Coach Was Just Trying to Bait the Tacklers

You’ll have to excuse the Baltimore Ravens’ defensive players if they thought somebody slipped a psychedelic drug into the orange juice. After all, they had just finished watching a video that looked like a cross between NFL Films and the Discovery Channel.

Interspersed with clips of some of the game’s best tacklers were the world’s best game tacklers: a lion jumping on the back of a giraffe, two cheetahs taking down a gazelle and a shark slamming into a seal.

Raven defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, who came up with the idea, watched the scenes shift from African savanna to football field and was pleased to see the animals using teamwork, swarming techniques, even sound tackling fundamentals, all of which evidently are becoming rare in the NFL.

A 2002 Sporting News poll of every franchise revealed that 22 of the 32 team executives who were surveyed thought tackling skills had declined.

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Trivia time: Wednesday will mark the second anniversary of a feat by the Boston Red Sox’s Scott Hatteberg that has never been matched. What did he do that day?

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Dog days: A planned campaign to rid Athens of stray dogs in preparation for next year’s Summer Olympics had the ancient city in quite an uproar.

After much debate, a mysterious mass poisoning of about 60 dogs in a park and a number of loud street protests, the stray roundup eventually was called off.

“We do not want the animals incarcerated,” Deputy Mayor Tonya Kanellopoulou said. “Why shouldn’t the animals live among us in the streets?”

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Free-falling: When will David Duval hit rock bottom?

Not only was Duval, not that long ago the No. 1 golfer in the world, eight shots behind Suzy Whaley when he withdrew from the Hartford Open after shooting an 83 in the first round, he hit two balls out of bounds on the first hole and two more on No. 12.

His third swing from the 12th tee resulted in a dribbler that rolled 100 yards down the fairway.

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Pretty, bad player: Fans who buy a NetPro tennis trading card before Aug. 20 have a chance to win a private autograph and photo session with Anna Kournikova, as well as seats to the U.S. Open women’s final Sept. 6.

Kournikova withdrew from the tournament recently because of back pain.

Darn, she figured to be a shoo-in for that final before she got hurt.

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Gutter ball: Mark your calendar for Friday. That’s the date that has been scheduled for an announcement on whether there will be another season of the Professional Women’s Bowling Assn.

Doesn’t look good.

Last season’s TV ratings on ESPN/ESPN2 were a minuscule 0.64.

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Trivia answer: He hit a grand slam and lined into a triple play in the same game.

And finally: Pittsburgh Pirate fans are bemoaning trades that cost the team its closer, leadoff hitter and top RBI man. Cincinnati pitcher Kent Mercker apparently doesn’t like the deals much either.

After giving up a game-losing homer to Pittsburgh’s Matt Stairs, he said, “They should have traded Stairs.”

-- John Weyler