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NFL messes up priorities
Jets defensive end Hugh Douglas, on the team being in first place for the first time since 1987: “Back then, all I thought about was getting a girlfriend, not playing football.”
No Knicks for Nick
Dave Checketts, New York Knick chief executive, reacted strongly to a rumor in the New York Daily News that the Lakers and Knicks were discussing a possible trade involving Nick Van Exel:
“I don’t want him on this team, how’s that?” Checketts said. “I’m not going to give reasons. I don’t need to be quoted in the L.A. Times about what I think about him.”
Your secret is safe, Dave.
It’s God’s fault
Hey Husky fans, looking for someone to blame for prep sensation Luke Huard choosing North Carolina over the beloved Dawgs?
First, look in the mirror. Booing big brother Damon didn’t exactly sit well with the Huards. They got over it, though, and young Luke may have still chosen the Dawgs if not for a misplaced newcomer from the Tar Heel state.
Apparently, Huard was looking for some sort of sign to help guide him with his decision. It came nearly two weeks ago, when he was stopped at a stoplight in Puyallup.
“I hadn’t told my dad yet what I wanted to do, and I was a little bit worried about it,” said Luke.
“I was kind of hitting my head lightly on the steering wheel and asked, ‘What am I going to do, God?’ I looked up and the car in front of me had a North Carolina license plate. “That kind of put my mind at ease. I kind of took it as a sign from God. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a North Carolina license plate in Puyallup.”
Makes you wonder what Luke would have done had he seen an Alaska license plate.
It’s God’s fault, II
Sportswriter Paul Domowitch of the Philadelphia Daily News handed out his NFL midseason awards and had a special one for Washington Redskins defensive lineman Sean Gilbert: Dumbest holdout.
“This rocket scientist,” wrote Domowitch, “who had all of three sacks last season, has decided to sit out the year rather than accept the generous $3.5 million-a-year deal the Washington Redskins have offered him. Gilbert says God has told him not to accept a penny less than five mill.”
Tired of all that Bark(ley)?
Before Charles Barkley said he would retire again (he didn’t), Blackie Sherrod of the Dallas Morning News wrote: “So quit, already. He could be rather surprised at the lack of ripple.”
Wait! Just one more on Barkley
Bill Conlin in the Philadelphia Daily News, on Barkley tossing a 5-foot-2 heckler into a plate-glass window: “Barkley allegedly established a new American citizen’s record in the 120-pound litigant toss.”
The last word …
“I think we’re going to kick a little European tail, Japanese style.”
- Chip Minton, the pusher on the four-man bobsled that is expected to finish in the top three at the Winter Games in Nagano, Japan, and end a 50-year Olympic bobsled medals drought for the United States.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo