Lewis Gets Knocked Out Against Test of Time

Edwin Pope of the Miami Herald says people shouldn’t get carried away by Lennox Lewis’ eighth-round knockout of Mike Tyson:

“Wasn’t that a scream when Jose Sulaiman, the blowhard boss of the World Boxing Council, saluted Lewis as ‘one of the greatest heavyweight champions of all time?’

“Come on.

“Joe Louis would have KO’d Lewis and Tyson both in one night. So would Rocky Marciano. So, for that matter, would Jack Dempsey and Jack Johnson, and maybe Muhammad Ali as well. You might even put Larry Holmes in that class.

“But Lewis? He just beat up on a shot fighter, and good riddance.”

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Beggar man: Tyson’s polite request for a rematch reveals that he is interested only in money, says Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press:

“There it was. After all the noise and all the hype and all the $54.95 pay-per-view tickets, there it was, the ridiculous cherry atop the ridiculous national sundae we’ve been pigging out on for weeks. Tyson begging like a kid with a UNICEF can.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first baseball player to earn $100,000 in one season?

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Media darling: A writer from the New York Post was frustrated that her credential for Game 3 of the NBA Finals couldn’t be found.

“Who’s responsible?” she wanted to know. “Because there will be repercussions.”

Chilling words, considering the source. The writer is Victoria Gotti, daughter of mob boss John Gotti, who died of cancer Monday.

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Not so classic: Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News doesn’t think much of baseball’s interleague play:

“Colorado-Toronto sounds great if it’s hockey, and it might have been. But it’s baseball, so it’s a marketing stunt, and a dumb one.

“As I study my Rockies’ schedule, I notice that the impending Cleveland and New York Yankee visits to Coors Field already have been designated as ‘Classic Games,’ not only a premature judgment but a shameless scam.

“There might be a Fall Classic, maybe even at Coors one of these days, and it is the only kind that should involve the two baseball leagues, but there never will be a June Classic.”

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Keep ‘em laughing: Nick Gatto, a one-armed kicker with the Orlando Predators of the Arena Football League, often jokes about his birth defect. He recently suggested having a “Nick Gatto Night” at which fans could show their ticket “stub” and get “half off.”

“I like to make people laugh,” Gatto said. “There’s not nearly enough laughter in the world.”

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Trivia answer: Joe DiMaggio in 1950.

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And finally: Instead of hooligans, Linda Robertson of the Miami Herald has found nothing but good will while covering the World Cup in Japan:

“Russian fans went on a deadly rampage on Sunday in Moscow, but in Japan it has been a peaceful party.

“Blokes and Buddhists danced together. The beer connoisseurs of England and Japan toasted each other. The Japanese snapped pictures of their friends arm in arm with bare-chested, tattooed and costumed British fans.

“Bill Buford wrote a book about hooligans called, ‘Among the Thugs.’ At the World Cup, I’ve found myself among the hugs.”