He’s in hot water over latest injury
Forget about the kitchen being a place for accidents.
Beware of that sneaky hot tub.
Star-crossed Chicago Cubs pitcher Kerry Wood apparently won’t be throwing off the mound for the next few days because of a hot-tub mishap. According to reports out of Cubs spring training headquarters, Wood slipped when he got out of the hot tub at home, landing on his chest and stomach.
And to think the biggest problem about being in a hot tub used to be prune skin.
Trivia time
How many times has a Laker been named most valuable player of the NBA All-Star game? (Hint: This includes the Minnesota days.)
Diesel’s damage done
Slipping and falling can happen even when a hot tub is not involved.
Tennis star Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who must be linked to Wood in some cosmic way because they are both injured so often, fell over her dog, Diesel, when she was kicking a soccer ball in her garden with her boyfriend and father last year.
Luckily, Clijsters was back in action after only two days.
Cup runneth over
Reports from Canada have surfaced about the possibility of selling the naming rights to the Grey Cup, the Canadian Football League’s Super Bowl, so to speak.
Ah, but for one letter, think of all the possibilities:
* Gray’s Anatomy Cup. McFootball.
* The Blue-Gray Cup. Finally, there could be a place for the name of a once-proud college football classic, having been mothballed after that thriller in Troy, Ala., in 2003.
* Gray Line Cup. Synergy rules! It doesn’t get any better than bus trips combined with three-down football and decent Canadian beer.
Picture worth a ...
Who needs to read the full article in GQ magazine on Shawne Merriman of the Chargers?
This quote from his high-school coach, J.C. Pinkney, stands alone and gets across the general theme: “People in the NFL don’t understand what’s going on in that man’s head.”
Pinkney added, “If they did, they won’t play with him. He’s looking to put out people for real. He’s trying to inflict so much pain they have to turn in their equipment.”
Over the top, perhaps?
Uh, the photo showing Merriman and his two dogs settles that issue. Just Shawne and two nice little doggies.
Pit bulls named Nuisance and Menace.
Speaking of dogs ...
Comedian Bill Cosby is just wild about Harry.
Harry is his 6-year-old dog, a terrier competing in the recently completed Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Luckily, Cosby has a measured perspective on the process.
“Dog shows are somewhere between a sport and an admiration society,” he wrote to the Associated Press in an e-mail. “The dog breeders and owners are like parents who have kids in soccer games, swim meets, ice skating, etc.”
Would hate to see what a dog looked like in a Speedo.
Trivia answer
Eight: Shaquille O’Neal (2000, 2004), Kobe Bryant (2002), Magic Johnson (1990, 1992), Jerry West (1972), and from the Minneapolis days, Elgin Baylor (1959) and George Mikan (1953).
And finally
Dennis Rodman, speaking on “Best Damn Sports Show Period” about how he and former Chicago Bulls teammates Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen are due to become eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2009:
“Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman. You’ve got God, his son Jesus -- and I’m the devil.”
At least he didn’t overreach and call himself the Holy Spirit.
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