A Bridge Too Far, or at Least Too High

Heights don’t always scare those at Morning Briefing headquarters. Traversing the enclosed catwalk to the press box high in Calgary’s Pengrowth Saddledome was fairly angst-free, as were drives over the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro.

Driving over bridges is one thing. Climbing them is another.

Now for $59 during the day, and $79 at night, brave folks can climb over the top of Purple People Bridge (official name: Newport Southbank Bridge) linking Cincinnati to Newport, Ky. The bridge goes as high as 140 feet above the Ohio River.

Climbs do take place in the rain, according to the official website of the Purple People Bridge Climb: “Of course! Climbs in light rain can be very exciting and provide a very unique experience.” Glad we cleared that up.

Trivia time: How many times did American cyclist Greg LeMond win the World Championship Road Race?

Dress code: The final scores are in after Season 1 of the NBA’s new “business casual” dress policy for off-court garb.

Glenn O’Brien, GQ magazine’s Style Guy, gave his assessment of 11 players. Samples:

Tony Parker, Continental Cool: “How can you tell TP is French? His clothes fit.... He’s on my All-Tailored Team.” Steve Nash, Hair Canada: “Nash knows how jeans should fit and when not to get a haircut.... His vice? Neanderthal sleeve length -- the All-American miscue.” Guess All-Canadian doesn’t quite have the same ring.

Can Phil do this? Tiger Woods, in New Zealand for his caddie’s wedding, won the second of two celebrity stock car races Monday on a dirt track in the rural heartland.

Woods won even though he started at the back of the field. He hit the wall on the third lap, but remained in the race.

Before each race, Woods said he expected to be involved in crashes but said his insurance was “taken care of.”

Woods was the best man at Steve Williams’ wedding on Friday to Kirsty Millar.

Banishing evildoers: A magic-practicing priest/shaman from Ecuador is touring Germany in an effort to rid the country’s World Cup venues of “evil spirits.” Reuters reported that 36-year-old Tzamarenda Naychapi kicked things off on Monday in Leipzig, letting loose with a loud scream.

One question: Do the evil spirits include hooligans?

Silenced lamb: Screaming was one thing, but at least the shaman from Ecuador didn’t get extreme and kill an animal.

That’s what happened last week in Bulgaria when a second-division soccer team sacrificed a lamb in an attempt to stop a streak of five losses and two ties.

According to media reports, the goal posts at one end were painted with the blood of the lamb. Still, the extreme measures didn’t result in a desired victory, as the team, Etar Veliko, remains in danger of relegation.

Trivia answer: Twice, in 1983 and 1989.

And finally: Tennis star Roger Federer, on Saturday to reporters about his current clay-court nemesis, Rafael Nadal: “He’s quite one-dimensional.” On Sunday, Nadal beat Federer in the Monte Carlo final.