Booing Is Not Exactly Music to His Ears

Boston Red Sox closer Keith Foulke, who has had trouble holding on to leads this season, is faring no better trying to maintain his cool.

With a chorus of boos still ringing in his ears after a recent loss, he acted like Jeremy Roenick and said the fans weren’t welcome “at my World Series celebration.”

In an interview with the Boston Herald, Foulke continued, “They can boo, they can cuss ... If they don’t want me to do the job, tell them to go tell management. They pay their money. Let them boo. Does it look like it bothers me?”

Well, yes.

Trivia time: Before the Lakers chose Andrew Bynum, 17, with the 10th pick Tuesday, who was the youngest player chosen in the NBA draft?

Writer’s block: Bernie Lincicome of the Rocky Mountain News thought it would be a cinch filling his column while covering the U.S. Women’s Open last weekend at Cherry Hills Village, Colo., until all of the big stories unraveled.

“Annika Sorenstam lost. Michelle Wie acted her age. Someone named Birdie birdied the last hole from the bunker,” Lincicome wrote. “Let’s see. Counting the dateline, that’s 27 words, which leaves only 773 to go.”

Driver’s training: Freestyle motocross star Chuck Carothers will be among those taking part in Terracross, a new sport to be unveiled during ESPN’s upcoming Great Outdoor Games. Competitors will race over an obstacle course on ATVs and use bows and arrows to shoot at targets as they battle toward the finish line.

After that, Carothers will travel to Los Angeles to be an X Games competitor -- suitably prepared to tackle the hectic freeways.

Washed up? Pittsburgh Pirate pitcher Oliver Perez has been put on the disabled list because of a broken toe suffered while kicking a laundry cart. Serves him right for not leaving the laundry for the cleanup hitter.

Chewed out: Speaking of freak baseball injuries, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch published a list of those that have occurred over the years and included was an incident involving Boston Red Sox pitcher Clarence Blethen, who in 1923 put his false teeth in his pocket before going to bat.

“He forgot about them, then bit himself with the dentures as he slid into second base,” the Post-Dispatch reported.

Quite a reach: Detroit Free Press columnist Michael Rosenberg, hardly welcoming the Pistons’ newest player with open arms, wrote in regard to Jason Maxiell’s 7-foot-3 wingspan: “Something I’ll keep in mind if I ever organize a revival of Hands Across America.”

Trivia answer: Jermaine O’Neal, now with the Indiana Pacers, also was 17 but about two weeks older when he was drafted in 1996 by the Portland Trail Blazers.

And finally: David Thomas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram made this observation in regard to golf’s most recent major championships: “Not that there’s anything wrong with this, mind you, but the winner of the men’s U.S. Open cried after holing out on the 18th green and the winner of the women’s U.S. Open didn’t.”