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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Cheap Seats

You bring the salsa, I’ll bring the fries

Brigham Young University students, incensed at being passed over for a Fiesta Bowl appearance after their team went 13-1, decided to target the Fiesta Bowl’s sponsor, Tostitos.

About 20 fans piled up three dozen bags of Tostitos, splashed them with lighter fluid and struck a match.

“It’s a total boycott,” said Jeff Sheets, a BYU senior who went door-to-door at his apartment complex collecting bags of the tortilla chips. “We want to hit them where it can make a difference. “They’ve slighted the WAC, (No. 5) BYU and the state of Utah. It’s a matter of respect. We never get the recognition we deserve.”

The way the Tostitos executive senors saw it: Three dozen bags at $2.79 a bag amounts to $100.44 well spent.

Kendall not kind on Karl

For some, it’s a knee or bad back that destroys an NBA career.

For the Nets’ Kendall Gill, it was Seattle coach George Karl. At least in the world according to Gill.

He thinks Karl tried to destroy his career when he was with the SuperSonics for two seasons.

“Judgment day will come, and he’ll have to meet his maker. All the characters he tried to destroy, he’ll have to pay for,” said Gill, who played under Karl in Seattle for two seasons.

“I would have played in Baghdad to get away from Karl.”

Karl refused to comment on Gill, who also called him a coward and offered to meet him in a dark alley.

Gill’s teammate Jayson Williams set the odds.

“I told Kendall I’ve got $250 on George Karl,” Williams said. “I told him it’s going the distance, but George Karl can take him. He looks like that boxer Butterbean.”

A front desk job that paid

The call from the 90-year-old Maine women seemed odd to Joshua Leland Evans, organizer of a sports memorabilia auction earlier this month in New York.

“She said she wanted to sell a picture of the 1927 New York Yankees, signed by every player, including Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig,” Evans said.

Turns out the Maine woman was the front desk clerk at the Princess Martha Hotel in St. Petersburg, Fla., where the Yankees stayed during spring training in 1928. As the players checked in, she produced her 1927 team photo and 34 of 38 players signed it.

Actor Charlie Sheen, who paid $93,000 for the ball that went through Bill Buckner’s legs in Game 6 of the ‘86 World Series, spent another $35,750 for the photo.

Now that Heidi Fleiss’ funhouse is closed, Sheen has money to burn.

Whining over winning

“I’m tired of it,” responded Knicks center Patrick Ewing, after his team was booed for their sloppy win over the Clippers at Madison Square Garden. “They’re annoying me. If they’re going to act (like that) … they might as well stay home.”

And to that, Newsday columnist Steve Jacobson responded:

“Those people pay $1,000 a courtside ticket, $425 behind courtside down to a few at $18. The Knicks have had 132 consecutive sellouts. If they’d stayed home, who would have paid Ewing $21 million the last two years?”

The last word …

“I think their media guide budgets are bigger than our entire athletic department’s.”

- Al Walker, men’s basketball coach at Division II Chaminade, after browsing through the media guides of Kansas, LSU and UMass.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo