Cheap Seats
The skins game
In an attempt to boost attendance - among other things - the Palm Springs Suns are inviting fans to attend their July 8 game in the nude.
“We are a progressive group out here in Palm Springs,” said Miles Barrett of the local Chamber of Commerce. “It’s obviously being done in fun.”
The Suns, who play in the Western Baseball League, average fewer than 1,000 fans per game.
To avoid offending more puritanical fans, nudists will watch the game from a large tent - covered by a dark security screen - near the left-field line.
The event is sponsored by Tom Mulhall, who owns the Terra Cotta Inn in Palm Springs and claims: “We’re not out to offend anybody. Our normal dress code is tennis shoes, socks and a baseball cap.”
That cap have to be worn on your head, Tom?
Wetteland to N.Y.: Drop dead, or not
John Wetteland thinks of himself as a closer, but his convictions are more open-and-shut-and-open.
Last week, the Yankees reliever - still unhappy over the club’s bizarre attempt to withhold half of his $4 million salary - told Toronto writer Danny Gallagher, “Principles mean more to me than anything. I’d play for peanuts in Montreal. Being the highest-paid reliever is not important to me. I loved it in Montreal. Everything there was a lot simpler.”
A day later, however, Wetteland claimed, “It’s a bunch of trash. I never talked to Danny Gallagher.” But Gallagher told a New York radio station he could produce a tape of the interview, so Wetteland changed his story - again. Now he says he only felt that way a month ago.
In truth, the Yankees would be happy to see Wetteland take his option for 1997 and go. Club officials still can’t understand why owner George Steinbrenner chose to guarantee $8.6 million over two years to Wetteland after agent Tom Reich offered to settle for roughly half that.
Maybe George could claim he never talked to Wetteland.
Mistaken identity
David Stern has presented so many awards to Michael Jordan, the NBA commissioner is getting a complex.
“It’s me, Michael’s parking valet and trophy attendant here again,” Stern said before feting Jordan as MVP of the NBA Finals.
Funny, we thought he was Michael’s parking valet and trophy attendant.
Now this guy is commissioner material
The Portland Trail Blazers have fired public address announcer Mike Stone and are seeking a cheerleader-type announcer to rev up the home crowd.
Stone said team officials told him they would look for a radio personality to add more emotion and volume to the proceedings.
“I felt pressured last year to hype the games more,” Stone said, “but I couldn’t take it to the next level without feeling like a buffoon. I just had too much respect for the game to overstate it.”
The last word …
“I avoid betting on horses with long, crammed-together names unless it’s something like Thisraceisfixedinmyfavor or Theotherhorseshavebeendrugged.”
- Michael Ventre, Los Angeles Daily News
, DataTimes