Something New Is Added to Its Arsenal
Perennial English soccer power Arsenal is marketing its own after-shave -- something called Arsenal 1886, which is described as “a sophisticated blend of bitter orange, bergamont and cedarwood.”
Eau de Arsenal will have its detractors, but as European soccer’s website, UEFA.com, put it, this “is no doubt a vast improvement on the scent of bitter liniment, stale sweat and stinky boots which pervades most club dressing rooms.”
Not to be outdone, a certain Real Madrid midfielder is selling his own after-shave, David Beckham Instinct.
Gives a whole new meaning to teams stinking up the joint.
Trivia time: How many playoff teams did the Miami Dolphins defeat when they went 14-0 in the 1972 regular season?
Reptilian thoughts: Chuck Culpepper of Newsday dispelled the myth of ’72 Dolphin veterans celebrating with champagne parties each year when the last unbeaten NFL team falls.
Such parties, Culpepper said, “amount to nothing more than three ex-Dolphin geezers sitting around popping the cork and gazing at their navels in reminiscence that would bore the skin off an iguana.”
Fight on: Boxing promoter Don King wants to stage exhibition bouts in Iraq to raise the morale of American troops, he told England’s Guardian newspaper.
“I’ll even stage a true championship match if I’m allowed,” he said, adding that he wants to be known as “the black Bob Hope of boxing.”
Go figure: According to the 1,023-page 2006 Statistical Abstract compiled by the Census Bureau, Americans are playing fewer sports but watching more on TV. That’s no surprise, said syndicated columnist Norm Chad.
“We all have televisions,” he said. “They’re relatively inexpensive. We all have microwave ovens. Why do we need to go out?”
Airing it out: Kyle Boller’s performance in dismantling the hapless Green Bay Packers on Monday night has given the Baltimore Raven quarterback’s future new life, says Peter Schmuck of the Baltimore Sun.
It wasn’t always that way.
“The Ravens are wrapping up a horribly disappointing season,” Schmuck wrote, “in which Boller’s status as the team’s field leader has been thrown so far up in the air that they could slap a Goodyear sign on it and send it to cover the Rose Bowl.”
Below the belt: Now that St. Louis has signed Aruban pitcher Sidney Ponson, whose resume includes an unscheduled seaside bout and driving under the influence, Jeff Gordon of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch has a couple of questions.
“Will the Cardinals insist that Ponson live close to Busch Stadium II, to minimize potential road hazards?” Gordon asked. “And does he have a clause prohibiting him from punching out a judge, on the beach, on Christmas?”
Trivia answer: None.
And finally: The man who caught the baby tossed from a burning building in the Bronx got a nod from NBC’s Conan O’Brien. “They’re not sure who the man is,” O’Brien said, “but they are sure he doesn’t play for the Jets.”
