They’re Sparing No Expense, Leaving Nothing to Chance

John Salley is leaving nothing to chance in making sure his wedding guests are treated right. The Miami Heat forward is offering baby-sitters, limousines, tour guides and the guests’ choice of an armed or unarmed bodyguard.

“They want it private,” said Salley’s older brother and best man, Jerry Salley.

Salley, 29, and Natasha Duff, 24, of Detroit, plan a July 31 wedding at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit.

Add wedding: Some of Salley’s former Detroit Piston teammates and his current Heat buddies are expected to attend, as well as celebrities and Detroit politicians. Security will be tight to keep the 750 to 800 guests from being mobbed by fans. No cameras, recording devices, autographs or coming and going from the wedding or reception will be allowed.

Salley’s brother said the ceremony will be “like a royal wedding,” followed by a two-week honeymoon in Hawaii.

Decisions, decisions: Jimmy Connors, pondering whether to play in next month’s U.S. Open in New York: “New York has always inspired me. But do I want to look back and say it inspired me, or do I play one more time and maybe look at it from six feet under?”

Trivia time: Which one of golf’s four major championships has Arnold Palmer never won?

The whole truth: After a small-bore production-car race driver was killed in a highway accident in England, the coroner reported, “Death by misadventure.”

Finding his spot: Golf pro Peter Jacobsen has a new book out, “Buried Lies.” It is No. 9 on the Washington Post’s best-seller list.

“Number 10 is Rush Limbaugh’s book and No. 8 is a book on menopause,” Jacobsen said. “So I’m somewhere between the right wing and the change of life.”

Jock talk: The latest edition of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary carries seven new entries, all sports related: air ball, alley-oop, ball control, contact hitter, noseguard, blood doping and skybox.

Insomniac: St. Louis Cardinal Manager Joe Torre: “When we lose, I can’t sleep. When we win, I can’t sleep. But when you win, you wake up feeling better.”

Trivia answer: The PGA. He played 35 times and finished second in 1964, 1968 and 1970.

High praise: In the 1993-94 California basketball prospectus, sophomore Jason Kidd is called “firmly entrenched as the premier playmaker in college basketball.”

Quotebook: Retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, on his passion for hunting and fishing: “I’ve managed to convince my wife that somewhere in the Bible it says men cannot have too many shotguns and fishing poles.”