Something About Stone’s Casting Just Made Sense

Oliver Stone’s new movie, “Any Given Sunday,” features a team that is only thinly disguised by its name, the Miami Sharks.

Miami Dolphin quarterback Dan Marino even allowed his real home to be filmed as the fictional home of the Shark quarterback, actor Dennis Quaid.

Writes the Miami Herald’s Dan LeBatard, “Thankfully, the parallels between reel life and real life are not across the board.

“The Sharks’ team owner, for example, is played by Cameron Diaz. You needn’t be Gene Siskel to conclude she fills a movie screen somewhat more appealingly than anyone Stone might have cast as H. Wayne Huizenga.”

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Trivia time: When the Queen Elizabeth 2 was refitted in 1986, what happened to the liner’s propellers?

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Decisions, decisions: The Cincinnati Reds apparently aren’t willing to give up second baseman Pokey Reese to land Ken Griffey Jr.

“Let’s see,” says Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, “on one hand we have Griffey with 398 homers before he turned 30 last month. On the other, we have Pokey Reese, who, if he keeps improving, may someday be pretty decent.

“Yup, that’s a tough one. No wonder they’re stumped.”

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Weasel while you work: Bernie Lincicome of the Chicago Tribune knows why the NCAA slapped Notre Dame with penalties.

“This is an old cop trick,” he wrote. “Whack the biggest guy and the weasels will be less trouble.”

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Downward spiral: The cracks in Jimmy Johnson’s facade are growing wider with each loss. Pretty soon they will engulf all he achieved at the University of Miami and with the Dallas Cowboys.

“Going out on top is how you create a legend,” says the Dallas Morning News’ Tim Cowlishaw. “Having failed to create an offense [with the Dolphins], Johnson’s next coaching exit could be preceded by something other than a parade.”

Of course, there is likely to be an opening in New Orleans.

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Nice work, if you can get it: “I have the dream job,” said Ithaca College sports professor Stephen Mosher. “I watch ESPN and tell people what it means.”

It means something?

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Out of tune: The Seattle Seahawks’ nose dive from an 8-2 contender to an 8-6 also-ran has not set well up north.

“The NFL recently banned the throat-slash gesture,” observed the Seattle Post-Intelligencer’s Art Thiel. “Unfortunately for the Seahawks, the prohibition did not also include the choke.

“The Seahawks have taken that 8-2 record and worn it like an anvil strapped to a piano.”

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Goes without saying: In its report of the Philadelphia Eagles’ victory over the New England Patriots, the Associated Press mentioned that Eagle cornerback Bobby Taylor “broke his jaw in the first quarter and didn’t return.”

Like he was supposed to?

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Trivia answer: They were turned into golf clubs.

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And finally: Ron Rapoport in the Chicago Sun-Times:

“Who says women’s sports aren’t catching up to the men? The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports 13 members of the Kentucky State women’s basketball team recently were cleared to play after being suspended for shoplifting.”