Cheap Seats
In the driver’s seats
He gets the commercial endorsements and she gets the kids, the house, the Mercedes 300SL convertible, the Mercedes 428SL and the 1994 Suburban.
At least that’s what Deion Sanders’ wife, Carolyn, asked for when filing for divorce last week.
She says they were married for seven years and is suing for divorce on the grounds of adultery and “cruel treatment.”
He says: “I wasn’t married in September 1989. Deion Sanders just got married in March of 1996 in Reno, Nev. Now when you say I committed adultery, are you stating (after) the marriage of March 1996 or prior to?
“Divorce is part of life. The divorce rate right now is about 50 percent. It is unfortunate that in today’s society in America that you can take marriage and divorce and make profits from it.”
Right on, Deion. Profiteering should be limited to megalomaniacal shoe companies exploiting Third World workers to make overpriced sneakers and then paying athletes millions of dollars to endorse them.
Comparison shopping for stiffs
Vinnie Vecchione, whose clever handling of tomato can Peter McNeeley resulted in an $800,000 payday in Mike Tyson’s comeback fight last year, is wearing a Don King-sized grin since Bruce Seldon’s embarrassing 109-second non-fight against Tyson.
McNeeley, who lasted 89 seconds against Tyson, “looks better all the time,” Vecchione gushed. “Peter’s the only one to go after Tyson. Peter was never afraid of him. He crashed into him, took it to him. The rest of these guys have been scared of him.”
For better or worse, McNeeley, now 27, is still boxing, although his purses have dropped from six to four figures. He has won five of his six fights since the Tyson bout and his record now stands at 41-3. Although McNeeley was knocked out in the fifth round last month in Denver by Louis Monaco, an unsung heavyweight with a 3-3 record, Vecchione insists that McNeeley’s best days are ahead of him.
“It was the thin air,” Vecchione said.
The same stuff you concocted McNeeley’s boxing career out of, right Vinnie?
Some questions are best left unanswered
Or unasked. But since the editors of college football media guides insist on asking anyway, the athletes will answer - as Washington quarterback Brock Huard did when asked, “What is the best thing about a Husky home game?”
“Great showers, really,” Huard said. “Even the hotels don’t compare - and with free soap and Pepsi, you can’t beat our showers.”
And your favorite pregame ritual?
Said Kevin Carretta, Notre Dame senior tight end: “Listening to (teammate) Jeremy Akers vomit.”
Wrestling with future good news
In time, the agony of giving up Eddie Murray’s 500th home run will diminish. And in time, says Detroit Tigers pitcher Felipe Lira, who was tagged with the tater, he might be revered alongside other greats.
“Now people all around the world will know me in a bad way. Maybe someday I’ll be good news around the world. Right. Kinda like Hulk Hogan.”
The last word …
“For us, ultrasound (treatment) was putting your foot on the radio and turning it to an FM station.”
Johnny “Red” Kerr, Bulls radio and TV analyst and former NBA iron man, on advantages players have today
, DataTimes