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Bottoms up

Here’s a new sport for those bored with the usual fare - wife carrying.

Two Estonian men, each seeking to win his wife’s weight in beer, carried their partners on their backs to first and second places in the Wife Carrying World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The winning couple, Imre Ambos and Annela Ojaste, beat a field of 37 couples from eight countries.

The top two finishers carried their wives upside down over their backs, a departure from previous years when the piggyback carry triumphed.

“We had some really fit, young sportsmen, and the women were as light as grasshoppers,” said Hannu Keranen, one of the organizers.

Feminist view

Reacting to suggestions that wife carrying was demeaning to women, the region’s governor, Pirjo Ala-Kapee, said she approved of the contest.

“If anything, it’s uplifting,” she said. “It’s also authentic and exotic.”

Different strokes

Five-time Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras told John McEnroe, “The way I act on court is because of my parents.”

The volatile McEnroe replied, “I’d like to say that the way I acted on court was not because of my parents.”

Past tense

The Seattle Seahawks are hoping their new free-agent receiver lives up to his name - Thomas Caughtit.

The record game

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. aren’t the only ones chasing a major league home run record.

Alex Rodriguez of the Seattle Mariners has 27 home runs and is on pace to break Ernie Banks’ record of 47 - most by a shortstop.

Some imagination

Stacy Compton, a regular in NASCAR’s truck series, explains what it’s like to drive a 3,400-pound truck in a 200-mile race:

“Imagine yourself in a dryer on tumble dry going wide-open. You are trying to focus, stay out of trouble and race door-to-door with 30 drivers without hitting anybody.”

And then try parallel parking in downtown Spokane.

Hero worship

Cleveland first baseman Jim Thome was so impressed when he saw Mark McGwire hitting home runs that he sent the St. Louis Cardinal slugger a 12-pack of beer.

“He autographed it, and I will not break it open,” McGwire said.

Worth a try

Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler Jeff Blatnick, after being named president of the newly formed Mixed Martial Arts Council, said one of his main objectives was “to prove to critics that MMA is a sport.”

Good luck.

The last word …

“With any luck, this will shut up the soccer honks who are in their third decade of telling us how the sport will take over the country.”

The Chicago Tribune on the firing of U.S. World Cup coach Steve Sampson.