This Way, You Can Vote Early and Often

Balloting for the 2004 NBA All-Star game, which will be played Feb. 15 at Staples Center, will be a high-tech, global popularity contest.

Fans will be able to vote in 17 languages, on the Internet, via Verizon wireless phones, at Foot Locker, Champs Sports and Circuit City stores and about 150 Loews Cineplex movie theaters, as well as with a traditional ballot at NBA arenas.

A fan can pick his or her favorites -- a maximum of once every day Nov. 13 to Jan. 18 -- at www.nba.com in English, Arabic, two Chinese dialects, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian, Spanish and Turkish.

So, if you’re planning to attend and want to yell at the players, you may want to bring your official NBA pronunciation guide.

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Trivia time: Who was the first NFL player to make the Pro Bowl with three teams. (Hint: You could argue that it was really four teams).

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Work ethic: Tom Davis, out of coaching for four years before accepting an offer to head Drake’s basketball team this season, is bringing a novel approach to motivation.

He has 21 players but only 15 will suit up for games. Those 15 will be a rotating mix of guys who pay the price in practice.

“If a player isn’t working hard, he won’t dress,” Davis said. “That will apply whether he’s a veteran on scholarship or a freshman walk-on.

“When our season opens, you’re going to be surprised who’s not dressing.”

Davis will pick nine players for his regular rotation for each game and his assistants will choose the remaining six.

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Big man’s game: Bad knees? Aching feet? You might want to take up underwater hockey.

The sport -- which apparently began in England in the 1950s and came to America 20 years later -- is played by two teams of six players who wear snorkels, masks and fins and try to push a three-pound puck across the pool into a nine-foot-wide goal. There are no goaltenders.

There are three underwater hockey clubs in Connecticut, and some players drive more than three hours for games.

Larry Panza, 56, told the New York Times that competition is fierce.

“They’re heavy guys. They’re big,” he said. “Underwater, they look like walruses, but, man, they can swim.”

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Veteran answer: Maxim magazine gave Denver Nugget rookie Carmelo Anthony a choice:

Would you rather spend a month on a tropical island with a hot movie star, such as Beyonce Knowles, or have Shaquille O’Neal as a teammate?

“Shaq,” Anthony said. “You’re definitely going to win with Shaq. Girls ... they’re going to come anyway.”

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Trivia answer: Ted Hendricks, who played in the Pro Bowl in 1971, ’72 and ’73 as a Baltimore Colt, 1974 as a Green Bay Packer, 1980-81 as an Oakland Raider and 1982-83 as an L.A. Raider.

And finally: San Francisco quarterback Jeff Garcia, after the 49ers had cut kicker Owen Pochman, who missed two field goals and botched a kickoff in overtime last week: “I heard Brandi Chastain is available.”