Only the Artificially Strong Will Survive

We have drug scandals in the Olympics and finger-pointing about drug use in baseball.

So would you believe steroids in golf might be next?

Nick Price told Reuters recently that he fears future generations will turn to performance-enhancing drugs to keep pace with the game’s big hitters.

“I guarantee you that in another three to four years we’re going to start seeing guys taking steroids,” Price said, “because that’s the message we are sending to young people now.”

That message is delivered, the three-time Grand Slam tournament winner said, by advances in club and ball technology aimed at delivering longer drives -- and the lengthening of major championship layouts in response.

“Kids will realize early on they’re going to have to get stronger to survive,” Price said.

Presumably, top players will still need a good short game, though.

If not, imagine the putt rage.

Trivia time: Who was the first African American head coach of a major U.S. professional sports team?

Figuratively speaking: Olympic figure skating gold medalist Kristi Yamaguchi and husband Bret Hedican, a defenseman for the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, are expecting their first child in October.

The couple met at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville, France, where she became champion and he was playing hockey for Team USA.

Both are thrilled, but Hedican seems giddy to an extreme.

“Since we both spend so much time on the ice,” he gushed to Associated Press, “everyone is wondering if the child will be born with skates on.”

That’s Rich: San Francisco Giant shortstop Rich Aurilia is a creature of habit.

Before every night game at Pacific Bell Park, Aurilia stops to eat at the same restaurant and always orders the same sandwich: turkey and cheddar cheese on a kaiser roll with balsamic vinegar, lettuce and tomatoes.

Don’t laugh. The Giants are 7-2 at home this season.

Any restaurants around Dodger Stadium interested in adding to their menu?

The DL (Dopey List): World Features Syndicate’s list of unusual baseball injuries:

Jim Barr broke his hand punching a urinal. Steve Sparks dislocated a shoulder tearing a phone book in half. Ted Power pulled a hamstring jumping off the bullpen bench. Freddy Fitzsimmons lacerated a finger in a rocking chair. Danny Cox injured a leg while fishing. Paul Molitor dislocated a knuckle when his hand got stuck in another player’s glove.

Trivia answer: Bill Russell, who after the 1965-66 season became player-coach of the Boston Celtics. He replaced Red Auerbach, who’d coached the Celtics to their record eighth consecutive NBA title that season.

They defeated the Lakers, 95-93, in Game 7 on this date.

And finally: What has been playing nearly as long as the New York Yankees?

Yankee public relations director Richard Cerrone says the answer is Bob Hope.

The Bronx Bombers have played all but 30 of their 15,574 games during Hope’s lifetime. The nearly 100-year-old comedian was born on May 29, 1903, during the Yankees’ debut season.