Cheap Seats

Trying to tame those wild Lions

Silverdome officials in Pontiac, Mich., denied the Detroit Lions’ request to not sell beer at a recent game in an effort to cut down rowdy and drunken behavior evident at some games this season.

“I don’t think you penalize the masses for the behavior of a few,” Eric Walker, executive director of the Silverdome, told The Oakland Press of Pontiac.

“Football, a beer and a hot dog go hand-in-hand throughout the country.”

Maybe the Lions wouldn’t have so many problems if they would just tell their players to stay out of the beer line during games.

Jack of all trades, master of none

Ray Miller, the new manager of the Baltimore Orioles, broke into management at age 28 as a manager-coachpitcher in Venezuelan winter ball in 1973.

That prompted the Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell to recall a Miller quote from those early days.

“I’d visit the pitcher on the mound, send myself to the bullpen, warm myself up, visit the pitcher again, replace him with myself, pitch, visit with myself, signal to warm up a lefty because I was in trouble, call a coach out to calm me down, give the ball to the new pitcher and send myself to the showers,” Miller said.

“Then the other guy would get shelled worse than I did and I’d have to explain afterward why I couldn’t pitch, coach or manage.”

Seems like a strategy Lou Piniella should employ.

No changing of the guard

Tennessee, Louisiana Tech, Stanford, Connecticut, Virginia and Georgia long have dominated women’s college basketball.

So much so that it caused Milton Kent of the Baltimore Sun to fashion this lead paragraph in his season preview:

“Historically, it’s been harder to find guests on the ‘Jerry Springer’ show who have self-respect or people who have emerged from a Pauly Shore movie without a paper bag on their heads than to find new members of the women’s college basketball elite.”

The right incentive helps

A Pikesville, Md., pizza outlet made the mistake of promising a dollar off for every sack made by the often-anemic Baltimore Ravens defense.

So what happened? The Ravens sacked Philadelphia quarterback Bobby Hoying nine times two Sundays ago, dropping the cost of a large pizza to $1.69.

“This is crazy,” said a fan who waited 3-1/2 hours for his order. “I had more fun today waiting for my pizza than I did at the game.”

A new slant on domestic violence

Craig and Melissa Salamone of New York registered easy victories at Yonkers Raceway on Friday night in what was said to be the first professional boxing card to feature a husband and wife.

The 26-year old Craig, a 1995 New York Golden Gloves titlist, who was making his pro debut, stopped Brice Campbell of Washington at 2:14 of the second round of a scheduled four-round bout.

Melissa, 23, a two-time New York Golden Glover as well as a national AAU champion, extended her undefeated streak to three with a unanimous fourround decision over junior lightweight Rolanda Adams of Atlanta - as her husband worked the corner.

“It was nice to have him working in my corner,” Melissa said. “Here we were, husband and wife, together. Isn’t that the way it’s supposed to be?”

Wonder who wears the pants in that family?

The last word …

“Directions to Columbus, Ohio: South until you smell it, east until you step in it.”

- Bumper sticker seen in Ann Arbor, Mich., prior to the Michigan-Ohio State football game

, DataTimes