Odds of This Happening Again Are Off the Board

Ever since a streaker ran onto Centre Court at Wimbledon before the start of the 1996 final between Richard Krajicek and MaliVai Washington, British bookmakers have banned bets on such activities.

“It was later claimed that the girl who did it had cleaned up from bets placed on her at 6-1,” said a spokesman for bookmaker William Hill. “What used to be an innocent, fun bet seems to have been hijacked by opportunists.”

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Trivia time: How many tennis balls will be used during the two weeks of Wimbledon competition?

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On the road again: Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he uses video games to sharpen his road racing skills.

“We’re not road racing specialists, so when you go to a road course, it’s like being a fish out of water,” Earnhardt told Autoweek. “When you play the game beforehand for a couple of hours a day, it helps you get a feel for the track.”

Maybe he’s not playing enough. He finished 19th Sunday at Sears Point.

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It’s different: Philadelphia Phillie Manager Larry Bowa was talking about the need for players to show emotion when someone asked him why a team like the Atlanta Braves would trade an emotional player such as relief pitcher John Rocker.

“That’s not showing your emotion,” Bowa snapped. “That’s being an idiot.”

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Doubleheader: First the Republicans won the White House, then they won the annual Congressional baseball game.

NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent pitched the Republicans to a 9-1 victory over the Democrats. He struck out eight, gave up six hits and did not walk a batter.

Democrats can take hope in the fact that it was Largent’s last game. He plans on resigning his House seat in November to run for governor of Oklahoma.

Largent said he didn’t think much about it being his last. “It’s not like my last game in the NFL,” the former Seattle Seahawk said.

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Do you remember?: On this day in 1971, Muhammad Ali won a four-year legal battle to overturn his 1967 conviction for draft evasion in an 8-0 vote by the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Then and now: When basketball star Len Bias died 15 years ago of a cocaine overdose, his mother was so distraught that she prayed to die.

“I asked God to let me die,” Louise Bias told Jim Litke of the Associated Press. “But what I heard back was, ‘Louise, eat the loaf of bread in your hand and stop begging. You still have a husband, three children and so many other loved ones.’ ”

Today, she says: “Len has done more in death than he ever could in life. Had he lived, he would have entertained. But in death, he’s fought for life.”

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Trivia answer: 42,200.

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And finally: Temperatures in Dubai, one of the states that make up the United Arab Emirates, rise above 100 degrees in the summer, so how is it that resort owners are promoting skiing?

Landmark Exhibitions, operators of a “Snow World” project, are bringing in more than 400 tons of snow and ice. And they are handing out skis, toboggans and winter jackets for a 45-yard ride down a ski slope in Dubai’s central Creek Park, where a massive tent-shaped structure keeps temperatures between 14 and 19 degrees.