He Has Different Method of Taxing NBA

Steve Kelley from the Seattle Times has a warning for NBA fans, if they haven’t already figured out Utah Jazz guard John Stockton:

“Don’t let John Stockton fool you. Don’t be fooled by his soft features. Or his low-to-the-ground game. Or his short, old-school shorts. Or the flecks of gray in his close-cropped IRS agent’s haircut.

“Don’t be fooled by Stockton’s appearance or his game. At 6 feet 1, he is as intimidating as a Shaquille O’Neal elbow, still as difficult to figure out as Jason Kidd in the open court. Even now at age 40, Stockton, who is beginning his 19th season at Utah, is the gold standard of point guards ...

“Ask any opponent about his favorite John Stockton moment and most will tell you there are none. It’s like asking a favorite story about a root canal.”

Trivia time: Who holds the NFL record for most consecutive games scoring touchdowns?

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Angels to the rescue: Thomas Boswell in the Washington Post: “The Anaheim Angels, so lost in the baseball wilds that Disney has tried in vain to find a sucker to buy them, did the whole sport a favor by both licking the Yankees and exposing basic vulnerabilities.

“A few days ago, it was noted here that Yankee pitching, the core of Joe Torre’s creation, was finally starting to look old.

“But New York’s weakest link showed up one series sooner than many dared to hope. The 103-win A’s didn’t deliver the knockout; the Angels, who lost 87 in ‘01, did.”

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Mixed feelings: Steve Jacobson in Newsday: “I’m sorry to see Bobby Valentine gone from the Mets. Then again, I’m not so sorry to see him gone. He’s a very complex person, which will make him a difficult hire for some other club. He’s been around so long that he must have an enemy in a lot of organizations.

“He’s very smart and very broad, which makes him so much more interesting than most managers. Then again, he’s not always smarter than everyone else, which makes him dangerous.”

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Perspective: David Justice of the Oakland Athletics, a veteran of baseball playoffs, on dealing with postseason pressure: “The thing to remember is, no matter what happens, three days after the World Series, everyone will be talking about football.”

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Chew on this: Dwight Perry in the Seattle Times: “According to court documents from Mike Tyson’s latest divorce proceedings, the former heavyweight champ rang up $230,000 in cell phone and pager charges from 1995 to 1997.

“Even more shocking, those figures don’t include the tab for Evander Holyfield’s earpieces.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1910, USC defeated Chaffey High, 65-6. USC was coached by Dean Cromwell, who later became one of the best track coaches in the U.S.

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Trivia answer: Lenny Moore of Baltimore, 18, 1963 to 1965.

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And finally: Philadelphia Eagle Coach Andy Reid says on NFL.com that the size of the hand is a big factor to being a great throwing quarterback.

“You’re generally looking for a hand that measures in the 7 1/2-to 10-inch-area from the tip of the little finger to the tip of the thumb when the hand is spread out. Anything more than 10 inches is icing on the cake.”

Reid says the Eagles’ Donovan McNabb and the Packers’ Brett Favre are among the best big-hand quarterbacks in the game.