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House rules

Florida Marlins owner Wayne Huizenga recently paid more for his house on Nantucket, $7.5 million, than the payroll of his current Marlins roster, reports Peter Gammons in the Boston Globe.

Sampras does have a pulse

Given a proper foil, a potential rival, tennis great Pete Sampras can get fiery and demonstrative. Andre Agassi once filled that role and he may again. For now, however, Patrick Rafter is the man.

Sampras had a John McEnroe-like outburst when Rafter won the ATP Championships in Cincinnati on a controversial over-ruling on match point.

“You know, you guys think I’m some sort of robot out there,” Sampras said. “That I feel nothing. But it’s certainly not the case. No, I’m not going to regret it (the outburst). I mean, I felt good after I did it.”

The loss gives No. 1 Sampras plenty of steam heading into the U.S. Open, which begins Monday. And surely defending U.S. Open champion Rafter will remember Sampras’ assessment - albeit a joking one - of the difference between himself and Rafter.

“Ten Grand Slams,” he said.

She was hoping for Andy Rooney

Ila Borders, the first woman pitcher to win a game in men’s professional baseball, might have had good reason not to talk to CBS’ Mike Wallace for a “60 Minutes” interview. In her last three starts with Duluth of the Northern League, she has given up 22 runs in eight innings and her earned-run average, once 4.88, has soared to 8.92.

“She wouldn’t talk to me,” Wallace said. “I saw her in the locker room and I didn’t say anything to her. She looked at me like I was a hair in her soup.”

Ivy chokes checkbook

There are no athletic scholarships in the Ivy League, which can pose quite a financial burden on families. Jake Bittner put in three years as an offensive lineman while getting an engineering degree at Yale. Mai Lindstrom, Indianapolis Motor Speedway director of public relations, said that financing her son’s education was like “pushing a brand new BMW over a cliff every year for four years.”

Downside to making millions

When Atlanta Braves outfielder Ryan Klesko attended Westminster High School in Southern California, he spent a lot of his time surfing. So when the Braves came west, an Atlanta TV crew wanted to get some shots of Klesko on his board.

However, his agent reminded him that his contract had a clause preventing him from surfing. Klesko showed up at Huntington Beach with his surfboard, but he didn’t surf.

“It was awfully tempting, so I sat on the beach and moped,” he said. “I watched a surf contest, ate a bagel and read the newspaper.”

Who’s the baby here?

There were 31,000 fans there when the Cincinnati Reds held a Beanie Baby Day, but one woman called the Reds’ front office and threatened a lawsuit if she didn’t get one of the Beanie Babies as the youngsters did.

She said she deserved one because she was pregnant with her first child.

Price for stupidity

One of coach Chan Gailey’s new rules for the Dallas Cowboys is that any player who commits a stupid penalty in practice must take a lap.

Observed Boston Globe columnist Ron Borges: “If that had been in effect when (former coach Barry) Switzer was around, the Cowboys would have had a half-dozen guys ready for the Boston Marathon.”

The last word …

“He is only 21, but he played several years in the Mexican League, where you have to be good or they throw tequila bottles, lemons and batteries at you. If they left their guns at home.”

- Cincinnati Reds teammate Dmitri Young on why 21-year-old left-hander Dennis Reyes won’t have any trouble adapting to the major leagues.