Cheap Seats

Violins up

The delay in finalizing financing for a new Milwaukee stadium has cost the Brewers the 1999 All-Star Game, but a $20 million loan from the Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee is expected to help close the complex deal.

Michael Joyce, president of the foundation, said he made the offer after talking to his 11-year-old son, who plays on a Little League team named the Brewers.

“He said, ‘Dad, if the Brewers leave, what will I do with my cap?”’ Joyce said. “It kind of got to me.”

Now he can wear it while sitting in the Brewers’ new $20 general admission section.

Meadowlark McEnroe

John McEnroe is finding it difficult to go gently into the world of seniors tennis, which needs him a lot more than he needs it. Now 37 and an occasional member of the Jimmy Connors Champions Tour, Johnny B. Bad is not as talented or as feisty as he once was, and he’s a somewhat ambivalent player - especially since Connors keeps scheduling tournaments on clay, which has never been Mac’s best surface.

“I’d rather beat a guy in an hour, and feel a little less stiff the next day than lose to a guy on clay in 2 hours,” said McEnroe. “Then again, it’s Jimmy’s tour, so at the moment I’m sort of seeing if I can hone my clay-court skills.”

Another problem is the tour’s encouragement of chitchat with fans and clowning.

“It’s not really natural for me,” McEnroe said. “Jimmy has this ability to kid around, then turn around and play really serious. I was able to get really angry and then play, but I don’t find that all that fun to do - 37 years old and (I) have four kids.”

Has the tour told him to lighten up?

“People have been telling me that my whole life,” he said.

A new definition of losing face

Former major leaguer Troy Neel of the Orix Blue Wave in Tokyo was fined 50,000 yen - $463 - and given a “severe warning” for punching catcher Tetsuya Matoyama of the Kintetsu Buffaloes in the face.

Neel was thrown out of the game and also was ejected from another game for his language in complaining over a called third strike. A league statement said Neel needs to reflect on his unsportsmanlike acts.

And we thought U.S. baseball was toothless. The Japanese would probably apologize for Matoyama’s face being in the way of Albert Belle’s forearm.

Good thing there’s no position called ‘sniper’

Bruce Allen, son of the late George Allen and now senior assistant with the Raiders, recalled that when his father was coaching the Rams in 1969, he was asked to sit with President Nixon at an exhibition game against Kansas City. When the Chiefs lined up in a formation in which the quarterback wasn’t behind center, 12-year-old Bruce called out “shotgun.”

“I guess that’s not a great phrase to yell out with Secret Service all around,” Allen said. “They looked kind of shook up, but the President said, ‘The boy knows what he’s talking about. Relax.”’

The last word …

“The only thing I can see of value is the helmet - for any woman who may date him in the future.”

- Gloria Allred, spokeswoman for the family of Nicole Brown Simpson, on O.J. mail-order memorabilia

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo