Keep up with the Jones
Smarty Jones is having an impact on the horse-naming game, too. In recent weeks, many owners and breeders have used the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner as inspiration for naming their horses.
For openers, there’s Party Jones, a 2004 colt by Smarty Jones’ sire, Elusive Quality.
Since May 14 — a day before the Preakness — The Jockey Club’s registry has approved eight Smarty Jones-like names. The others are Sleepy Jones, Smarty Me, Like Smarty, Smarty Who, Smarty Dee, Smarty Joe and Smarty Brown.
Some owners have renamed their horses, perhaps hoping a little of Smarty Jones’ good fortune will come their way.
It already happened for the filly formerly known as Hastalavista Baby. The 3-year-old, also by Elusive Quality, was renamed Smarty Me by owners Robert and Mary Ellen McKee in May, and won in her debut June 15.
“I take it as a compliment and I’m honored that people are doing this,” Pat Chapman, who owns Smarty Jones with her husband Roy, said in a statement issued by The Jockey Club.
“I was surprised when I first heard about it, but then I remembered that I once named a cat after Tug McGraw.”
Lakers need their own Smarty
When Derek Fisher appeared on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show on ABC last week, he was asked by Kimmel whether opting out of his contract meant he was leaving the Los Angeles Lakers.
After a pause, Fisher said that returning to the Lakers was “definitely a possibility.”
Super Dave Osborne, another guest on the show, asked an even more pertinent question: “Is it smart to let everybody’s contract come up at once?”
Parents take networking too far
A Texas couple decided two years ago to name their newborn son ESPN. This after another Texas couple had named their son Espn and a Michigan couple had named their son Espen.
ESPN, never one to miss an opportunity for self-promotion, is planning a special on the three youngsters.
“Not sure what the show will be called,” writes Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, “but I would suggest, ‘My Parents Are Idiots.’ “
Hard hitters wear white
Boxer Laila Ali, to the Denver Post, on why she prefers to wear white in the ring:
“I think it looks clean. My dad (Muhammad Ali) wore white. And sometimes I’m just in the mood to see my opponent’s blood on my shorts.”
Wanted: help from the Sahara
Cam Hutchinson of Canada’s Saskatoon StarPhoenix says this soccer joke is making the rounds:
Question: What do you have when 100 rowdy English soccer fans are buried up to their necks in sand?
Answer: Not enough sand.
New crooner on the block
Jay Leno, on the possibility of Lakers center Shaquille O’Neal going to the Dallas Mavericks:
“You thought Shaq’s rap album was bad? What’s his country-western music going to be like?”