The sky’s the limit for these fans
At first, Cardiff City soccer supporter Steve Day thought Wolverhampton’s plan to ban all Cardiff fans from this Saturday’s rivalry match was nothing more than hot air.
When he discovered it wasn’t, Day opted for some hot air of his own. He is renting a blimp for himself and 29 other fans so they can watch the action while hovering over Molineux Stadium.
Wolverhampton decided to ban Cardiff fans after supporters from both teams clashed during recent matches.
“The idea came about seven years ago when we couldn’t get tickets to a match and one of my friends suggested getting an airship,” Day was quoted on the website Metro.co.uk. “It was a bit of a joke, and in the end we got tickets.
“When we found out we couldn’t get this ban overturned, he said, ‘Let’s get the airship up.’ We looked at the regulations imposed on Cardiff fans, and there’s nothing covering aviation.”
Day, a 40-year-old furniture store owner from Cowbridge, Wales, said the rental would cost “a few thousand pounds.”
He added: “It’s not cheap. But it’s not about the money, it’s about football and the rights of supporters to see their football team.
“I think the ban is ridiculous. It’s wrong fans can’t watch them play. So far I’ve had 120 people ask if they can come in the airship, but we’re waiting to see if any others get chartered.
“We might have a flotilla in the end.”
This amusing bit of aerial enterprise leads to an obvious question: Is it legal?
James Hotson, a spokesman for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), said flight was permissible provided the blimp company used by the fans had relevant certification and the dirigible did not go below 1,000 feet.
However, he said the CAA was not aware of any blimps that could hold 30 passengers, and that they usually carry up to five or six.
“I applaud the initiative of the Cardiff supporters,” said Malcolm Clarke, chair of the Football Supporters’ Federation.
“I hope they take strong enough binoculars to enable them to watch the game in detail. If they hire the airship and Cardiff score, I don’t know if a cheer from the airship would be audible to the players below, but I hope so.”
From the Cardiff perspective, these fans have lent new meaning to the soccer phrase “good in the air.”
Trivia time
Babe Phelps was a catcher who hit .310 in 11 seasons (1931-42) with the Washington Senators, Chicago Cubs, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. Why did he earn the nickname “Grounded Blimp” near the end of his career?
A road by any other name
As he mulls an initial vote of 23.5%, Mark McGwire has to wonder how rough the road to the Hall of Fame is going to get for him.
While he wonders, McGwire might lose a road that bears his name.
State Rep. Talibdin El-Amin, a Democrat from St. Louis, submitted a bill last week that would rename “Mark McGwire Highway” to honor former state Sen. John Bass, a veteran St. Louis politician and the city’s first African American comptroller.
Mark McGwire Highway is an approximately five-mile stretch of Interstate 70 that was named in 1999 for McGwire after the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman hit 70 home runs during the 1998 season.
That achievement has been tainted by suspicion that McGwire’s power numbers were inflated by use of performance-enhancing drugs. El-Amin, however, says his bill is more an effort to honor Bass than to discredit McGwire.
“It’s more, for me, a desire to honor somebody more worthy,” El-Amin told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “Mark McGwire, I believe, hasn’t walked in north St. Louis, and hasn’t done anything for this state outside of the 70 home runs.”
By whichever name, one thing’s for sure -- Mark McGwire Highway doesn’t run to Cooperstown.
Trivia answer
Because of his refusal to fly when teams began traveling by air in the early 1940s.
And finally
Golden State Warriors Coach Don Nelson told the San Francisco Chronicle he was initially confused when General Manager Chris Mullin signed D-League guard Kelenna Azubuike.
“Mully called me on New Year’s Eve and asked me if I liked sambuca, and I said, ‘Yeah,’ ” Nelson said. “And he went out there and signed this guy, Azubuike. I thought it was a drink, and he was talking about a player.”
