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And now she’s the Fabulous Sports Defendant. Nancy Donnellan, ESPN radio’s “Fabulous Sports Babe,” and KSTW cameraman Scott Blatman are being sued by a former Kingdome usher, who said a shove from Blatman aggravated a heart condition.

The Babe and the Blat were interviewing Mariners season-ticket holders during a game April 27 when they were asked to move because fans complained their views were being obstructed. The suit says Blatman shoved a camera into the usher’s chest, causing his heart defibrillator to shut off. He was taken to a hospital and remained in critical condition for two days. Blatman contends he was the one assaulted and said the Babe, “was just a person who was there at the wrong place and the wrong time.”

If the Babe is standing between you and a ballgame, you’re the one in the wrong place.

Knight errant

It isn’t easy being the son of a legend, no matter what that legend is. Pat Knight, who plays basketball for father Bobby at the University of Indiana, feels more comfortable playing road games than he does at Assembly Hall because of the harsh treatment he gets from Hoosiers fans.

Knight the younger jokingly told Tom Rietmann of the Indianapolis Star he has considered composing a poem and reading it to the crowd, as his father did after the final home game last year.

“When he does it, it’s looked at as being colorful,” said Pat. “But if a kid like myself did it, people would think I’m a jerk.”

At the moment, they only think he’s the son of a jerk. Sorry, a colorful jerk.

Stop the presses

Lest you think baseball pettiness is confined to the owners and players, here’s a bulletin: baseball writers have joined the club.

The Washington Post reports that Joe Durso of the New York Times, nominated to receive the Spink Award from the Baseball Writers Association of America, was torpedoed by a letter written by fellow Times staffer Murray Chass and five other sports writers.

“His coverage, more often than not, was superficial,” the letter read in part, “undermined by habitual lateness, a lack of enterprise … Durso rarely developed a story … often lagged days behind the reports of competing newspapers … seldom wrote more than hits, runs and errors.” Added Newsday’s Marty Noble, “When I worked against Joe Durso, I never, ever considered him to be a Hall of Fame writer. I was incredulous he could be nominated.”

The last word …

“Women’s tennis may be the first sport to ever blush its way out of business … If Joe Namath could admit to wearing panty hose, why can’t Steffi Graf admit to wearing panty liners?” - Chicago Tribune columnist Bernie Lincicome, on the Women’s Tennis Association turning down a $10 million sponsorship from Tampax