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Another Yankee Dynasty May Rise From the Ashes

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Last Thursday, Eddie Ellner carried out the dying wish of his 82-year-old grandmother, an ardent New York Yankee fan.

Before she died in 1990, she made him promise that if the baseball team ever won a World Series again, he would scatter her ashes across the field at Yankee Stadium.

So Ellner, a Santa Monica-based writer, flew to New York and went to Yankee Stadium where he scattered her ashes on home plate, the on-deck circle, along the first-base line, and over the infield.

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Ellner wouldn’t tell how he got into the stadium, saying only: “It is serendipity. Somehow my grandmother arranged it.”

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Add fan: Ellner said his grandmother’s devotion to the Yankees led her to teach her pet parakeet to squawk: “Go, Mickey. Go, Yankees.”

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Trivia time: What is the NCAA Division 1-A football record for most points scored by both teams in a game?

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Man of peace: The day before George Foreman won a lackluster unanimous 12-round decision over Crawford Grimsley in Tokyo, he was involved in a less-violent pursuit.

After weighing in for the fight, Foreman, an ordained minister, changed into a suit and officiated at a wedding ceremony of his attorney, Henry Holmes, and Lori Beber.

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Wah! Wah! Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune: “As expected, Jeff George was waived by the Atlanta Falcons. The childish and selfish quarterback said he didn’t want to be rented for just the rest of the season, but wants to sign a long-term deal with the right team.

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“Problem is, Gerber doesn’t have an NFL franchise.”

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Down where? From The Good Doctor in Inside Sports:

Question: Los Angeles is erecting a new arena downtown for the Lakers and Kings. Where exactly will it be?

Answer: I have no idea. I never knew Los Angeles had a downtown.

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Big and bigger: There wasn’t a 300-pound player in the NFL in 1976. There were 13 in 1986. Today, there are 178.

Reportedly, the smallest offensive lineman is 269-pound Houston center Mark Stepnoski.

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FYI: With the recent induction of Dallas Long, Vern Wolfe and Earle Meadows to the Track & Field Hall of Fame, USC is now represented by 16 former athletes and coaches.

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Trivia answer: Oklahoma (82) and Colorado (42), 124 points, on Oct. 4, 1980. There have been higher-scoring games, but official NCAA statistics weren’t kept until 1937.

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And finally: Wilt Chamberlain told Chris Sheridan of the Associated Press that he has an unfulfilled wish--to play with a three-point line on the floor.

“If I played in the NBA today, I would want to be a guard,” Chamberlain said. “I was a tremendous three-point shooter.” Then he added jokingly, “Maybe my 100-point game would have been 150 points.”

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