Former Cowboys Shifting Gears

Former Dallas Cowboy quarterbacks Roger Staubach and Troy Aikman have announced that they plan to start a Winston Cup stock car racing team in 2004 with former Trans-Am driver Bill Saunders as the managing partner.

To date the new team has no shop, no equipment, no employees other than the three owners, no driver and no sponsor.

“We’re not naive going into this thing,” Aikman said.

Oh yeah.

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Trivia time: What was the highest TV advertising rate for a Super Bowl game?

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Weighty subject: When the Chicago White Sox planned a news conference to introduce new pitcher Bartolo Colon, the usual site was already booked. So the meeting was held in the team’s weight room.

“Perhaps fittingly,” noted the Daily Southtown’s Phil Arvia after the 5-foot 11 Colon’s weight was reported to be “about 250.”

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Priorities: LeBron James’ high school basketball team is outfitted by Adidas, so what was James doing wearing Nike sneakers in a tournament at Greensboro, N.C.?

“Because I’m in North Carolina,” said the prep phenom. “Guys from my era, we look up to Michael Jordan.”

James also wears No. 23.

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The best: Reggie Bush of San Diego Helix High will be named the No. 1 running back in the country when Parade magazine announces its 40th annual high school All-America team on Sunday.

Bush, a 6-foot, 185-pound senior, is headed for USC.

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The poorhouse: The Buffalo News ran a list of 10 things that indicate that the NHL Sabres are out of money. Among them:

Rob Ray positioned in stands to “retrieve” stray pucks during game.

Kids’ games replaced by hat-passing competition during intermission.

Team told not to score so darn often in order to save on goal lights.

Pregame media meals now served at City Mission.

Expensive Jumbotron replaced by mimes who reenact memorable plays.

Miroslav Satan asks LeBron James for “10 bucks until payday.”

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Just wondering: Who will be the first reporter, on April 29 at San Francisco’s Pac Bell Park, to ask the question of new Chicago Cub Manager Dusty Baker, “Will you pitch to Barry Bonds?”

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Horsepower time: John Force and all the other NHRA dragsters will start their 2003 Powerade season next month at Pomona, or as Force said, “It’s time to rejoin my drag racing family in the world’s biggest trailer park.”

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Trivia answer: $2.4 million for a 30-second spot on CBS during the 2001 game between the Baltimore Ravens and New York Giants, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

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And finally: Soccer superstar Diego Maradona has taken up golf.

“I admit that I don’t feel the same emotion on the golf course as I did kicking the ball around,” the Argentine player told Associated Press during a tournament in Havana.

“Sometimes I talk loudly, I yell, I get excited, and everyone gives me dirty looks.”