Watson Expresses Heartfelt Depreciation for His Putters

Before golfer Tom Watson left the Kansas City Country Club last Thursday, he put three putters from his bag in a storage room. When he returned Friday, the putters were gone. Watson has offered a “large” reward for them, but did not specify an amount. In fact, the more he talked, the less the clubs seemed to matter.

“I feel good about my game,” he said. “I’ve been putting better and hitting it solid. I don’t know if the putters matter much. Maybe it’s like changing caddies. It might have been time for a change.”

If he keeps on talking that way, the reward might turn out to be a handshake and a smile.

Catching up: Although the topic of psychology related to a sports team’s performance has not appeared in any major medical journals, some Baltimore area doctors have been looking into it, and finding out what lots of fans have known for years.

J. Raymond DePaulo Jr., a Johns Hopkins psychiatrist who specializes in depression, said that he could not recall treating a patient who was clinically depressed simply because a team lost. But he knows from personal experience that it can happen.

“If the Orioles have won, it just gives me a little extra cushion,” he said. “If they lost, I just feel a little low.”

Larry Fishel, a psychologist in the Baltimore area, said that in 1979--the year the Orioles blew a 3-1 World Series lead over the Pittsburgh Pirates--he treated at least five cases of depression that turned out to be partly rooted in the team’s disappointing performance.

“They came in for other reasons, but as soon as we got into therapy, we got into baseball,” he said. “The Orioles blowing the Series had a whole lot to do with how these people were feeling.”

Trivia time: On Sept. 13, 1965, Willie Mays hit a home run off Don Nottebart, a Houston Astro pitcher. Six years later, Frank Robinson hit a home run off Fred Scherman of the Detroit Tigers. What do those two home runs have in common?

Pepperoni and onions: During halftime of Sunday’s pro football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts at the Hoosier Dome, the Pizza Hut restaurant chain sponsored a novel contest. If a previously selected spectator could kick three consecutive field goals, the fan would win a year’s supply of pizza for himself and a soft drink and a pizza for each of the 60,110 at the game.

Brian Kirkwood, who was chosen a week before the game, made the three kicks: the first from the goal line, the second from the 10, and the third from the 20.

Kirkwood, 27, a dentist who was a punter on his high school football team, loved the experience.

“I was nervous when we were walking out, past those really big guys,” he said. “My wife was there to cheer for me, and I just had a blast.”

And now, all the pizza he can stomach.

Hole in the pocket: At a fans’ luncheon for the Pittsburgh Steelers, quarterback Bubby Brister was asked if he might be more successful if he stayed in the pocket, rather than trying to throw on the run.

Brister, who was sacked six times and passed for only 17 yards in a 51-0 loss to the Cleveland Browns Sunday, answered, “What pocket? The reason I run a lot is because I care about my body. I’ve played quarterback since I was 8 years old, and when I see a different color jersey, my butt is running. Especially if it’s 31-0.”

Trivia answer: The home runs were the 500th of their careers.

Quotebook: Reggie Dupard of the New England Patriots on his team’s 27-24 victory over the New York Jets Sunday: “We got caught up in a dogfight. That’s what pro football is all about.”