Should There Be Such a Thing as a Last Straw?

A reality check from Bob Kravitz of the Rocky Mountain News:

“So many people scream how Darryl Strawberry should be banned from baseball for the rest of his life, but nobody thinks to suggest Robert Downey Jr. should be stopped from ever working in show business again.

“The way I see it, if a company wants to take a chance on a troubled soul, that’s its business.

“Of course, the ugly truth to all of this is that as long as the troubled soul produces, he will be hailed as a hero.

“I mean, you should be reading some of the revisionist pablum about Latrell Sprewell these days.

“You would think he was up for the Nobel Peace Prize.”

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Trivia time: What is the record for fewest free throws made by a team in a Final Four game?

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High handicap: Michael Jordan was about to play golf with Tiger Woods on Tuesday in Chicago and offered this: “He gives me shots in golf and I give him points in basketball. I can give him 10 points and we’ll play to 11 and I’ll give him the ball.”

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Understanding voice: Forget sympathy for the Dodgers from the Bay Area. Gary Peterson writes in the Contra Costa Times: “The upshot for those of you who grew up despising the Dodgers and their squeaky-clean stadium, their perpetually pregnant farm system, their innovative means to excellence, their poet laureate of a play-by-play man, their numbing stability: Party on.”

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Out too early: According to Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune, the Bulls gave Duke’s Elton Brand a personality test that lasted three hours and included the question: “At a yellow light, do you slow down or speed up?” Brand’s answer: “Depends on if my mother is in the car.”

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The big kiss-off: International Management Group is changing the Cleveland Grand Prix from a CART race to one sanctioned by the Indy Racing League, prompting this disapproval from Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer: “IMG has the right to promote a frog in a tie and spats, if it so chooses. And it might be a mighty fine frog. But it isn’t going to change into a prince. It is going to stay a frog.”

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Tough call: How can a pitcher you never faced strike you out?

It happened in a minor league game in 1997, according to the Handy Sports Answer Book. A right-handed batter was ejected with two strikes on him. A left-handed pinch-hitter was brought in and countered by a left-handed pitching replacement who struck him out. Because he had two strikes on him, the first batter was charged with the strikeout. The pitcher who got the third strike was credited with the strikeout.

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Trivia answer: Nevada Las Vegas made one of five in a semifinal game it lost, 84-83, to North Carolina in 1977.

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And finally: Padre owner John Moores told San Diego Union-Tribune columnist Nick Canepa this before his team went on an 11-game winning streak: “I love it just as much this year as I did last year. I wish all games went 11 innings instead of nine. I wish we played 200 games rather than 162.”