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Splish, splash
After playing the worst game of his seven-year NBA career, Loy Vaught didn’t need a caustic remark by coach Bill Fitch to get him going the next night.
But it didn’t hurt. Vaught made 15 of 18 shots for 31 points in leading the Clippers past the Nuggets - 24 hours after he was scoreless and fouled out in 14 minutes against the Sonics.
“I walked onto the bus last night,” Fitch said, “and the only thing I said was, ‘Loy, did you shower?’ He said yeah, and I said ‘What for?”’
Because he’d been in contact with you, Bill.
They call me ass…assin
In a move that may foreshadow things to come for the NFL Players Association, former Raiders safety Jack Tatum has applied for benefits of at least $156,000 a year from the NFL pension fund citing mental anguish from his hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley two decades ago.
Executives in the Players Association and the NFL say Tatum’s application for benefits is outrageous and that a recent court ruling could open the floodgates even further to such claims, exposing the fund to bankruptcy.
Former NFL player Walt Sweeney was awarded $1.8 million by a judge after the league and NFLPA rejected his claim that his use of amphetamines while with the Chargers led to his current use of recreational drugs.
Players involved in non-football related injuries (basically after their playing careers are over) are given about $18,000 a year. Players involved in catastrophic injuries while playing - such as Stingley - are given at least $156,000 a year.
Sweeney sued for the catastrophic money, and now Tatum wants some, too.
It’s a wonder he doesn’t mug Stingley for his money.
And his first words? Mental anguish
Asked to name his first childhood sports memory, University of Arizona basketball guard Jason Lee’s answer was, “Hitting my brother with a baseball bat.”
Preparation TJ
Tommy John pitched 26 seasons, including 14 after the historic ligament transplant in his elbow - a procedure now known as “Tommy John surgery.”
“It’s better to have an orthopedic procedure named after you than a proctological surgery,” John said. “‘Tommy John hemorrhoid surgery’ doesn’t sound quite as good as ‘Tommy John elbow surgery.”’
Hometown boy makes … never mind
Cancel the Eganville charter. Dale McTavish is a no-show.
Some 150 people from the Upper Ottawa Valley town (population 1,300) planned to travel 90 miles to see the only Eganville native ever to play in the NHL. But the Calgary Flames sent the 24-year-old McTavish back to the minors just before their game in Ottawa.
“There was no intention to make Dale look bad,” said Mike Burke, director of hockey operations.
“He was the major topic of conversation in the streets and in the coffee shop,” said Bryan Hendry, news editor of the weekly Eganville Leader. “This was a big deal.”
The last word …
“They’re getting dumber. They run like deer, they jump like deer and they think like deer.”
- Charles Barkley, on the latest generation of NBA players
, DataTimes