Cheap Seats
Maybe his swing is not his only handicap
Charles Barkley is not shy about asking for help when the subject is golf.
He was watching television somewhere in America recently when he came across a segment of “Golf Channel Academy Live” featuring Butch Harmon. Viewers can call the show for instruction tips from the featured pro.
Chuck, clearly a golfer in desperate need of help, put down his channel changer and called Butch, who has impeccable golf bloodlines but gained fame as the coach of Tiger Woods.
Then Woods, Harmon’s star pupil, came on the line and viewers were treated to a three-way gab fest.
“I played with Chucky here in Isleworth (Fla.) and it was quite interesting,” Woods said. “After playing with him, I have to give Chucky a huge amount of credit. You know what, NBA players are the most athletic people I have ever met. To come from a position like he does and still make contact, that’s amazing.”
He’s not such a bad guy after all
After the Chicago White Sox named Jerry Manuel their manager Dec. 4, Manuel made it a point to telephone controversial left fielder Albert Belle.
In Manuel’s estimation, a little communication now should help lay the groundwork for a productive relationship with Belle down the road.
“The negative things I’ve heard about Albert Belle have come through the media,” Manuel said. “But everyone involved with the White Sox has told me, ‘Hey, you’re going to love Albert Belle.’ I’m looking forward to loving Albert Belle.”
Belle’s usual 40 HRs and 100 RBIs will bring even more love.
He’s the Grinch who stole the World Series
The Washington Post’s Tony Kornheiser found 1997 to be a mostly negative year: “Worst of all is Wayne Huizenga, the bloated owner of the Florida Marlins, who disrespected the only holy thing in sports: winning a championship. This gasbag spent a ton of cash to win a World Series in a hurry to satisfy his gargantuan ego - and the moment he won it, he imploded the team.
“‘I’m losing too much money,’ Mr. AutoNation USA wept.
“Excuse me, people have stopped buying cars? When sports owners care more about the profit and loss than the won and lost, they’re in the wrong business. For arrogantly spitting on baseball’s championship … Huizenga gets a lump of coal.”
More from Kornheiser
Kornheiser also sent along this year-end wish: “To the unfailingly pretentious Roy Firestone, for saying to Dennis Rodman, ‘I don’t consider you the Salvador Dali of sports. I think you’re the Andy Warhol of sports.’ And Rodman, who couldn’t tell you the difference between Pablo Picasso and a wedge of Gorgonzola cheese, for responding, ‘I’m the black Moses.’ Oh, please.”
The last word …
“John Elway’s wife gets more ink than we do.”
-Ted Simmons, publicist for the Colorado Xplosion of the WNBA, on the difficulty of promoting the team while the Broncos are having a good year
, DataTimes