Blotter

Included
Up to 200 drag queens, in the Sydney Olympics closing ceremonies. They'll appear in a float celebrating the 1994 cult drag-queen movie Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (above), during a tribute to the Australian film industry.

Put on Hold
The recording career of Kansas senior swingman Luke Axtell, by the NCAA, which told Axtell to stop selling his country album, The River Runs Dry, or risk losing his eligibility. The NCAA prohibits student-athletes from promoting or selling any product, even ones they create.

Stolen
On the same night, cars belonging to Dwight Gooden. Shaquille O'Neal and Warren Sapp, from a high-end auto electronics shop in Tampa. The thieves abandoned O'Neal's Mercedes within a mile of the shop after it got a flat tire; Gooden's Lexus was found the next day wrapped around a tree; and Sapp's Mercedes was recovered after a police chase. Four men and one woman were charged in connection with the thefts.

Sued
The Rimouski ( Que.) Minor Hockey Association, by H�l�n Canuel, who seeks $1,000 in damages because her 14-year-old goaltender son, David, was held out of a must-win game by the coach.

Scratched
The Blast, as the name of Birmingham's XFL team, after club execs realized its negative connotations. During the 1960s the city earned the nickname Bombingham as a result of attacks on black churches; in 1998 an abortion clinic there was blown up.