Caddie Rotten When It Comes to Predictions

Bruce Lietzke’s caddie didn’t believe him when the veteran touring pro said he was going to take 11 weeks off and not hit a golf ball. The caddie put a banana inside the head cover of Lietzke’s driver.

“He was the one who pulled the cover off the driver 11 weeks later, and he never doubted me again,” an amused Lietzke said.

It was a pretty smelly lesson.

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Trivia time: Who was the last amateur men’s tennis player to win the U.S. Open?

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High praise: Quarterback Daunte Culpepper, Central Florida’s Heisman Trophy candidate, drew this comment from Mike Kruczek, the Golden Knights’ new coach:

“I think Daunte brings more to the table than Ryan Leaf brings and Peyton Manning brings,” said Kruczek, a former NFL quarterback who starred at Boston College. “People think I’m crazy, but I just think he’s a can’t-miss guy if he gets with the right system.”

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Too much? A New York clubhouse attendant, monitoring the television account of a New York Met-St. Louis Cardinal game, counted 269 times Mark McGwire’s name was mentioned.

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Great moments: When people move up in the world, they often are asked what was their greatest moment as an athlete. Kenneth L. Shropshire, professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, answered:

“I spent four years on the [Stanford] sidelines, but did not get even a second of varsity playing time. My moment of glory was running on the field after we beat Cal in the Big Game and starting a pileup.”

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The way it was: The death of former USC and Pacific Coast League pitcher Tom Kipp last Tuesday brought to mind a story of Kipp’s time with the San Diego Padres. After a hot and steamy day in Sacramento when Dick “Kewpie” Barrett had pitched for the Senators, a friend noted that Barrett really sweated a lot, that his uniform was soaked.

“That wasn’t sweat,” Kipp corrected. “That was straight VO.”

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Spice it with Spike: “We want the ad campaign a little bit edgy and a little bit non-traditional,” television executive Chris Russo said after hiring filmmaker Spike Lee to spice up the Continental Basketball Assn.’s image. “The basketball is great, but fans really don’t know about it. That’s our challenge.”

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Confidence: Infielder Jeff Manto’s self-appraisal: “I’m a proven so-so player.”

It was proved again when the Cleveland Indians sent him to triple-A Buffalo.

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Can’t wait: Host nation Wales will face Argentina in the opening game of Rugby World Cup 1999 at Cardiff’s new Millennium Stadium on Oct. 1, 1999.

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Trivia answer: Arthur Ashe, who was a lieutenant in the U.S. Army when he defeated Tom Okker in 1968.

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And finally: After the Houston Astros swept a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Cub first baseman Mark Grace put it in perspective:

“The Silver Bullets [a women’s team] would have kicked our butts. This was brutal. None of us did anything for three days.”