Cheap Seats
Only Ripken passes Nintendo test
Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin: “Not to take anything away from those boys (Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa) because what they are doing is incredible, but (Cal) Ripken is the man.
“You can’t even do what he did (in playing 2,632 consecutive games) on Nintendo. You can hit 65 home runs on Nintendo.”
He’s still got spunk
When a fan hollered at Jimmy Connors to “just play fair,” Connors stormed off the court in the opening set of the PricewaterhouseCoopers Champions title match against John McEnroe.
Although he was defaulted by umpire Myron Krueger, Connors eventually was talked into returning to the court by McEnroe and Nuveen Tour officials after a 20-minute delay.
Connors eventually overcame a match point in the Champions tiebreak to win 6-7 (2-7), 6-2, 11-9 and collect the $40,000 winner’s share. McEnroe, who earned $25,000, and Connors refused to shake hands at the end of the match in Irving, Texas.
Nothing to crow about
New York Giants safety Tito Wooten on his mental errors in a game Sept. 21 against Dallas: “It’s the crow’s nest up here,” he said, referring to his head. “I don’t think I have enough crows.”
Debunking the juiced-ball theory
Woody Paige of the Denver Post speculating on the notion the ball may be juiced considering the home run output of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa this season:
“Honestly, these owners aren’t smart enough to juice the ball. They can’t even operate a juice machine. And they couldn’t keep quiet about it if they did. They don’t leak private information; it floods from their mouth.
“I give you Bud Selig. Do you really believe that the ex-acting-now-permanent commissioner, who has a Wally Cox sort of dazed appearance and the personality of Bobby Cox, could pull off such a stunt? Me, either.”
Deep Fryar
Doesn’t take much for Irving Fryar to go down with the ship - just money. The 0-4 Eagles, an organization in chaos expecting to fire its coach at season’s end, desperate for a new stadium and with little chance to win any time soon because it lacks a quarterback, offered Fryar a three-year contract extension and he snatched it.
“It’s nice to know I’ll be able to continue on as a part of this organization a while longer,” said Fryar.
Writes T.J. Simers of the Los Angeles Times: “If there’s such a thing as reincarnation, this guy was playing in the band the night the Titanic went down.”
The last word …
“Moral values have been thrown out of the window. Christianity is out the window. And that’s wrong. Parents should be at home, teaching kids right from wrong, making sure they get a great education, so they can be a success in life.”
- Albert Belle. Yes, Albert Belle.