Cup OK after taking a tumble

The Stanley Cup is OK after taking a tumble during the Red Wings' celebrations in Detroit.

NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur said Saturday the Cup was dented Friday after players took the trophy to Cheli's Chili Bar, a downtown restaurant owned by Red Wings defenseman Chris Chelios.

Mansur says the dent was smoothed out, and the trophy was expected to keep making the rounds.

The Red Wings clinched the Cup on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

• The Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox are leading their divisions, and fans from both sides eagerly are anticipating their next series, which begins June 20.

Seeking to capitalize on the buildup, the Chicago Sun-Times is running a poll to determine which team is hotter.

Oops. Sorry. Make that, which team's fans are hotter.

The newspaper's Web site is running photo galleries of fans -- based on what's posted, you would think women fill 90 percent of the seats at games -- and asking readers to vote on which team draws the better lookers.

As of late Friday afternoon, the Cubs were in the lead, with 62 percent of the more than 8,000 votes cast.

• The Sun-Times poll appears as if it might have been inspired by similar efforts posted by cuzoogle.com, a site that is sponsoring a poll to determine which NBA Finals team has "the hottest cheerleaders," the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics.

As of late Friday afternoon, the Lakers led by 10 percentage points.

At that point, 455 votes had been cast -- up slightly from the previous week's question of which team had the better bench, the Celtics or Detroit Pistons. That poll had five respondents, all for the Pistons.

A poll before that, asking whether the Detroit Red Wings or Pittsburgh Penguins would win the Stanley Cup, drew a split vote among the 10 who replied.

Meantime, someone apparently determined sex sells.

• Draftexpress.com has released the official numbers from the NBA's pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., and this much is certain:

When it comes to their height, these big-shot pro prospects all fudge.

The biggest stretches exposed:

Guard Lester Hudson, listed at 6 feet 3 inches by Tennessee-Martin last season, measured 5-113/4. Runners-up: Memphis center Joey Dorsey, 6-9 to 6-61/4; Memphis guard Derrick Rose, 6-4 to 6-11/2; Duke guard DeMarcus Nelson, 6-4 to 6-1; UCLA center Kevin Love, 6-10 to 6-73/4; and Kansas State forward Michael Beasley, 6-10 to 6-7.

• Flip Saunders, fired by the Detroit Pistons, deserves some time off after successive coaching gigs with the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Pistons.

"A guy can deal with only so many nut jobs before needing a break," wrote St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Tom Powers. "Few coaches have had to deal with the likes of Latrell Sprewell and Rasheed Wallace almost back to back.

"It's time to go to the cabin. And to lock the door behind him."

REVIEW-JOURNAL WIRE SERVICES