Some Fans Find Going to Games Is Sickening

According to a survey, more than 12% of Americans who follow baseball have faked an illness with their employers to spend a day at the ballpark.

The Maritz Poll randomly questioned 1,400 adults around the United States and found 58% pay attention to the major leagues. Of that figure, one in eight, or 12.6%, said they had taken a sick day from work to see a game.

But the same study showed that football was Americans’ favorite pro sport. Twenty-nine percent named football as their favorite, followed by 23% for baseball, 11.6% for basketball, 4.7% for golf and 4.3% for hockey.

“Employers are probably lucky pro football games are only held on weekends and evenings,” said Phil Wiseman, marketing vice president at Maritz Marketing Research Inc., based in St. Louis.

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Trivia time: Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday became the shortest player to be named the NBA’s most valuable player. Who was the tallest MVP?

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He has arrived: For New York Post horse racing writer Ray Kerrison, Jorge Chavez’s winning ride aboard Monarchos in the Kentucky Derby placed him among the elite jockeys.

“The Peruvian pepper pot has finally arrived,” Kerrison wrote.

“Jorge Chavez will now assume his rightful place next to Jerry Bailey, Gary Stevens, Pat Day and Chris McCarron on the top tier of American jockeys.

“That’s the club, right there. Until recently, others skimmed the cream. Chavez got the leftovers. No more.”

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Flawed finale: Peter Vecsey in the New York Post, writing about what is believed to be Chris Webber’s final game--Sunday’s loss to the Lakers--in a Sacramento uniform:

“The only time [he] became any kind of a factor was when he threw a pass directly to a Laker with 40.9 seconds remaining, Kings down five. He might as well have called timeout with none remaining.”

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More Vecsey: On the Lakers’ four-game sweep of the Kings: “So total was the torching that the Kings’ new logo will feature a burned shell of an automobile outside Staples Center, complete with dental records.”

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Touchy, touchy: If Webber does leave Sacramento, he’ll take away some good memories of at least one teammate, Hedo Turkoglu.

“This summer I’m taking Hedo to the ‘hood with me to play,” Webber said. “By the end he’ll be the god of my ‘hood. He’s tough--he’s the only one who got into it twice with Shaq in this series. You touch him some days in practice and he’ll smack you.”

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Dig in: From the Caught on the Fly column in the Sporting News: “It did not take long for Fly to get himself a new fave NFL player: Seahawks fourth-round draftee Pork Chop Womack. Fly’s puttin’ P.C. tops on his list of ‘least likely vegetarian athlete.’ ”

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Looking back: On this day in 1998, David Wells of the New York Yankees pitched the 13th perfect game in modern major league history in a 4-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

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Trivia answer: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, at 7 feet 2.

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And finally: Iowa State basketball Coach Larry Eustachy, on the Cyclones playing in a Thanksgiving event at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino that was originally scheduled to be played in Puerto Rico:

“I like it better this way. It’s less expensive for our fans to go to Las Vegas than Puerto Rico--unless they spend a lot of time in the casino.”