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Candid Charles scores with journalists
Houston Rockets forward Charles Barkley received the most votes in balloting for the 1998-99 NBA All-Interview team.
Barkley, whose candid postgame comments often stray into his views on social issues and politics, was named on 61 of the 84 ballots cast by sportswriters and broadcasters.
The voters were asked to name a coach and five players, without regard to position, based on their accessibility and ability to provide informative and interesting quotes. Joining Barkley on the all-interview first team are Jayson Williams of the New Jersey Nets with 42 votes, followed by San Antonio Spurs teammates Avery Johnson with 37 and David Robinson with 13.
League most valuable player Karl Malone of the Utah Jazz collected 19 votes. George Karl of the Milwaukee Bucks was the top coach with 29 votes.
Holy baseball!!!
How much is a baseball signed by Pope John Paul II worth?
Bidding will start at $10,000 at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Atlanta on July 21 for the ball signed by the pope during a visit to Candlestick Park in 1987 - when it still was Candlestick Park.
The record for a ball signed by a non-sports celebrity is $35,000 for one with John F. Kennedy’s autograph. One signed by Cuba’s Fidel Castro went for $5,000.
He should quit while he’s ahead
Eleven-year-old Tom Flanagan made a hole in one on his first swing on a regulation golf course.
Playing with his brand-new $14 junior graphite driver, Flanagan aced the par-3, 108-yard first hole at Belle Terre Golf Course in Myrtle Beach, S.C., where the Canadian youngster’s family was vacationing.
He’s not sold on the X Games
Andrew Marchand in the New York Post says the X Games are “the Home Shopping Network on wheels,” adding that “to borrow a term from street luge, the sale of anything and everything makes you want to `puke a wheel.’ ”
Feet firmly planted on ground
Although he is only 28, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Greg Hansell is playing for his 10th team in 11 professional seasons. But he says moving around doesn’t bother him.
“I’d rather stay in this fantasy world of baseball for as long as I can before I have to go out into the real world and get a job,” he said. “Any level of baseball is better than any job I could find in the outside world.”
They already know how to burn money
Bad bullpens are often called arson squads. Last Saturday, there were some real flames in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ bullpen.
About 2 hours before Saturday’s game against San Francisco, Dodgers players gathered in their bullpen and burned the white caps the club adopted in spring training along with other equipment.
It didn’t work. Los Angeles, whose $79.2 million payroll was baseball’s second-highest on opening day, lost 9-1.
The last word …
“It was like my first marriage, I was the last to know.”
- Tennis player/broadcaster John McEnroe, expressing his feeling on the air about mixed doubles partner Steffi Graf pulling out of their semifinal match at Wimbledon.