Can Two Wrongdoers Make a Right?

Diego Maradona, the troubled Argentine soccer star attempting a comeback, has hired banned Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson as a $1,000-a-day personal trainer.

Johnson, 35, was stripped of his Olympic 100-meter gold medal in 1988 and suspended for two years for using anabolic steroids. The IAAF banned him for life after he failed another drug test in 1993. A court decision on whether he should be reinstated will come down July 21.

Maradona, 36, was suspended by FIFA for 15 months in 1991 after testing positive for cocaine use following an Italian league game. He also was thrown out of the 1994 World Cup and suspended for using banned stimulants.

An odd couple, to say the least.

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Trivia time: Who holds the major league record for striking out the most times in a season?

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Is he hinting? Chicago Cub first baseman Mark Grace on the first regular-season Cubs-White Sox game:

“I’m proud to have been part of it. If I can ever find anyone who will marry me, then I’ll have kids so I can tell them about it.”

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Boxing lingo: With the Evander Holyfield-Mike Tyson heavyweight championship rematch Saturday in Las Vegas, Tommy Brooks, Holyfield’s trainer, told the New York Times:

“The only way to fight Tyson is in the middle of the ring. We’ll be there. He’s going to try to knock us out early.”

Where do you get that “we” stuff, Tommy?

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Ultimate goal: From David Letterman: “As most of you know, Michael Jordan is a free agent this summer. He has three options: He can re-sign with the Bulls, he can sign with another team or if he wants the really, really big money, he can join the cast of Seinfeld.”

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Forget comebacks: Bob Cousy, former Boston Celtic Hall of Fame player, in the New York Times magazine, on basketball: “[It’s] not a sport you grow old with. Sure, I can manage a few from the free-throw line, but being in shape for basketball is something you lose three months after you retire.”

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FYI: The odds of rain falling every day during Wimbledon’s fortnight (two weeks) have been cut from 33 to 1 to 20-1, according to a spokesman for William Hill, one of the United Kingdom’s largest oddsmakers. After rain fell on Monday’s opening day, that makes it one down and 13 to go.

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Looking back: On this day in 1922, George Halas, player-coach of the Chicago Bears, suggested a name change for the league--from the American Professional Football Assn. to the National Football League. It was, of course, adopted.

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Trivia answer: Bobby Bonds of the San Francisco Giants, with 189 in 1970.

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And finally: Two birds have mistaken a pair of golf balls for eggs on the Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Golf and Country Club course.

The grebes built a nest three weeks ago and have been caring for the range balls ever since.

Course regular Arnie Wudrick wonders how long it will be before the birds give up trying to hatch the balls:

“It’ll be a long summer for that bird, eh?”