Sports no place for poor men

Bill Gates leads Forbes' list of the 400 richest Americans ($59 billion), but included on that list, there are those with sports interests who also have a lot of numbers after their names.

Warren Buffett, who is a stakeholder in the Triple-A Omaha Royals, is second ($50 billion).

The rest of the top five with sports interests who appear on the Forbes list are Oracle Racing chief Larry Ellison, No. 3 with $27 billion; Seattle Seahawks and Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen, No. 12 with $16 billion; Nike chairman Phil Knight, No. 31 with $10.5 billion; and AEG chairman Philip Anschutz, No. 36 with $8 billion.

In case you're wondering, or if you'd like to be armed with some handy info if you want to appear on his reality show, Donald Trump dropped 17 places to No. 134 with a mere $3 billion.

• TRIVIA TIME -- Where does New York Yankees and YES Network owner George Steinbrenner rank on the Forbes list?

• PAYING THE PRICE -- So the St. Louis Blues have come up with a "name-your-own-price" promotion in which fans can do just that and see if the team accepts the ticket offer, with Ticketmaster covering the balance of the cost.

Just wondering, but because the Blues haven't had a winning record the last three seasons, nor made the playoffs, is "you-pay-me-to-come" a better promotion?

• MONEY MAN -- Tiger Woods clearly knows a lot about the relationship between money and golf, with more than $82 million in PGA Tour career earnings, and now he's even closer to the bank. Bank of America will announce today it is becoming the presenting sponsor of Woods' Chevron World Challenge in December at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Woods won't be playing this year while recovering from knee surgery, but the deal runs through 2009.

• COMPANY LINE -- From New York Jets coach Eric Mangini, told by reporters that Brett Favre had reiterated Mangini's position that all comments about Favre's injuries come from Mangini: "He's extremely coachable. Good job, Brett."

• WELL-ARMED -- Here's a golfing rarity: a hole-with-one.

One-armed duffer Phil Bell, 45, used his "backhand swipe" to ace the 184-yard, par-3 fourth hole at Warley Woods near Oldbury, England.

As Bell, who lost his right arm in a truck accident seven years ago, told The Sun of London: "I knew I'd hit the ball well. But at the green I couldn't see it and assumed I'd over-hit it. Then one of the chaps went white with shock and said, 'Look in the hole.' "

• RELISH THIS THOUGHT -- The National Hot Dog & Sausage Council estimates that hot-dog sales at major league ballparks will exceed 30 million this season -- "enough to round the bases 41,667 times."

• TRIVIA ANSWER -- 377th with $1.3 billion.

• COVER THE CAT -- Fox's Jay Glazer, to FSN's "Best Damn Sports Show Period," on why Jerry Glanville referred to his defense -- featuring cover corner Deion Sanders -- as his "cat defense" when he coached the Falcons: "Glanville would say, 'Deion, you got that cat. That's it. That's your play today.' "

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