Senate Feels Effects of Dog Days of Summer

With senators working overtime to help solve the world’s problems, sort out the economy’s collapse and win elections, it’s nice they found time to hold a reception in the caucus room of the Senate Office Building for Uga, the white bulldog mascot of the George Bulldogs’ football team.

Uga was flown to Washington on a private jet to meet with 300 Georgia legislators and their staffs. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.) even rolled around on the floor trying to get Uga to kiss him, according to Melanie Eversley of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

What a photo op!

Retiring Congressman J.C. Watts, who played quarterback at Oklahoma, also showed up to see Uga.

“He didn’t bite me, so I’m happy,” said Watts. “I think he probably thought I’d bite him back, if he did.”

Trivia time: Who is baseball’s last 30-game winner?

Oh, those Irish: The Gaelic football team from Roscommon County, in the Irish midlands, apparently went too far in its drunken celebration of a championship when they played billiards in the buff. Stephen Banahan, chairman of the Gaelic Athletics Assn., banned the entire team.

“We feel this is something we have to do for the good of Roscommon football,” he said, adding that Roscommon had been beset by “exaggerated rumors” about the players’ behavior, “and some have proved to be true.”

The spin: Pit bulls have been banned from the 25th World Series of Dog Shows in Houston. Some dog handlers are disappointed at the ruling.

Said Flo Bell, responding to an incident where a woman who owned four of the dogs was found dead after being attacked, “I don’t think the dogs did anything to her. Maybe they were trying to get her to respond.... She collapsed and went down. The puncture wounds were dogs trying to bring her to alert.”

Closing in: Ron Gardenhire, manager of the Minnesota Twins, has been ejected four times this season, enough to bring warnings from Bob Watson of the commissioner’s office.

Said Gardenhire: “I’ve had so many conversations with Bob Watson that he’s going to give me a red phone.”

One for AARP: It was pretty remarkable when Ted Byram bowled a 300 game during league play in Ft. Pierce, Fla. After all, he’s 82, but that’s not the remarkable part.

Byram’s feat came only 17 days after suffering a stroke that temporarily left him unable to speak or lift his right arm--his bowling arm.

“That last ball felt like it weighed 25 pounds,” Byram said. “But it had nothing to do with the stroke. It was nerves.”

Trivia answer: Denny McLain of the Detroit Tigers, with 31 wins in 1968.

And finally: No one needs an excuse to visit Hawaii, but Alabama Coach Dennis Franchione has one of the most unique for his football team.

Alabama is on NCAA probation, so any of his sophomores or juniors could transfer as late as this summer and be immediately eligible at another school. Franchione scheduled a game at Hawaii on Nov. 30 in hopes of keeping them at Alabama.

When he asked for a show of hands about making the trip, Franchione said, “Before I finished the sentence, every hand was up.”