Making Soccer Popular Here Definitely Isn’t Child’s Play
Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution writes that the World Cup is soccer’s last chance to gain popularity in the United States.
“They have tried to get to the children, hustling them onto the nation’s flat places where they can swarm around the ball like ants on a sugar cube.
“But eventually, American kids outgrow soccer, just as they do acne and politeness.”
Trivia time: Who is the only major league pitcher to start 400 games and relieve in 400 games?
Bon appetit: Patrick Ewing, dining out last week in Houston with his wife and two children, ordered cheesecake for dessert. When it arrived at his table, someone in the kitchen had spelled out “Go Rockets” in strawberry syrup.
Ewing was reportedly not amused and stormed out of the restaurant.
Welfare cases: Joe Girardi, player representative for the Colorado Rockies, warning his teammates of a potential baseball strike this summer: “What I’ve told the guys is to be ready to live on two-thirds of your salary,” he said. “Plan for that. And don’t make any large purchases.”
Gene Collier of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes: “Imagine, the minimum wagers are preparing to live on $70,000, Bobby Bonilla on $4.2 million and the average player on about $800,000. Do you think the International Red Cross should know about this?”
Little League item: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune, on a Bat Day promotion at Wrigley Field: “The bat was a present of this newspaper, though it is so short that what use it might be put to is unclear. Maybe as a baton or tongue depressor.”
Big D’s legacy: It could be said that Roger Clemens, hard-throwing Boston Red Sox pitcher, is a disciple of the late Don Drysdale.
“(Drysdale) said something I’ve always enjoyed,” Clemens said. “He said, ‘The most important pitch of the game is the second knockdown pitch.’
“Then the hitter knows the first one wasn’t an accident. That’s the way it is when I bust a guy twice.”
Coincidence? Larry Nelson, who won the U.S. Open in 1983 at Oakmont Country Club, has a special exemption to play in this year’s Open at the same site.
He’s constantly reminded of his Open victory. His home along the 18th fairway at Atlanta Country Club is on Oakmont Circle.
Looking back: On this day in 1968, Lee Trevino became the first golfer to play all four rounds of the U.S. Open under par, defeating runner-up Jack Nicklaus by four strokes at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, N.Y.
Trivia answer: Charlie Hough of the Florida Marlins.
Quotebook: Bob Uecker, on the Philadelphia Phillies’ fans: “You know what they do when the game is rained out? They go to the airport and boo bad landings.”
