Following Tiger Too Closely Can Be Risky

Has Tigermania caused TV cameras and commentators to ignore outstanding performances by other players? Apparently so.

Over one six-hole stretch at last month’s British Open, Phil Mickelson made five birdies and an eagle. The run was ignored by ABC.

During that time, if Woods was even tying his shoe or putting drops in his eyes, the network’s cameras were fixed on him regardless of what else was happening on the course.

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Trivia time: Jerry West was the second overall pick in the 1960 NBA draft by the Minneapolis Lakers. Who was picked first?

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Around the NBA: If you think marketing the Clippers is tough, how about what Bob Shaw of the Cleveland Plain Dealer says about his hometown team?

“Marketing the Cavaliers these days has to rank right up there in degree of difficulty with being a typewriter salesman.

“Manual typewriters.”

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Court headlock: Matt Lindbland defeated Keith Sieracki, 8-0, in a rematch for a slot in the 167 1/2-pound Greco-Roman division for next month’s Olympics in Sydney.

The rematch was ordered by an arbitrator after Sieracki had defeated Lindbland in the Olympic trials final match--and Lindbland had lost two appeals for a rematch.

“I feel this should be over now,” Lindbland said. “Eight-to-nothing is convincing. I sure hope it’s over.”

Sieracki said he was not through, saying, “We’re going to the lawyers with this. After all of this is over, I may never wrestle again. Somebody took my dream and ruined it.”

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Logical: Jerry Greene, in the Orlando Sentinel, questions why the PGA is being played this week at the Valhalla course in Louisville, Ky.

“Love the name of the course--Valhalla--but it’s a pasture compared to Pebble Beach. So why is the PGA Championship there? Oh, this may be a factor--the PGA owns it.”

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Right is wrong: The Cincinnati Reds’ Aaron Boone had heard of surgeons operating on the wrong leg, or the wrong arm, so before he had surgery on his left knee, he wrote “W-R-O-N-G” in large letters on his right one.

“You want them to do the right one,” he said.

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Trivia answer: Oscar Robertson, chosen by Cincinnati.

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And finally: Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants’ outfielder turned political pundit, tabs Chelsea Clinton as the next political star on the horizon.

“With Chelsea going to Stanford, she’s been to our park this year,” Bonds said after watching the Democratic National Convention on television in the clubhouse this week. “I think Hillary will do well in politics, but I think Chelsea is the one to watch. I think she’ll go far.”