As Fever Pitch Mounts, He Has Plenty of Doubts
Rick Morrissey of the Chicago Tribune is not overwhelmed by the apparent interest in the Women’s World Cup.
“My business, the newspaper industry, is as guilty as anyone of this breathlessness, though I suspect we are following the lead of corporate America, which has decided that women’s soccer is The Next Big Thing, which is to say, the new big payoff.
“But let me say this: The day Mia Hamm becomes as popular as Michael Jordan, as some suggest will happen, Richard Simmons becomes the national spokesman for Skoal chewing tobacco.”
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Trivia time: Who won soccer’s first Women’s World Championship and where was it held?
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No big deal: Batters who take it personally when the manager moves them around in the batting order should listen to Derek Jeter, the New York Yankee all-star shortstop. After Manager Joe Torre switched him from second to third in the order, he said:
“It doesn’t matter to me where I hit. I don’t do anything different. It’s just that my first at-bat’s going to be a minute and a half later. That’s all.”
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Changing times: In 1980, Don Pohl led the PGA Tour in driving with a 274-yard average. Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes that this year 66 golfers have longer averages.
To which Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News appended, “Leading to the conclusion that baseball is not the only juiced-up pellet.”
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Switch-putter: Notah Begay III, the PGA Tour’s only full-blooded Native American, carries a two-sided putter and strokes from either side, depending on the break of the green.
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Not like daddy: Pele’s son is quitting soccer, at least as a professional goalkeeper.
Edson Cholbi do Nascimento, a reserve keeper for Pele’s former club, Santos, said he would now work for his father’s company, Pele Sports and Marketing.
“Soccer takes up a lot of time and I felt that I was missing other opportunities,” Nascimento said.
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One man’s view: Andrew Marchand in the New York Post says the X Games are “the Home Shopping Network on wheels,” adding that “to borrow a term from street luge, the sale of anything and everything makes you want to ‘puke a wheel.’ ”
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Party time: Reggie Jackson used to say he was the straw that stirred the drink when he was with the New York Yankees.
Chuck Johnson of USA Today says of the Mets’ Mike Piazza, “Piazza is the corkscrew that could lead to a champagne celebration in the Mets’ future.”
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Trivia answer: The United States defeated Norway, 2-1, in 1991 at Guangzhou, China.
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And finally: Andre Agassi remembers the first time he played Pete Sampras, in a tournament in Northridge.
“I was 11, Pete was 10, about a foot shorter than me. He’s grown a little since. He had a two-handed backhand then, and he beat me.”
Some things never change.
