Cheap Seats
Ben who?
One thing about former Washington State basketball coach Kelvin Sampson - he’s gracious to a fault. Consider this letter that arrived in the University of California basketball office:
“Congratulations on your NCAA bid,” wrote Sampson, whose Oklahoma Sooners were also invited, “and good luck in your game against Princeton. I look forward to seeing you soon.”
Damn nice. Except that the letter was addressed to Todd Bozeman.
Worse yet, it was postmarked 1992, when Lou Campanelli was still the coach.
That’s just the way it is
The ticket prices are serious in spring training, but the teams aren’t always. Why else, in a 6-3 win over the Mariners, would the Anaheim Angels insert musician Bruce Hornsby into the lineup?
Angels manager Terry Collins sent Hornsby in as a pinch runner for Kevin Bass with two outs in the seventh and the Angels up two runs. Hornsby was left stranded when George Arias popped out to right field.
“I can’t believe the manager went through with it,” said Hornsby, a friend of pitcher Mark Langston. “The game was still close and who knows how I could have screwed it up. I ran out there and (first base coach) Dave Parker looked like he was going to faint. He said I looked the same way.”
Funny thing was, while Collins was playing pop stars, Angels fans were all over Mariners manager Lou Piniella for not suiting up Ken Griffey Jr., Jay Buhner and Alex Rodriguez. One particularly belligerent fan continued to rage at Piniella all game.
“Have another beer!” Piniella yelled at him in the middle of a postgame interview.
A really elevated tee box
Golfer Brad Faxon doesn’t take missing the cut lightly.
After his PGA Tour-leading streak of making 25 consecutive cuts ended in Hawaii, Faxon climbed 35 flights of stairs to his hotel room in the Aston Tower.
“I didn’t deserve to take the elevator,” he said.
Something tells us he won’t be so hard on himself once he’s on the Senior Tour.
STP 101
Two community colleges in the heart of NASCAR country Rowan-Cabarrus in Salisbury and Mitchell College in Statesville - will become the first to offer degrees in motorsports management and marketing.
“Motorsports is the fastest growing new industry in North Carolina,” said H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, president of Charlotte Motor Speedway and other racing properties. “And we need what the textile industry did in the 1890s - management.”
Why? Does NASCAR have a dirt-poor work force that needs exploiting? Oh, right. Those would be the fans.
Make it ‘Gaucher College’
The basketball coach at Goucher College has apologized for referring to his team as “my plantation” during a practice.
Leonard Trevino called the remark “in poor taste and unprofessional.” It had sparked a campus furor, including a forum to discuss alleged racial incidents at the college. Others protested at a basketball game.
The last word …
“Coaches crying about players going pro early, that’s like termites bitching about aluminum siding.”
- Scott Ostler, San Francisco Chronicle
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