Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005 | 9:18 a.m.
Deion Sanders
Asked if he believed that Baltimore Orioles first baseman Rafael Palmeiro might have accidentally taken steroids, Deion Sanders' grin vanished. He paused for a moment, then revealed a secret he had kept for nearly a year.
Sanders said that shortly before he decided to end his three-year retirement last Aug. 31, he received medical treatment for an ankle he hurt while playing basketball. When he took his Ravens' physical, steroids were detected in his system.
"The next thing I know they're testing me weekly. I'm like, what's going on? I had never had a prior," he recalled. "They told me I flunked the steroid test. I was on the random steroid test every week because I took something for my ankle."
The Ravens, however, said late Tuesday that Sanders never failed a drug test, but was given weekly screenings because he skipped a random drug test shortly before he retired from the Washington Redskins in 2000.
Andy Roddick
While he may be the top seed at this week's Legg Mason Tennis Classic, Andy Roddick admits he has his eye on the U.S. Open at the end of August and a possible showdown with Roger Federer.
"He's been able to do to tennis what Tiger Woods did to golf a couple of years ago and just forcing us to become better players," Roddick said.
Even though he lost to Federer in the 2003 Wimbledon semi-finals and the 2004 and 2005 Wimbledon finals, Roddick said he is still determined to succeed.
"I am working harder than I ever have. And I am still pretty good," said Roddick, who is from Omaha, Neb.
"Roger Federer is difficult mentally and psychologically (for) everybody," Roddick said. "Federer is the guy who upset a lot of players at the bigger matches."
Roddick ranked his chances "as good as anyone not named Roger."
John Daly
To promote a new course opening today, John Daly will try to hit a golf ball from the Canadian side of Niagara Falls to Goat Island in the United States.
"I have hit some towering drives in my time but to try and clear Niagara Falls would be an awesome feat," Daly said in a posting on his Web site.
Daly will help open nearby Thundering Waters Golf Club -- a course his company designed -- in the morning. In the evening on Canadian TV, he'll swing away from a specially built platform at Table Rock to try to land a ball 362 yards away on the island that separates the Canadian Horseshoe Falls from the rockier American falls.
His longest drive in competition this year is 356 yards.
-- Sun wire services
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