Cheap Seats
Nature calls
Jack Nicklaus was answering a question at the Masters press building recently when veteran Atlanta sportswriter Furman Bisher got up and started walking out.
“What’s the matter, Furman, aren’t you interested in what I have to say?” Nicklaus asked. Replied Bisher: “At my age, Jack, a man learns to respect his kidneys.”
Wayne’s world
When Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga met with coach Jimmy Johnson in January after word spread that Johnson was considering retirement, one of the enticements Huizenga used was trying to persuade Johnson to work fewer hours.
“Wayne said to me, `Half of you is better than none,”’ Johnson said. “He told me if I needed to take some time off, I should do that.”
Huizenga even suggested Johnson take off until training camp, and that perhaps he didn’t even need to coach every game during the regular season.
“He said, `We don’t have to be conventional just because the rest of the league does it one way,”’ Johnson said. “`We’ll do it however way we want to do it. Maybe you don’t even want to coach away games.”’
Miller time or just time to go?
Eric Davis’ just released book, “Born to Play - The Eric Davis Story,” has revealed a batch of problems afflicting the Orioles, whose $84 million payroll this season is the highest in the game.
Davis suggests in the book that several Orioles question the leadership capabilities of manager Ray Miller and pointed to a closed-door meeting last Aug. 27 in Chicago, when Miller and then-second baseman Roberto Alomar were in each other’s face.
Miller then pulled his coaching staff out of the clubhouse and told the players to straighten out the situation any way they wanted, even by fighting each other if they cared to, according to Davis’ book.
“Like we’re supposed to fight,” Davis writes. “We’re looking at each other in confusion… . Somebody said, `We ought to kick Ray’s butt … for not realizing his inexperience is part of the problem.”
Na-na-na-na na na
Disney Chairman Michael Eisner, whose empire includes the Anaheim Angels, is apparently ready to put on the boxing gloves when it comes to taking on Southern California’s other power outlet, the Fox-owned Los Angeles Dodgers.
Eisner was in no mood to pull his punches or bow to the mighty Dodgers, who have basically owned the Los Angeles area for 40 years when it comes to baseball.
“We’re in competition with Fox everywhere,” Eisner said in a recent Los Angeles Times story. “Luckily, their baseball team doesn’t compare to our baseball team. So in that area, we don’t have to worry about the competition.”
The last word …
“With his victory at the Masters, Jose Maria Olazabal moved into the lead among all-time Spanish money leaders, overtaking Juan Antonio Samaranch.”
- Toronto Star sportswriter Garth Woolsey