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Sunday, July 28, 2002

By Pete Aldrich, Post-Gazette Sports Writer

David Shula didn't make it as a head coach in the NFL --although very few men have succeeded as captain of the ship called the Cincinnati Bengals.

Shula was fired during his fifth season in 1996, after winning just 19 of 71 games.

"It was a real blow to my ego and a tough time for my family," Shula said. "Getting fired is never easy."

Shula recovered, though, and now, six years later, he is in charge of a winning team.

But it has nothing to do with the high-stakes world of pro football.

It has everything to do with steaks.

As president of Shula's Steak House, he has overseen the growth of the nation's fourth-largest chain of upscale steak houses. The restaurants are filled with memorabilia honoring the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only NFL team to finish undefeated and untied.

Those Dolphins were coached by Shula's dad, Don.

"That's a huge hook we have to get people's attention, to get their foot in the door because of their interest in football and in my father's career," David Shula said.

Thanks to the '72 Dolphins and first-rate steaks, including a 48-ounce porterhouse, the chain projects sales of $60 million this year. Under Shula's guidance, the company has expanded from seven restaurants to 23, and has plans to open this fall in Times Square -- its first New York site.

"David has been a tremendous asset for us," said the chain's founder and chairman, David Younts. "It has worked out very, very well."

Shula agrees.

"I've been very happy," he said. "I learned the Xs and Os of the restaurant business as I went along, and I still learn something new every day."

Stop the presses!

When the Rockets made China's Yao Ming the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft last month, the Houston Chronicle ran a photo of Yao from Beijing.

It seemed harmless, except that a Chinese graphic artist on the Chronicle's staff noticed that a vintage poster visible behind Yao was emblazoned with anti- American slogans from China's Cultural Revolution. Editors replaced the photograph, but not before it appeared in nearly 221,000 copies of the paper's 545,000 press run.

By the way, the poster didn't belong to Yao; the photo had been taken at CNN's Beijing studio, where the retro posters had been hung as a fashion statement.

Like father, like son

Steffi Graf reportedly was upset when husband Andre Agassi gave their 9-month-old son, Jaden Gil, a Mohican haircut.

"She had a fit," a source familiar with the couple told a British newspaper. "The kid has no hair -- just like his old man."

A buzz at the ballpark

They arrived in swarms at Pro Player Stadium July 19 for the Expos-Marlins game. Not fans; only 6,941 of them showed up for the game that featured the return of former Marlin Cliff Floyd.

The swarm was created by bees -- an estimated 20,000 of them under the seats in Section 145, the box seats behind the Marlins' dugout.

The section was roped off about 30 minutes before the game, and the Marlins brought in bee specialist Christian Harveson -- he calls himself the Bee Man -- to take care of the problem. He did so by sucking up the bees with a vacuum cleaner.

Harveson arrived wearing a blue T-shirt, but the Marlins made him put on a Marlins T-shirt and cap because they knew he "would get a lot of air time," said P.J. Loyello, the team's vice president of communications and broadcasting.

One team is enough

Drayton McLane Jr. said recently that he would sell the Houston Astros if he isn't satisfied with baseball's new labor agreement (assuming they get one in the next century).

Next thing you know, whiz-bang Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was being bombarded with e-mails from fans, asking if he would be interested in buying the Astros.

"Houston's a great town, but I don't think so," Cuban said. "I grew up in Pittsburgh, so I have an NL team in the Pirates, and I have an AL team with the Rangers.

"One team is enough for right now. Plus, my girlfriend would kill me."

Against the wind

This year's Race to Mackinac competition was marred by severe weather, which forced at least 18 boats to drop out of the 333-mile race from Chicago to Mackinac Island, located between Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas.

One boat that survived belonged to rock star Bob Seger, whose 52-foot Lightning had one of its sails split by the nearly 70 mph winds and torrential rains.

"We were OK, but it was scary," Seger said. "I was saying, 'Do I want to do this anymore?' "

Rapid recovery

Bowling a 300 game is quite a feat.

It's even more impressive when it's done by an 82-year-old man.

And it's downright remarkable when the guy does it 17 days after suffering a stroke.

Ted Byram recently bowled a 300 game during league play in Fort Pierce, Fla. Less than three weeks earlier, a stroke temporarily left him unable to speak or lift his right arm -- his bowling arm.

"That last ball felt like it weighed 25 pounds," he said. "But it had nothing to do with the stroke. It was nerves."

Aloha, Alabama

The Alabama football program is on NCAA probation, meaning sophomores or juniors could transfer as late as this summer and be immediately eligible at another school.

So Coach Dennis Franchione, in hopes of keeping his players around, scheduled a field trip -- to Hawaii. The Crimson Tide will play there Nov. 30.

When he asked for a show of hands about making the trip, Franchione said, "Before I finished the sentence, every hand was up."

Football on the farm

Last year, Oregon football boosters spent $250,000 to put the image of quarterback Joey Harrington on a building in New York's Times Square, hoping to boost his chances of winning the Heisman Trophy.

Washington State has poked fun at that publicity stunt by putting an image of its quarterback, Jason Gesser, on the side of a grain elevator in the middle of the state's farm region. The 25-by-15-foot vinyl banner cost the school about $2,500.

Do cows have a Heisman vote?

Dress-code violation

The entire Gaelic football team from Roscommon -- a rural county in Ireland -- was disbanded as punishment for a drunken post-game celebration in which many of the team members played billiards in the buff.

"We feel this is something we have to do for the good of Roscommon football," said Stephen Banahan, chairman of the county's Gaelic Athletics Association.