Sound Still Came Through Crystal Clear

The death last week of paralyzed former race driver Bob Hurt brings to mind one of his favorite stories.

Hurt was in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) for spinal injury treatment when he suspected his room was being bugged by the KGB, Russia’s intelligence agency. When his care person found some bolts extending through the floor under his bed, he gave her a crescent wrench from his wheelchair kit and had her remove the nuts.

The next thing he heard was the crash of breaking glass. She had undone the fasteners for the chandelier in the room beneath them.

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Trivia time: In the World Series record book, Babe Ruth is second all time in three categories. What are they?

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Different views: From a French publicity blurb: “In America, they play football with a tapered ball, the hands and, occasionally, the feet. Everywhere else, it’s a round checkered ball, the feet and, occasionally, the hands.

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Modern life: From Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News: “One wonders what are the odds on Michael Vick spending all four football seasons at Virginia Tech. Pro scouts must be drooling. And when scouts drool, checkbooks rule.”

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What a finish: Going into the final day of the 1941 season, Ted Williams was not quite up to .400, so what did he do? He went six for eight in a doubleheader against the Philadelphia A’s to finish with a .406 average.

No one has batted .400 since.

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Under the hood: After A.J. Foyt underwent an angioplasty last month, this is how he explained it:

“I’ve got five balloons and three stents [skin graft anchors]. I guess it’s kinda like a valve job.

“My blood pressure was like 175/90 so they put me on some medicine. Now, it’s 140/60. It’s like they retarded my spark.”

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Is bigger better? In 1966 there were only six teams in the NHL. With the addition of the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild this season, the NHL now has 30 teams.

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Could be worse: From Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post, on Bobby Knight: “Hey, Bobby, look at the bright side. At least the kid didn’t say, ‘Hey, Knight, what’s up with that sweater you fit in before you swallowed your point guard?’

“You figure, since they were burning the university president in effigy the other night, somebody had the decency to throw that sweater on the pile?”

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Trivia answer: Home runs, 15, second to Mickey Mantle’s 18, and earned-run average, 0.87, second to Harry Breechen’s 0.83, based on a minimum of 30 innings pitched, and scoreless innings, 29 2/3, second to Whitey Ford’s 33.

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And finally: Chicago Tribune columnist Bob Verdi gives his view of the just-completed Sydney Olympics:

“I don’t understand why some of the country’s greatest newspapers, including this one, send fleets of talented reporters and columnists to the Olympics to write all those stories that apparently aren’t being read by the same people who aren’t watching television.”