LOCAL
LOCAL
Curbstoners
BOARDMAN -- Due to the holiday season, the Curbstone Coaches will not meet on Monday or Jan. 2.
For more information, visit their web site www.curbstonecoaches.org.
Bowling
YOUNGSTOWN -- Entries for the Youngstown Bowling Association's 74th annual city tournament are available at area establishments.
The event, open to all YBA members, runs from Jan. 20-29 at Bell-Wick (team) and Camelot (singles-doubles).
Cost is $17 per event and entering all-events is optional for $2.
Divisions are upper and lower for team (1000-up, 999-under), doubles (400-up, 399-under) and singles (200-up, 199-under).
Date for close of entries is Jan. 13.
NATION/WORLD
Big Ten players sound off on their favorites
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Which Big Ten school has the best fans and which is the toughest crowd? Who's the top coach in the conference and what's the best team mascot?
A Champaign newspaper put those questions to a panel of experts -- 11 Big Ten players -- to get some opinions. The News-Gazette's eighth annual survey was far from a scientific poll, but it did elicit some interesting observations from some of the conference's top players.
Six of the 11 panelists voted Iowa's crowd as the toughest in the conference, while three thought the fans at Purdue were tougher.
Wisconsin's fans got six votes as best in the conference.
Five panelists chose Ohio Stadium in Columbus as the best in the Big Ten, while Northwestern's Ryan Field received six of the 11 votes as the worst.
The opinions were a little more varied when it came to choosing the conference's nicest player or best trash talker.
Iowa's Chad Greenway and Nick Mangold of Ohio State each got two votes as nicest player, while six other players got one vote each.
Minnesota running back Laurence Maroney and Wisconsin receiver Brandon Williams each received two votes as best trash talker.
Bucky Badger at Wisconsin was the panel's choice as favorite team mascot, with Minnesota's Goldy Gopher a close second.
The 11 players responded to the newspaper's questions at the end of the regular season.
Penn State's Joe Paterno and Iowa's Kirk Ferentz were the panel's favorite coaches. Ferentz received four votes but his son, Brian, was one of five who voted for Paterno.
Horse euthanizedat Turfway
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- A horse stabled at Turfway Park was euthanized and a barn was quarantined after the filly tested positive for the equine herpes virus.
Trainer Charles Simon declined to identify the horse Friday, but said she began having coordination trouble Wednesday.
"We didn't want her to suffer anymore," Simon said.
The barn has been under quarantine since Wednesday, track president Bob Elliston said. The stable has about 50 horses.
The equine herpes virus is an upper respiratory and neurological ailment that can spread through the air, but it can travel only about 35 feet and can be killed by disinfectants.
Simon said the horse, which had been at the Florence track since the first week of September, had finished second and third in races.
Elliston said the track is trying to limit the disease, and trainers in other barns have been asked to take the temperatures of their horses a couple of times a day.
Earlier this year, two horses at Churchill Downs with severe symptoms of equine herpes were put down during an outbreak at the Louisville track's spring meet. About 100 horses in three barns were quarantined.
Miami correspondenceschool to shut down
NEW YORK -- A Miami correspondence academy that drew the scrutiny of the NCAA and state officials amid growing concerns about "diploma mills" is shutting down, the school's founder told The New York Times.
"It's a disaster," Stanley J. Simmons told the newspaper for Saturday's editions. "I'm finishing up everything, and I'm going back into retirement."
University High School had no classrooms, teachers or teams but helped numerous athletes quickly earn diplomas, the Times first reported in November. The newspaper reported that University High graduated at least 14 students who signed with Division I football programs during the past two years. Because the school is private, students did not have to take the state-mandated exit exam.
The Miami-Dade state prosecutor's office and the NCAA recently began investigations into the legitimacy of the school. Ed Griffith, a spokesman for the state prosecutor, told the Times his office was awaiting returns from subpoenas in its investigation of the school over possible fraud.
Soccer coachLajos Baroti dies
BUDAPEST, Hungary -- Lajos Baroti, who coached Hungary to a bronze medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics, has died, the country's soccer federation said. He was 91.
Baroti, who coached Hungary a record 117 times between 1957 and 1978 and played twice on the national team, died Friday.
"Hungary's best coach has died," Hungarian Football Federation President Imre Bozoky said in a statement. "He was a football authority recognized not only at home but everywhere around the world."
Besides the Olympic medal, Baroti also led Hungary to a sixth-place finish at the 1966 World Cup.
Baroti also was credited with training the Hungarian team which won the gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, although he didn't travel with the team to the games.
Baroti coached Portugal's SL Benfica to three titles in 1980-1982 and also worked with Peru's national team in the early 1970s.
Baroti began his soccer career at the age of 14, playing for Szeged AK in southern Hungary.
After retiring due to a foot injury in 1948, he began his coaching career at Hungary's Gyori ETO.
Di Stefano hasheart attack
MADRID, Spain -- Alfredo di Stefano, the Real Madrid soccer great who was voted European player of the year in the 1957 and 1959, had a heart attack early Saturday but was conscious and in stable condition.
Di Stefano, Real Madrid's 79-year-old honorary president, was stricken in Sagunto. The hospital said he was breathing on his own and responding well to treatment in the intensive care unit.
Team president Florentino Perez and other executives were traveling to Sagunto.
Di Stefano won five consecutive European Cups, scoring in each final.
He was born in Argentina and began his career with River Plate before moving to Colombia's Millionarios in 1949.
He joined Real Madrid in 1953 and became its most illustrious player.
Vindicator staff/wire reports