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Reitman for the job
Peter McNeeley, who parlayed his embarrassing loss to Mike Tyson into a rich TV deal, has finally found a suitable opponent - Dr. Harold Reitman, a surgeon who donates his fight purses to charity.
McNeeley signed to fight Reitman in a 10-round main event Dec. 12 in Punta Gorda, Fla. “This is a fight promoter’s dream,” promoter Tommy Torino said. “It has all the elements fans love.”
Reitman, a former Golden Gloves champ, is an orthopedic sports medicine surgeon in Fort Lauderdale. The 210-pounder, nicknamed “Hackie,” has a record of 11-4-4.
“I’ve always been the underdog,” Reitman said. “McNeeley is a rough guy, and you don’t beat almost 40 heavyweights laying back. … But I’ll be ready to give 118 percent.”
And when the ring doctor comes over to stop the fight, Reitman can offer a second opinion.
Signing of the times
In case any doubt remained, NFL official Jerry Bergman made it official - the league coddles its quarterbacks. Bergman, assigned to work Sunday’s game between Tampa Bay and Green Bay, made a special pregame visit to the Packers’ locker room, where he whipped out several Brett Favre football cards and promptly asked the quarterback to autograph them.
Favre, who leads the NFL with 28 touchdown passes, said that when he entered the locker room Sunday, Bergman, who was sitting near his locker, walked over and said: “I hate to do this, but I have a few cards for my grandson.”
A few? “He had like eight cards,” Favre clarified.
After signing the cards, Favre said he told Bergman: “Give me a couple of good calls today.”’ Favre and the Packers went on to whip the Bucs 35-13 in a game that featured 19 penalties, including eight on the Packers. At one point, there were five penalties called in a span of seven plays.
“After that third holding call, I said, ‘I want those autographs back,”’ Favre said.
Favre joked that had he turned down Bergman’s autograph requests, Monday’s headlines might have read: “Packers penalized for 360 yards.”
If the NFL has any credibility, the headline should read, “Ref whistled for illegal procedure.”
From running the ball to running his mouth
Seven seasons after retiring from the New England Patriots, ESPN college football analyst Craig James says he’s still on the run.
“I’ve worked hard to be a good broadcaster,” said James, a former running back at Southern Methodist, where he played alongside Eric Dickerson. “When I played football, I never wanted anybody to lift more weights or run more sprints than I did. I think I paralleled that work ethic in my career transition.”
Too bad James lets Lee Corso out-talk him every week.
The last word …
“By his shameless shilling of post-pubescent, onedimensional talents, not to mention his ludicrous glorification of simple dunks, Dick Vitale has emerged as the single most harmful influence in the entire history of basketball.”
- Boston Globe columnist Bob Ryan
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