When This Shaq Attack Hits, No Fan’s Wallet Will Be Safe
You think you’ve seen a lot of Michael Jordan’s image in the past few years? Wait until Shaquille O’Neal gets warmed up.
The Score Board Inc. has signed the Orlando forward to a multimillion dollar, multiyear agreement “to produce and market a variety of collectibles such as regular and oversize trading cards, photo plaques, metal and ceramic figurines, coins and medallions, comic books, ceramic collector plates, ceramic trading cards, gold plated record plaques, kites, photo albums, watches, mugs and steins, a variety of party accessories, and authentic autographed items including trading cards, jerseys, photo plaques, basketballs, sneakers, Shaquille O’Neal’s recently released recording, magazine cover photos, etc.”
What, no life-size dolls?
*
More Shaq: That’s not all. Hallmark will produce a line of Shaquille O’Neal greeting cards. As in, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Shaq,” or “The Shaq says Happy Anniversary.”
*
Trivia time: Who won the first PGA Grand Slam of Golf and where and when was it played?
*
Right on: From Nick Canepa of the San Diego Union-Tribune: “I don’t care if an American League team wins the next 50 World Series. American Leaguers are a bunch of wimps. The designated hitter is wimpian. Real men never should designated hit.
“Face it. The DH stinks. It always has stunk, because it’s not baseball.”
*
Are you sure? Bulgarian soccer player Sasho Kostov says there is no doubt that there is corruption in Bulgarian soccer. How does he know? “Last year,” he says, “one knew in advance the result of many matches.”
*
Blocked shot: Wayne Gretzky is leading the NHL in scoring, but he was shut out at Toronto’s city hall.
The Great One’s request to change the address of his new downtown restaurant from 41 Peter Street to 99 Blue Jays Way was rejected by the city services committee.
Several committee members said Gretzky’s request, which would have required renaming a section of Peter Street, made the politicians look as if they were catering to the rich and famous.
*
Frustration: Bill Desimone of Melrose, Mass., writes in a letter to the Boston Globe: “I want to go for a new expansion franchise because Kansas City, Toronto and the Mets have all won world championships faster than the Red Sox.”
*
Ageless: Anna Bauscher didn’t bother to pick up her medal when she set a world record for her age group after a swim meet last week in Philadelphia.
“I do this for survival, not for the glory,” Bauscher said.
She is 91.
*
Trivia answer: Gary Player and Andy North tied in 1979 at the Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.
*
Quotebook: Tim Taylor, U.S. national hockey coach, on instilling discipline for the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer: “I have a policy. Anyone who commits a boneheaded penalty or stupid play doesn’t dress for the next game. . . . It’s subjective. And I’m the subjector.”
