Talk About Raising the ($100,000) Bar

Olympic athletes from Uzbekistan won’t lack for motivation at the Sydney Games.

President Islam Karimov signed a bill promising any athlete who brings home a gold medal a bonus of $100,000, an enormous sum in that country.

Silver medalists will receive $50,000 and bronze medalists $25,000.

The reported average monthly salary in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet state in Central Asia, is about $20.

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Trivia time: Who is the only player to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and the U.S. Open in the same year

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The conspiracy: Dan Shaughnessy in the Boston Globe: “[NBA Commissioner] David Stern has heard the theory a million times: The NBA wants high-profile teams in the finals.

“It’s all about big markets and TV ratings. That’s why the league conspired to have the Los Angeles Lakers in the finals instead of the Portland Trail Blazers.

“ ‘I got an e-mail from Portland after the game Sunday,’ Stern said. ‘It said the NBA and the Trail Blazers conspired to miss all those [13 straight] shots.’ ”

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Shaq-isms: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “When [Shaquille] O’Neal does something worthy, he identifies himself with some clever notion that requires explanation, something not immediately apparent.

“For example, with Kobe Bryant injured in Game 2, O’Neal became the Big Cancun. The last resort, get it?

“Try this. Shaq called himself the Big IPO. Think stock market going up.”

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The Midas touch: Jim McCabe of the Boston Globe writes that the competitive fires no longer burn for Greg Norman.

“He’s fabulously rich, and unlike his on-course experience, which has included his share of hard luck, everything he touches in the business world turns to gold.”

Of course, that was written before Norman shot 68-67 over the weekend at the Buick Classic.

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And what do you make? Jim Armstrong in the Denver Post: “Orioles bad boy Albert Belle’s reply when a Mets fan taunted him by calling him Joey, the name Belle used to go by:

“That’s what my big, fat paycheck says.”

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More Armstrong: “This isn’t humanly possible, but then whoever said that Pedro Martinez was human? Opposing hitters are batting .044 against him with runners in scoring position.”

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Trivia answer: Jack Nicklaus in 1972.

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And finally: Trevor Decker, 12, pitched a pure perfect game in the Foothill Area Little League championship game Tuesday in Redding, Calif.

For majors-level Little League, that’s 18 batters, 18 strikeouts.

Decker threw 80 pitches in the 6-0 victory, 54 of them for strikes, and only two of those were foul balls.