Cheap Seats
So much for being politically correct
San Francisco mayor Willie Brown on Tuesday criticized Elvis Grbac’s costly turnovers against the Dallas Cowboys and called the 49ers second-string quarterback an “embarrassment to humankind.”
He also said Grbac would never play in a new city-built stadium.
Brown, speaking by teleconference from Paris, stunned several San Francisco-area reporters with his response to a joking question about whether the French would help invest in a new 49ers stadium.
“Well, I’m trying to get the French to invest in a new quarterback,” the mayor answered. “This guy Grbac is an embarrassment to humankind.”
A San Francisco Examiner reporter then said, “That’s a little harsh isn’t it?”
Brown responded: “After that interception and that bonehead intellectual breakdown in the last game against Dallas, he can’t play in any stadium that I’m gonna assist to be built.”
Grbac replaced Steve Young in the second half after the starter suffered a mild concussion. Grbac threw two crucial interceptions, including one that set up the Cowboys’ tying score before it went into overtime.
Grbac later said he wasn’t prepared to play because he and his wife have been worried about the condition of their 9-month-old son, Jack. The boy, who suffers from spina bifida, recently underwent surgery to alleviate pressure on his spinal column and help him develop properly.
“There’s a lot of stuff going on in my life right now and No. 1 is my family,” Grbac said Monday. “There’s other things more important than football at times.”
A $500 sock in the nose
An Arizona football player has been sentenced to two years’ probation and 100 hours of community service for hitting a woman wearing the Oregon State Beavers’ mascot costume during a game last year.
Frank Middleton pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of harassment in connection with the incident.
He was charged after hitting Marri Hollen, a woman dressed in Oregon State’s “Benny Beaver” costume, on Nov. 4, 1995, in a game at Corvallis, Ore.
Middleton, also ordered to pay Hollen $500, played tackle for the Wildcats, who were celebrating a touchdown when he hit Hollen on the nose.
This redefines ‘intentional grounding’
A high school football referee in Gallup, N.M., was knocked unconscious after a player who had just been thrown out of the game returned to the field and tackled him.
The 18-year-old Wingate player, whose name was not released, was arrested on a charge of misdemeanor aggravated battery for his attack on Allen Bainter.
“He remembers going to the game, but that’s about all,” said Bainter’s wife, Pat. “It’s ridiculous. It’s just amazing what’s happening in sports.”
The game was declared a forfeit, and the loss knocked the Bears out of the playoffs.
“We are investigating it,” said Wingate principal Adam Bull. “This is the strangest thing I’ve seen in high school sports.”
Guess he’s never been to a wrestling match in Colville.
The last word …
“I was driving in from Logan Airport last night, and it’s beautiful. I took the Ted Williams Tunnel. And in New York City, we have something similar. We have the Bill Buckner toll booth. For $3.50, you drive right through his legs.”
- David Letterman, doing a show from Boston
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