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Obey the rules, always
During a hockey brawl between Buffalo and Florida that resulted in 70 minutes of penalties, Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek was given a bench minor for throwing his gloves on the ice.
Alas, first impressions …
John McEnroe came face to face the last few days with the man he once called “a disgrace to the human race.”
George Grime was in the umpire’s chair at Wimbledon 17 years ago when McEnroe launched into his famous “You cannot be serious” tirade.
Grime is an umpire at the ATP Seniors Tour of Champions, which runs through today in London.
Grime, now 60, first came across McEnroe in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1977 when Mac was just 17.
“What a polite young American, I thought.”
Wrong.
The last time Grime was the target of McEnroe’s wrath was in the final of the ATP over-35s event in Germany two years ago.
When McEnroe questioned a line call, he said, “I guess there’s no point in asking you whether you saw the ball. You haven’t been able to see a ball for 20 years.”
He had a little help
New England Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe is accorded legendary status after another dramatic comeback, this time against Buffalo last week - and with a broken index finger on his passing hand.
Jim Donaldson of the Providence (R.I.) Journal is a believer:
“You’ve got Willis Reed, limping out of the locker room to lead the Knicks to an NBA championship.
“You’ve got Kirk Gibson, hobbling out of the dugout to belt a pinch-hit home run and win a World Series game for the Dodgers.
“Bledsoe was like Roy Hobbs, hitting the game-winning homer in ‘The Natural.’ He was like Jimmy Chitwood, sinking the buzzer-beating shot in ‘Hoosiers.”’
It’s worth noting that in “Hoosiers” there is no phantom foul call with 1 second remaining.
Don’t get mad, get even
The Sun, a London tabloid, ran a front-page story saying Nick Faldo, a three-time winner of both the British Open and Masters, has a new girlfriend, Valerie Bercher, a 25-year-old Swiss public relations executive.
The Sun said that after Faldo split with his American girlfriend, Brenna Cepelak, in October, she took a golf club to his Porsche, causing $16,500 in damage.
This is Oakland, not Motown
Fox TV’s Tim Green repeatedly said during the Raiders-Redskins game last week that Oakland’s Jeff George “needs to get his rhythm back.”
Comment from Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post: “Timmy, he’s a quarterback, not one of the Temptations.”
The last word …
“Some of the rank-and-file players are starting to hurt financially as a result of the NBA lockout. The other day one almost had to fly coach.”
- Comedy writer Alan Ray.