Brazilian Soccer Bucking Tough New Opposition
Attendance at soccer games in the United States has been dropping, which may not be as much a surprise as the fact that attendance is also dropping in Brazil, home of the World Cup champions. It is an upsetting development for former star Pele, now his country’s sports minister.
“It worries me to know that more people attend rodeos than soccer matches in Brazil,” Pele told the Jornal do Brasil.
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Trivia time: Over five seasons, 1901-1905, Michigan’s football team had a record of 55-1-1. Which team defeated the Wolverines?
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Playing through: After one of their regular fivesome, Jimmy Hogg, 77, died of a heart attack Monday after hitting off the first tee at a golf club in Fife, Scotland, the other four in the group paused while Hogg was taken away in an ambulance and then played on.
“I’m sure Jimmy would have wanted us to do that,” said one. “He would have done the same.”
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“Not my child!” After the Baltimore Orioles’ Roberto Alomar spit in an umpire’s face and the players’ association upheld an appeal of his suspension--allowing Alomar to play in the American League playoffs--the Boston Globe’s Dan Shaughnessy commented:
“Player representatives Donald Fehr and Gene Orza are like indulgent parents who always blame the schoolteacher, never their own children. And that is how you wind up with players who know they can spit in an umpire’s face and get away with it.”
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The payoff: The New York Jets spent big money for receivers Keyshawn Johnson, the first pick in last April’s draft, and free agent Jeff Graham. So who is the Jets’ No. 1 receiver?
Wayne Chrebet, a free-agent rookie last year who got a look only because he went to Hofstra, where the Jets train.
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It’s coming: Baseball playoffs not your dish? You want hoops? One month from today, the 1996-97 NBA season starts.
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Final indignity: From San Francisco Chronicle columnist C.W. Nevius, after the Oakland Raiders’ 19-17 loss to the Chicago Bears:
“As if it wasn’t enough to lose, the Raiders had to watch their former kicker, Jeff Jaeger, beat them with a field goal, then run, skip and giggle off the field like a sugar-crazed fifth-grader.”
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What’s in a name? The dam of the racehorse Alphabet Soup was a mare named Illiterate.
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The long wait: The Texas Rangers had 150 bottles of champagne on ice to celebrate clinching the American League West title, but by the time the 5-hour 8-minute, 15-inning marathon with the Angels ended, most of the bubbly was warm.
The game went so long that the ice melted in the buckets.
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Trivia answer: Chicago, 2-0, in 1905.
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And finally: Sports memorabilia collector Barry Halper recently made a successful bid of $1,300 for a lot containing some old baseball wire photos, including one of Walter Johnson throwing a coin across the Rappahannock River in Virginia. Why was the photo so important to him?
“Because,” Halper said, “I have the coin.”
