1.   The Bears start the season at Middlesbrough against a Danish select team on Thursday night.

2.   About the only bit of bad news on the Armstrong horizon was the defection of Tyler Hamilton to the Danish team CSC Tiscali.

3.   He was a star soccer player with dreams of making the Danish national team when he was first exposed to football through the family who housed him.

4.   His move to the Danish team was announced Sunday, but the negotiations had been ongoing throughout the Tour.

5.   Vagan Pilegaard, a representative of the Danish Olympic team, said team doctors were carefully monitoring daily practices and daily weather forecasts.

6.   Popular opinion is that the Danish team, the youngest in the field, may lack the international experience necessary to keep up with its counterparts.

7.   Preben Elkjaer-Larsen, a former Danish forward and soccer professional in Germany and Italy, has signed on as coach of a successful Danish team.

8.   All three play on the Danish national team which will defend its European championship title in England in June.

9.   As substitute goalies, Johansson picked Mogens Krogh of the Danish champion team Broendby, and sole newcomer Peter Kjaer of Silkeborg, another Danish team.

10.   Before the match for the gold medal, Danish team members and other fans placed flowers at the spot where the two fans were stabbed.