Sergei Fedorov Gives $2 Million To Charity

Sergei Fedorov, already considered a star in Detroit, has made himself much more popular in the Motor City.

Fedorov, a key member of the Red Wings' last two Stanley Cup championship teams, announced yesterday that he is donating his entire 1998-99 salary of $2 million to start a charitable foundation that in part will help finance a camp for disabled children.

Detroit-based Orchards Children's Services, a nonprofit child welfare agency, will use the money to create two programs to benefit underprivileged children.

Through his foundation, Fedorov also will donate $91 to local charities for every goal the Red Wings score during the team's remaining 25 games. He wears No. 91.

The Bronx boot

The New York Daily News reported that catcher Mike Piazza of the New York Mets and three friends were denied entry to SoHo's Veruka, a favorite party spot for several New York Yankees. Club owner Noel Ashman said he did it out of loyalty to his Yankee customers.

He wrote it

-- Tim Keown, San Francisco Chronicle, on spring training: "If you feel the need to be jealous of baseball players, don't focus on money or talent or adulation. Be jealous of 82-degree afternoons with a mountain backdrop, nothing more pressing on your mind than playing a few innings and then taking a few cuts off the tee."

They said it

-- Robb Butler, a defensive back/receiver who was recruited by the University of Pittsburgh, on what he wants to do in the future besides play football: "I want to continue running my mouth. But it's a good running. It's not a bad running. I want to be the next Ahmad Rashad."

-- Boxing newcomer Laila Ali, rubbing raw, bloody knuckles after a workout and sounding not unlike her father, Muhammad Ali: "I owe it to my public to stay pretty."

Compiled by Chuck Ashmun, Seattle Times