Next Year They’ll Be Trotting for Dollars

The Harlem Globetrotters will donate to the New York relief effort up to $100,000, $1 for every mile they travel on tour next year in new red, white and blue buses.

“We hope that, as people see these buses, they are viewed as symbolic of a nation pulling together during trying times,” Globetrotter owner Mannie Jackson said.

The team’s 200-city tour begins Dec. 27 in Columbus, Ohio. A highlight of the schedule will be the visit Nov. 10-11, 2002, to New York, where the organization started 75 years ago.

The Globetrotters will play a rare competitive game against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden on Nov. 10. The team also will present a special benefit performance, “The Harlem Globetrotters: We Love New York,” at City College in Harlem the next day.

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Trivia time: What former Olympic gold medalist is pro wrestling’s current WWF champion?

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Gives a real buzz: Naoko Takahashi used an unusual beverage to fuel her run into marathon history--juice from giant hornets.

Takahashi became the first woman to break the barrier of 2 hours 20 minutes in the Berlin marathon, shattering the existing world best by nearly a minute with a time of 2:19.46.

“It tastes like any other sport drink,” the petite Japanese Olympic champion said. “You can get it in shops everywhere in Japan. It’s a popular drink.”

Japanese scientists have found that the hornet juice can give an astonishing boost to human performance.

They say it reduces muscle fatigue and improves the body’s efficiency by increasing the ability to metabolize fat and thus reduces the buildup of lactic acid.

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Music City: On the Glynn Academy football team in Brunswick, Ga., there aren’t too many jokes about band geeks. Come halftime, junior offensive lineman Adam Harper is one.

When the second quarter winds down and his teammates head to the locker room for rest and a pep talk, Harper grabs his mellophone and marches back onto the field with the band.

“It’s our belief in any high school setting that broadening the educational experience benefits the student,” football Coach Terry Tulley said. “The more a student can do, the better off they are.”

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Tough sell: A loss to Costa Rica Sunday would do more than knock Mexico out of next year’s World Cup. It would ruin the business of Alberto Martinez, whose company sponsors the national team and makes replica jerseys.

“We’re going to be very nervous,” Martinez said. “If we don’t qualify people won’t want the product. Ask Nike how many Holland shirts they’re selling after they were knocked out.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1993, Michael Jordan announced his retirement after nine seasons in the NBA.

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Trivia answer: Kurt Angle, who won gold at 220 pounds in freestyle wrestling at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

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And finally: Things got chippy in Auburn’s 24-21 win over Vanderbilt. A little too chippy for Commodore receiver Dan Stricker.

“I don’t like to bad-mouth anybody, but they were classless,” Stricker said. “Trash-talking is part of the game, but when they’re punching at the bottom of the pile, spitting in your face ... I never played anybody like that.”