Recently in has-beens Category

As crazy coaching moments go, Gunnar Prokop tries to give his best Woody Hayes effort and ends up slightly less infamous, but no better than the disgraced THE Ohio State University coach.

When Hayes punched Clemson defender Charlie Bauman in the 1978 Gator Bowl after a game-sealing interception, he put himself on a one-way express train to loserville, being fired the next day never to coach again.

For his part, Prokop, coach of Austrian handball team Hypo Niederoesterreich, one-upped Hayes in that he hip-checked an opposing player in the women's Champions League game. But he doesn't rise to the level of incredulity since nobody outside the rabid Austrian women's handball fan base noticed.

Still, it's another coach gone after a crazy moment, though Prokop fell on his own sword without being pushed to make amends. Thankfully, he's already in the city Sigmund Freud made famous for psychoanalysis, so he'll be able to spend his newly acquired free time figuring out why he just had to hit a girl.

"I will go through this with a psychiatrist. ... I still can't understand why I've done this."

The match ended in a 27-27 draw. Handball's European governing body opened disciplinary proceedings against Prokop. A ruling is expected before his team's match against Krim Ljubljana on Sunday.

We will, of course, be waiting to see justice done here.

In yet another case of knowing when to hold 'em, a Las Vegas court has pushed back a status check to Oct. 29 for former NBA all-star Antoine Walker, amid talk of possible repayment in an $822,500 casino gambling debt case.

Prosecutor Bernie Zadrowski said Wednesday he's been talking with Walker's lawyer, Jonathan Powell, about settling the criminal case.

Chicago native Walker, a brush with crime enthusiast, faces three felony bad check charges for gambling debts at three Las Vegas casinos. He did not have to appear at a Wednesday hearing.

Walker was arrested in July at a Lake Tahoe hotel.

Walker was a three-time all-star for the Boston Celtics and won a championship with the Miami Heat in 2006. He last played for the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2008.

AP contibuted

Curt Schilling is many things. Outspoken. Conservative. A World War II buff. A bloody-socked World Series hero to Red Sox Nation.

Now you may be able to add U.S. Senate candidate to the list.

Schilling, never one to leave you guessing about what he's thinking, has been chatting on his blog and in the Boston media about the possibility of running to fill the senate seat left open by the death of Ted Kennedy last week.

While my family is obviously the priority, and 38 Studios is a priority, I do have some interest in the possibility. That being said, to get to there from where I am today, many many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen. I am not going to comment further on the matter since at this point it would be speculation on top of speculation.

My hope is that whatever happens, and whomever it happens to, this state makes the decision and chooses the best person, regardless of sex, race, religion or political affiliation, to help get this state back to the place it deserves to be.

Schilling, refused to comment when his office was contacted by phone by the Associated Press.

The 42-year-old lives in suburban Medfield and campaigned for President George W. Bush in 2004 and Sen. John McCain in 2008.

As a player, he won three World Series, in 2001 with the Arizona Diamondbacks and in 2004 and 2007 with the Red Sox. He became a Sox legend when he won Game 6 of the 2004 American League Championship Series while blood from an injured ankle seeped through his sock. He retired in March.

Reaction among the Red Sox was decidedly jovial Wednesday.

Team manager Terry Francona said Schilling should do whatever makes him happy but noted, "I don't think he'd want me as his campaign manager."

Stumbled upon this footage of the best soccer game ever played, a spirited contest which ends in somebody getting kicked in the face on the way off the field. Not real sure what the deal is, but here's the handy Google translation of the summary, just to further cloud the moment:

Defender Sergio Jauregui, Blooming, we applied a flying kick disqualifying Uruguayan striker Leonardo Medina in the classic to the East Petroleum. The former Hurricane is horpitalizado.

So there you have it. But crazy Central American ninja players aside, seeing footage like this reminds me of maybe the most classic karate kick sporting moment of all video time: the Flying Izzy Alcantara.

Alcantara was a cup-of-coffee slugging outfielder for the Boston Red Sox around the turn of the century - this one, that is - who spent his fair share of time with the Triple A Pawtucket Red Sox. (Fun fact: Alcantara hit his first Major League homer against pre-juicing White Sox hurler Jim Parque in Chicago in 2000).

A prototypical quadruple-A player, Alcantara lost his shot at playing in the minor league all-star game in 2001 after this spectacularly nutty moment against Scranton Wilkes-Barre:

So remember, kids, keep the karate in the Cobra Kai dojo and off the diamond and field.

The rapidly aging quarterback says his workouts with a bunch of Mississippi high schoolers help keep him young as he contemplates his next move. What never gets old is hanging on every news item of the retirement rumor enthusiast, waiting for a decision on whether to join the Minnesota Vikings as the closest thing they have to an NFL quarterback.

If nothing else, maybe he can score an invite to homecoming if the comeback doesn't work out.

Sammy Sosa in 2003.

As if there weren't going to be enough wars of words in the stands of Wrigley Field this week with the White Sox on the North Side, the ammo just got nuclear.

The New York Times is reporting that Sammy Sosa, holder of most of the Chicago Cubs power records from his homer-happy reign at Clark and Addison, was on the juice in 2003.

According to the paper:

Sammy Sosa, who joined with Mark McGwire in 1998 in a celebrated pursuit of baseball's single-season home run record, is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year.

The disclosure that Sosa tested positive makes him the latest baseball star of the last two decades to be linked to performance-enhancers, a group that now includes McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Rafael Palmeiro.

Sosa has long protested his innocence, when not outright denying accusations, as the focus of constant rumors of using illegal substances since his race with McGwire in '98, often joking that he only uses Flintstones vitamins and hard work.

Sosa exceeded 60 homers three times, but if these accusations are true, the biggest bomb he ever launched may have come in 2005 when he testified on the use of banned substances in baseball before Congress. Sitting next to Rafael Palmeiro, McGwire and others at a hearing called by the House Government Reform Committee to examine the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, Sosa testified that:

"everything" he had heard "about steroids and human growth hormones is that they are bad for you, even lethal" and that he "would never put anything dangerous like that" in his body. "To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs. I have never injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything."

Now Sosa, who retired last week and told ESNdeportes that he would "calmly await" his induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame in five years, will be cast into the same tainted pool of names that the Cooperstown crew are shunning. Yes, you, McGwire.

Brett Favre may or may not come out of retirement several times tonight on HBO. (AP)

Who's voice will grate on you more?

Brett Favre will appear on Joe Buck's "Joe Buck Live," a quarterly show on HBO tonight at 8 p.m. (Central). Among other things, the retirement enthusiast Favre will discuss his desire to strap 'em on again, likely in a Minnesota Vikings uniform.

HBO spokesman Kevin Flaherty says Favre agreed in April to appear on the show at Buck's request. That was before his release from the New York Jets that prompted Minnesota's pursuit of the three-time NFL MVP.

The broadcast will be in front of a live audience out of New York, though there's no guarantee John Madden's bus will make it to the studio on time.

Jose Canseco was pummeled today by a universal sense of justice in the form of super heavyweight Hong Man Choi of South Korea. More photos here. (AP photo)

YOKOHAMA, Japan -- Jose Canseco came out swinging but didn't last long in his debut in mixed martial arts.