This Is Why It’s Called a Pastime
Tim Keown writing in the San Francisco Chronicle: “This would be a wonderful platform for a presidential campaign: spring training for everyone. . . .
“If you feel the need to be jealous of baseball players, don’t focus on money or talent or adulation.
“Be jealous of 82-degree afternoons with a mountain backdrop, nothing more pressing on your mind than playing a few innings and then taking a few cuts off the tee.”
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Trivia time: Other than UCLA, which Pacific 10 Conference schools have won the NCAA men’s basketball championship?
Original excuse: Andrew Gaze, an Australian reserve player for the San Antonio Spurs, was injured early in training camp when he tried to bench press too much weight and the bar fell on his chest.
“I thought it was metric,” Gaze said.
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Old gimmick: Phoenix Sun Coach Danny Ainge, on trying to defend the Utah Jazz pick-and-roll play featuring John Stockton and Karl Malone:
“Somebody want to tell me how to defend it, go ahead. I’ve been trying for 20 years.”
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No respite: Jayson Williams of the New Jersey Nets, who played 40 minutes despite a broken nose, on the urgency of each game in the shortened season:
“One time I told Kendall [Gill], ‘Get up!’ He said: ‘I’m dying.’ I said, ‘Die tomorrow.’ ”
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Yawn: Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune: “Sepp Blatter, the president of soccer’s world body, repeated his call for the World Cup to be played every two years instead of every four, thus forcing fans to summon twice the apathy.”
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Man from Mars? Brian Schmitz in the Orlando Sentinel: “Bionic Bo? That’s what Magic Coach Chuck Daly calls tireless forward Bo Outlaw, whose legend is growing.
“Seems that Magic medics were unable to draw blood from Bo during team physicals after several tries.
“Outlaw [a former Clipper] told doctors, ‘They must have hit a wire or something.’ ”
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How about Joe’s Diner? The New York Daily News reported Met catcher Mike Piazza and three friends were denied entry to SoHo’s Veruka, a favorite party spot for several New York Yankee players.
Club owner Noel Ashman confirmed that he stonewalled Piazza out of loyalty to his Yankee customers.
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Trivia answer: Oregon, 1939; Stanford, 1942; California, 1959, and Arizona, 1997.
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And finally: Rick Telander in the Chicago Sun-Times: “It almost seems as if the IOC believes in corruption as the best way to do business.
“Buy some votes here, buy some there--hey who cares? phone contracts, hookers, lavish gifts, secret cash payoffs--whatever it takes to get the job done.
“Instead of the five rings, the IOC might want to change the Olympic symbol to five old men holding out their top hats for contributions.”