It’s the Pawn of a New Age in Drug Testing

All right, we understand that performance-enhancing drugs might help an athlete run faster or jump higher or tackle harder or even hit a baseball farther.

But drug testing in chess?

For what? Afraid someone might just squeeze that rook into a tiny pile of dust?

Anyway, players at a Spanish team championship tournament were stunned to learn that the Spanish Chess Federation had ordered them to provide urine samples.

Next: Drug testing for bridge players.

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Trivia time: What was the score of the first USC-UCLA football game?

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Stamps are extra: Jay Leno on Karl Malone’s endorsement deal with the National Rifle Assn.: “Just what America needs, another Mailman with a gun.”

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Through thick and thin: You know, it’s tough out there in the pizza business, but it’s hard to top this: The Miami Dolphins dumped Domino’s and signed a three-year deal with Pizza Hut as the team’s “official pizza sponsor.”

Terms were not disclosed, but sources say a lot of dough was involved.

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Your message here: For what it’s worth, in Sunday night’s game against the Denver Broncos, Seattle Seahawk receiver Joey Galloway wore eye-black patches advertising a sporting goods company.

Expect Galloway to begin soliciting offers for his eyeballs.

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Down times: Attendance at NBA games is down for 16 of 29 teams, according to Craig Daniels of the Toronto Sun, who suggested that it would be even worse except for new arenas in Denver, Indianapolis and Los Angeles.

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Numbers optional: The San Francisco Giants will have new uniforms to wear in their new ballpark next year and they are going to be different--no names will be on the back.

Said Manager Dusty Baker, “That’s going to help sales of the programs, to find out who these guys are.”

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There’s out of bounds: Jason Williams of the Sacramento Kings isn’t as crazy about golf as some of his teammates.

Said Williams, “It seems kinda slow. It needs . . . I don’t know, it needs defenders or something.”

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Don’t hit delete: Dan LeBatard in the Miami Herald on new Washington Redskin owner Daniel Snyder: “[He is] one of these new technology billionaires who thinks he can just download a Super Bowl.”

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AnnaWorld: Anna Kournikova might not have a WTA Tour victory, but that hasn’t stopped her from having her own Web site: https://www.kournikova.com.

Out of hibernation: According to Sports Business Journal, the NFC team with the biggest percentage of attendance increase from last year is the Chicago Bears, up 17% to an average of 65,231 a game.

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Cleats extra: Ever wonder how much those little Nike swooshes or Adidas stripes are worth to the university athletic teams that put them on their uniforms?

The University of Texas just agreed to a nine-year deal with Nike for $22 million, matching UCLA’s deal with Adidas as the richest in college sports.

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Pinstripes extra: The New York Yankees’ Web deal, which runs through 2001, is expected to generate more than $3 million. That ought to pay for, what, one hit by Derek Jeter?

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Trivia answer: USC beat the Bruins, 76-0, in 1929.

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And finally: Fox’s Keith Olbermann doing a promo for Sunday’s NFL lineup: “Join the boys for the pregame show . . . ah, . . . they’re just warming it up for Fox NASCAR Saturday, who are we kidding?”