Cheap Seats
Hold onto your hats
Deion Sanders, hawker of credit cards, soft drinks and video games, is now into hats.
Sanders has signed an agreement with Hat Brands Inc. to market a line of fur and felt dress hats.
The Sanders’ line will be geared to men with big heads.
Jersey Guv scores with Undertaker
Standing beside World Wrestling Federation performer Undertaker, Gov. Christie Whitman buried a special New Jersey tax on televised professional wrestling.
She signed the bill after he delivered it to her in a tombstone-like folder reading “RIP” with the day’s date.
Officials say the move will bring more wrestling pay-per-view events - including “Summerslam” in August - and more revenue to the state.
It also ends regulation, treating the events as entertainment rather than sport.
“I am delighted that with the help of Undertaker, I now can put this tax to rest and may it rest in peace forever,” Whitman said as the costumed wrestler towered over her at Continental Airlines Arena.
After the signing, the arena’s loudspeakers broke into wild cheers.
Just one of the boys
Former Montreal Expo catcher Tim Spehr, who was traded to the Boston Red Sox, received an unusual welcome from his new teammates.
Spehr, who had a cancerous testicle removed in 1985, returned to his locker room last week to find his protective cup had been cut in half.
Not missing the Mark
Mark Price, who left the Bullets as a free agent for Golden State, returned to Landover, Md., last week with the Warriors and was booed every time he touched the ball.
“Not to worry,” wrote Peter Vecsey of the New York Post. “Price plays alongside Latrell Sprewell and rarely touches the ball.”
And they say the media never emphasizes the positive.
No blood, no foul
After witnessing the Bruins’ second-round game win over Xavier, Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker wrote, “If you combined UCLA’s skill and maturity with Xavier’s commando zeal, nobody would schedule you.”
The Musketeers’ desperation earned them 19 rebounds. They also decked (J.R.) Henderson and elbowed (Jelani) McCoy in the sternum, leaving him breathless - but with five blocks in 19 minutes.
Added UCLA coach Steve Lavin, “There was so much blood I thought we were playing Dracula.”
Dumping the “Three J’s‘ jerseys”
The Dallas Mavericks, with lots of “Three J’s” merchandise remaining after dealing off Jason Kidd, Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson, have donated the stuff to a Dallas charity. The charity distributed it to an orphanage in Romania, a leper colony in India and a reservation in South Dakota.
The last word …
“These days, the most insulting thing a college basketball player can be called is a senior.”
- Chicago Tribune columnist - Bernie Lincicome
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