For O’Neal, It’s a Little Breakfast of Champions

It’s not easy for someone to keep his figure when he’s 7 feet 1 and 330 pounds, but Shaquille O’Neal tries.

“I have a chef at home that cooks me sausage omelets and little pancakes every morning,” the Laker star said on “Half Baked,” a Burly Bear Network cable show that caters to a national college-age audience.

After all, he could have sausage omelets and big pancakes.

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Trivia time: Who was the first black U.S. athlete to win an individual gold medal at the Olympics?

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His Sweetness: Cadbury’s Mr. Big chocolate bars will soon have Toronto Raptor star Vince Carter on their wrappers.

“We’re taking the standard Mr. Big and we’ve created the Mr. Big Vince Carter collector series,” Brand Manager Peter Widdis said. “Basically, we’re trying to emulate what cereal manufacturers do with collectible images on boxes.”

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Role model: German high jumper Amewu Mensah, an Olympic finalist featured on posters as part of a nationwide campaign against doping and part of an anti-drug campaign, tested positive for an anabolic steroid.

She faces a two-year ban for using the drug, which is commonly prescribed to promote growth in boys who do not reach puberty.

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Different directions: Three years ago, Josh Heupel and Fred Salanoa shared the quarterback job at Snow College in Utah.

Heupel went to Oklahoma, led the Sooners to the national title last season and was the Heisman Trophy runner-up. He’s in camp with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins.

Salanoa, meanwhile, is a fifth-year senior at Division I-AA Eastern Washington.

“I have no gripes about it,” Salanoa said. “Josh Heupel was my roommate on the road. I learned a lot from him and, from what I’ve known, he’s learned a lot from me.”

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Gone logo: The Milwaukee Brewers unveiled the logo for the 2002 All-Star game that will be played at Miller Park, and while the stadium’s retractable roof is prominent, one thing is missing: any mention of Milwaukee.

Are they embarrassed or what?

Say it ain’t so: Another Jesse Ventura?

Olympic wrestling great Dan Gable has said he will consider a campaign for governor of Iowa.

Gable, an assistant athletic director at Iowa, is being recruited by state Republican leaders in hopes of ousting Gov. Tom Vilsack. Critics contend Gable was a registered Democrat until a week before GOP leaders began courting him.

Reads like a WWF script.

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Looking back: On this day in 1996, one person died and more than 100 were injured by a bomb at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta. Competition later in the day was held beneath flags at half-staff, and Canada’s Donovan Bailey set a world record of 9.84 seconds to win the 100 meters.

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Trivia answer: William DeHart Hubbard of Cincinnati, who won the long jump at the 1924 Paris Olympics. He died in 1976.

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And finally: Remember when there were only eight boxing classes: heavyweight, light-heavy, middle, welter, light, feather, bantam and fly?

Now there are 17. Add to the above: cruiser, super-middle, super-welter, super-light, super-feather, super-bantam, super-fly, junior-fly and (best of all) strawweight.

No wonder prizefighting is so confusing.