Sheffield Bleeds Blue, but It Smells Just Like Fish

Gary Sheffield is a true blue Dodger these days, but he still longs for the days he helped the Florida Marlins win a World Series in 1997 before the team was dismantled in a cost-cutting spree. He’s in Florida this week and talked with Miami Herald columnist Dan Le Batard.

“I have mixed emotions when I come back,” the Dodger left fielder said. “Not seeing fans in the stands, it’s depressing. We could have added so many fans if we had stayed together.

“We could have had a run of five or six years and been in the position the Braves are in. We’d have two rings and be looking for a third. How fast things change, man.

“Baseball is unbelievable. There’s still a hole in my heart because of how everything ended here.”

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Trivia time: Who won the most PGA Championships in a row?

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Unconventional: Comedian Dennis Miller, in the “Monday Night Football” booth for the second time this season, mixed politics with the Tennessee Titans’ 30-3 exhibition victory over the St. Louis Rams in Nashville.

“You know Al Gore is watching,” Miller said, “because not only is the game in his hometown, but the Rams are the only team in football that shifts positions as frequently as he does.”

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That hurts: Steve Rosenbloom of the Chicago Tribune passes along an e-mail from reader Bobby Moldovan:

“Maybe the Bulls could pull off some sort of Anna Kournikova Night. You know, they’re both popular entities who have achieved virtually nothing in their respective sports the last couple years.”

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Listen with pride: “The second best feeling in sports--behind playing for a championship--is the national anthem,” Tennessee Titan Coach Jeff Fisher says. “That feeling right then, the anticipation, the nervousness--you just feel everything.”

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Brotherly love: Former Formula One champion Michael Schumacher and his brother, Ralf, race for different teams in the world championship series. Asked if he would like his brother as a teammate, Michael said:

“If that happened, it would mean that one of us has to win and one has to lose, and we wouldn’t like that. I think things are best the way they are.”

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Is that right? Seattle Mariner Alex Rodriguez, baseball’s most prized free agent, continues to tell reporters that, “The only time I remember I’m a free agent is when you ask me.”

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Now you know: Former world land-speed record holder Craig Breedlove was asked why he continued in his efforts to break the sound barrier even though England’s Andy Green accomplished it first. His reply:

“Just because the first marathon runner crosses the line, does that mean the others stop?”

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World politics: India has pulled out of a cricket match series against Pakistan because of political tensions running high over disputed Kashmir.

“How can we play a friendship series against Pakistan when that country is indulging in killings in Kashmir,” Union Sports Minister Sukhbir Singh Dhindsa said.

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That’s heritage: When Randy Brown joined the Boston Celtics, he said one of his biggest problems was finding a jersey number.

“Every number that a basketball player dreams of putting on is up in the rafters,” Brown said.

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Trivia answer: Walter Hagen, four, 1924-27.

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And finally: When the Denver Broncos held their annual golf and fishing trip to give players a chance to see that Coach Mike Shanahan “really is almost a normal person,” a fishing tournament was won by former Bronco tight end Shannon Sharpe.

“Shannon cheated,” quarterback Brian Griese said. “He went to the grocery store and bought fish.”