To Him, It’s Goodbye and Good Riddance

Frank Fitzpatrick of the Philadelphia Inquirer on Veterans Stadium, which is in its final season as the home of the Eagles:

“It’s cold and bland. A lot like the millions of overpriced hot dogs sold there through the years.

“It was built without much imagination or foresight. A lot like the offenses displayed by some of the bad Eagle teams that called the place home.”

After 32 seasons in Veterans Stadium, the Eagles will move across the street next season, into the state-of-the-art Lincoln Financial Field.

The Vet, as the South Philadelphia eyesore is known, will be demolished after baseball’s Phillies complete the 2003 season.

Seat licenses for lower-level tickets in the new stadium will cost between $1,800 and $3,200 for the right to buy tickets in 2003.

Wrote Fitzpatrick: “Goodbye, Joe Six-pack.”

Trivia time: Name the first manager to guide the Angels into the postseason.

Divorce court: Texas’ 41-11 victory over Houston on Saturday gave the Longhorns a 142-37 edge in scoring against the Cougars over the last three seasons.

Wrote Houston Chronicle columnist Fran Blinebury: “That isn’t a rivalry between former Southwest Conference cousins. It’s an abusive relationship.”

Bad team, man: Shaun Powell of Newsday doesn’t see a connection between the New York Mets’ shabby play this season and recent allegations of marijuana use by several players.

“The Mets sit at the bottom of the National League East because they stink, not because they’re stoned,” Powell wrote. “If a handful of Mets did get the munchies this year, they only built an appetite for making errors.

“My hunch is the rats still outnumber the roaches at Shea Stadium.”

Bad timing: According to recent reports, an unnamed NHL team offered Teemu Selanne a contract this summer that was $1 million more than his team, the San Jose Sharks, was offering.

Trouble was, the call came while Selanne was playing in a celebrity soccer match in his native Finland. Selanne declined the take-it-or-leave-it offer, hanging up his cell phone and returning to the soccer game.

Careful what you wish for: Responding to Fernando Vargas’ pre-fight comment that he would “rather die in that ring than lose” to Oscar De La Hoya, Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News wrote:

“Of course, many of the cherished brawlers of boxing history have ended their careers, and lives, punch drunk, near-broke and in constant need of medical assistance.”

Vargas lost the Sept. 14 fight, suffering a severe cut under his right eye.

Trivia answer: Jim Fregosi, in 1979.

And finally: Almost every Angel fan recalls Dave Henderson’s two-run homer for the Boston Red Sox with the Angels one strike away from the 1986 World Series.

But do they remember John Lowenstein’s game-winning, three-run homer in the 11th inning for the Baltimore Orioles in Game 1 of the 1979 American League playoffs?

Lowenstein’s homer, against reliever John Montague, propelled the Orioles to a 6-3 victory and a 3-1 series victory over the Angels.