NBA Has to Hope This Isn’t Start of a Trend
So much for a lesson learned.
The Denver Nuggets’ Reggie Evans was fined $10,000 and assessed a flagrant foul for reaching under the shorts of the Clippers’ Chris Kaman during their first-round series.
On Wednesday, the Dallas Mavericks’ Jason Terry punched the San Antonio Spurs’ Michael Finley between the legs and was suspended for Friday’s Game 6.
Exasperated, Dallas Coach Avery Johnson advised, “The rule is clear. You punch, you get suspended. So, next time, grab.”
Forbidden fruit: NBA vice president Stu Jackson explained that while reviewing the Evans incident, officials didn’t have a clear view of exactly what happened.
“We understand he reached underneath the player,” Jackson said. “But you couldn’t see the end result. It’s really an apple and an orange.”
Not the greatest visual, but point made.
Trivia time: The WNBA is embarking on its 10th season. What team was the league’s first champion?
Can’t outrun justice: Louisiana State distance runner Drew Haro, in Springdale, Ark., for a track meet, was arrested after a late-night drinking binge, which was followed by a footrace with a policeman.
He was charged with being intoxicated in public, fined $410 and humiliated by Judge Stan Ludwig, who was quoted in the Springdale Morning News saying, “No wonder you guys lost the track meet. You can’t even outrun a Springdale cop.”
It’s a keeper: Hundreds of Kenyan Muslims have flocked to Mombasa to marvel at a five-pound tuna pulled from the Indian Ocean. The “wonder fish” supposedly has a Koranic verse embedded in its scales.
The verse translates to, “God is the greatest of all providers,” yet instead of being made into sandwich meat the tuna was placed in a refrigerated locker for safekeeping.
High approval rating: President Bush met with U.S. Olympians and Paralympians at the White House this week and a good time was had by all, said snowboarder Danny Kass, who had Bush autograph a bobblehead doll he brought from home.
“I said, ‘I’m going to the White House, so I want the president to sign this,’ ” Kass said. “I’m sure the president would rather have hung with us for a while longer instead of going back into his meetings.”
Per diem: Charley Walters of the St. Paul Pioneer Press must have written his latest column before lunch. The lead item: The demotion of Minnesota Twins pitcher Kyle Lohse to the minors “means his meal money for road games will go from $76.50 a day to $20 a day.”
Lohse’s replacement from triple-A Rochester: Boof Bonser, who will earn $1,817 per day, plus a good deal of ribbing for that name, while in the majors.
Trivia answer: The Houston Comets, who defeated the New York Liberty to claim the first of four consecutive titles.
And finally: From Greg Cote of the Miami Herald: “Horse racing experts say unbeaten Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro could rate among the all-time greats if he can take the Triple Crown, last won by Mr. Ed in the 1960s.”
