Well, Maybe Yankees Can Trade for Them

Sammy Sosa could make a guest appearance at the semifinals of soccer’s European Championship, at least in spirit.

If either Thierry Henry or Nicolas Anelka scores for France in today’s semifinal against Portugal, fans in Brussels will get a glimpse of the ritual the Chicago Cub slugger uses to celebrate his home runs.

Henry and Anelka picked up the gesture--Sosa kisses two fingers, touches his heart and blows a kiss to his mother in the Dominican Republic--from television and began using it earlier this month.

“We just thought it was cool, and not having a real goal celebration of our own, we decided to adopt it,” Henry said.

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Trivia time: Byron Scott, who was hired by the New Jersey Nets on Tuesday, is the fifth member of the 1980s Lakers to become an NBA head coach. Who are the others?

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A leg up: Ann Killion of the San Jose Mercury News expects kicker Sebastian Janikowski will get a chance in the NFL, despite his recent legal troubles.

“The truth is, if the Raiders hadn’t taken Janikowski, Kansas City or another team would have snatched him up,” Killion said.

“The 49ers and Rams have paid Lawrence Phillips, the Panthers employed Rae Carruth, the Ravens had Ray Lewis, the Packers once adored Mark Chmura. What team hasn’t had a player explode on them? If you damn one team for moral bankruptcy, then damn the entire league.”

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Stop the madness: Seattle Times columnist Blaine Newnham wants the PGA Tour to back off its court case against disabled golfer Casey Martin for using a cart in tournament play.

“In Martin’s case, the continuing appeal by the tour borders on meanness,” he wrote. “Martin, 28, is wearing down under the pressure. He has not been as successful as two of his other Stanford teammates: Notah Begay and Tiger Woods. . . .

“Martin finished in the money ($12,300) at the St. Jude Classic, but it marked one of the few times this year he had played better the final day than the first day.”

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How many a side? John Steadman in the Baltimore Sun on Woods:

“Woods has, in a sense, become too good for the game. Oh, how the purists, the protectors of this grand and ancient sport, hate to admit that this early in his professional years, Woods transcends all others . . . golf icons such as Jones, Nelson, Sarazen, Hogan, Palmer and Nicklaus. There’s not enough real estate to create a golf course long enough to negate Woods’ innate advantages in power and precision, unless it’s an airport landing strip.

“It would be the height of professional embarrassment, but, facetiously, Woods ought to give the rest of the field strokes as an inducement to make the event more palatable and competitive.”

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The Green Bean Pickers? When People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals protested the name of the Green Bay Packers because it refers to meat packers in slaughterhouses, PETA’s vegetarian campaign coordinator, Bruce Friedrich suggests an alternate name.

Instead of Packers, make it Pickers, he suggested, the reference being to those who pick fruits, vegetables and other crops.

Or, he said, the team could be the Green Bay Six-Packers, referring to the state’s brewing history.

Wonder what the Women’s Christian Temperance Union would say about that?

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Trivia answer: Magic Johnson, Kurt Rambis, Butch Carter and Eddie Jordan.

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And finally: Bob Wolfley in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

“This NBA draft is devoid of talent, drama, names and anything like a compelling local angle. Other than that, it looks to be the strongest draft so far this century.”