemond and Tony La Russa, and shagging flies in the outfield. "I'm old enough to know the difference," he says. "I know how incredible it is to be the son of Jerry Reinsdorf and have the accessibility and the fun of being involved because I knew what it was like before 1981." Ask him to look at his long-range future and Michael says he can only envision being with his wife, Nancy, and children Jennifer, 9; Joey, 7; and Harry, 4. He and Edelson, the father of five, chose to work close to home in large part so that they could coach their kids' teams and watch them play. "If you ask where will I be in five, 10 years, I'd say if I work really hard, I will be very successful," he says. "But if you ask me today, I'd tell you how upset I was recently when I missed my daughter's [teacher] conference. I told my mom and she said, 'Oh come on, your father never went to conferences.' But it's different now. My father was working so hard, he didn't always have time to go to our games. But he'd always be home for dinner at 6 o'clock every night. "It's funny, but to this day, I prefer to have dinner at 6 o'clock."

Only reason I said Olivo was because I think he hasn't had the best numbers in spring training hitting wise, but there'd be no way it'd be him. Mayb it was just a smokescreen by KW so that no-one slackens off.

I was thinkin Harris as well, but here's one out of left field. Miguel Olivo.

Doesn't the battery run out afta a year or sumthin? I decided to get a MP3 Playa instead.

Cheat, u mite hav a new Sosa pic to put in ur siggy.