Another Little Piece of Kuwait Has Returned

In almost completely heartwarming news, a Kuwaiti soccer trophy, which disappeared after Iraq’s invasion, was returned after a policeman spotted it in an English trophy shop.

Traffic warden David Norris noticed the 2 1/2-foot-tall Inter-State Gulf Football Cup in a shop window in the town of Ely and, having heard of the missing cup, told owner Tony Collins.

“I rang the Kuwait Embassy and an official came up by train,” Collins said. “They confirmed it was the missing trophy and took it away with them.”

Unfortunately, a shop assistant mistakenly threw away the trophy’s lid.

Born to run: Larry Brown, former coach of the Denver Nuggets, UCLA Bruins, New Jersey Nets and Kansas Jayhawks, says only a misunderstanding with San Antonio Spurs’ owner Red McCombs led him to consider the South Carolina Gamecocks.

“I kind of got the wrong vibes,” Brown said. “I got the feeling he (McCombs) was telling me something--that maybe I should find work elsewhere.”

Don’t be surprised if there’s another misunderstanding next year at this time.

Don’t ask: The new owners of the Denver Nuggets are holding public forums to soothe fans in the wake of firing popular Doug Moe and the team’s worst season.

At one meeting, General Manager Bernie Bickerstaff made an obscene gesture to an angry fan.

At another, new owner Bob Wussler asked a fan: “What do you want us to do? Sell the franchise? Give the team away?”

S-u-u-r-e: Searching for a silver lining in Darryl Strawberry’s departure, the New York Mets have decided they were burdened by their dependency on him.

“It’s not a knock at Straw,” Howard Johnson told the Newark Star-Ledger. “The knock is on the rest of us. We were dependent on him so when he failed to produce, none of us stepped forward. . . .

“We’re a different club now. More people are counted on to win games. With a team that has so many different ways to win games, you are less apt to have valleys.

“With Straw, the feeling was, if he didn’t get it done, everyone else felt deflated.”

Last Aug. 5, the Mets were 61-42, tied for first place. Now they’re 55-48, in third place and six games behind.

Trivia time: Who was the last player to hit 50 home runs in back-to-back seasons?

Gift of prophecy: When Oakland’s Rickey Henderson complained of being underpaid last spring, he threatened to play like teammate Mike Gallego if something wasn’t done.

Sure enough, through the third week in July, Henderson was hitting .267 with six homers and 30 runs batted in.

Gallego was hitting .267 with six homers and 29 RBIs.

Since then Henderson, striking a blow for professionalism, has heated up and moved ahead.

Ingrate: Pittsburgh Pirate Manager Jim Leyland needles Roger Wilson, who runs the visiting clubhouse in Cincinnati, about the post-game buffet.

When Wilson served 2% milk, Leyland wanted whole milk. Leyland picked through Wilson’s frozen freezer to find the few delicacies not represented and petitioned Wilson for them.

After a recent game, Leyland found Wilson had spread a tablecloth over his desk. Atop it were long-stemmed glasses, china and a meal.

“I just wish I could have gotten a cow and brought it into his office, so he could have had his milk too,” Wilson said.

Anniversary: On Aug. 5, 1969, Pittsburgh’s Willie Stargell became the only player to hit a ball out of Dodger Stadium.

Stargell’s shot off Alan Foster cleared the right field pavilion and landed 506 feet from home plate. Stargell hit the right-field pavilion roof on May 8, 1973 off Andy Messersmith.

Trivia answer: Babe Ruth, in 1927 and 1928.

Quotebook: Veteran wide receiver Roy Green of the Cleveland Browns: “Maybe I have lost a step but I had a few to lose.”