Cheap Seats
No longer in Hog heaven
Utah’s Karl Malone, the NBA’s most valuable player, reportedly heard so many people ask, “Is it him?” when he pulled up to Salt Lake City intersections on his Harley-Davidson motorcycle that he got vanity plates for the bike that say: IT IS.
But he’s changing them to: MJ MVP.
A head of his time
So why does Griffey wear his cap backward?
Style? No. Habit? Yes.
He’s done it for 22 years, since he was 5 years old. “I started wearing baseball caps that way because I wore my father’s caps when I was growing up. The bill bounced down over my eyes and I couldn’t see when I ran, so I turned it backward,’ said Griffey in a new book “Junior: Griffey on Griffey.”
However, a second look at the backward cap suggests something else: It is passe.
The latest trend is to curl the bill, not wear the cap backward. Griffey does not curl his bill. He simply is behind the times just as he once was ahead of the times. It proves what he says, that he doesn’t do it because of style. It’s habit.
But what’s the reasoning behind those silly Junior-designed sleeveless jerseys?
Titleist takes care of Tiger
John Strege reports in “Tiger: A biography of Tiger Woods” that the young golf star receives 2,000 new 100-compression balata golf balls every six months as part of his endorsement contract with Titleist. The balls are for use on the range at his home course in Orlando, Fla.
And the red stripes are hand-painted.
Don’t even think about it
Boston basketball guru Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe says nobody’s going to beat the NBA champion Chicago Bulls:
“So who is going to dethrone them? The Heat, with Alonzo (Mourning) disappearing in the big games? The Knicks? Don’t be ridiculous. Detroit and/or Atlanta with their nonexistent inside games?
“The group therapy session known as the Seattle SuperSonics? The Shady Side Rest Home known as the Houston Rockets?
“And, um, no, don’t say it. Don’t speak it. Don’t even think about suggesting that the team in L.A. can even deal with the Bulls as long as their best player can’t even spell the word champion.
“Michael vs. Shaq: The Complete Works of Shakespeare vs. a Comic Book.”
Such a deal
The Sonics’ big-man debacle could be worse, writes Bud Geracie of the San Jose Mercury News: “Jim McIlvaine was a bust at $35 million, but would you rather have Alonzo Mourning at $105 million?”
We thought boxing was played without balls
Heavyweight boxer Andrew Golota will face Ray Mercer in a fight on Aug. 16 from the Wild Wild West Casino in Atlantic City, N.J.
Promo company Main Event is selling the fight with the slogan “Look Out Below!”
The last word …
“It’s a bathroom break for the fans.”
- Cleveland Indians general manager John Hart on having pitchers hit in National League games.