It didn’t make his day
CBS’ Jim Nantz, in an interview with Golf Digest, was asked to name his most embarrassing on-air moment. Nantz said it might have occurred at the 2003 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, after Davis Love III had won the event.
“Clint Eastwood was in the 18th tower with me, live on the air,” Nantz said, “and I told him that Davis’ father had been a huge Clint Eastwood fan.
“I said, ‘I’ll bet that you didn’t know that when Davis was a young boy, one of the first adult films his father ever took him to see was one of yours.’
“Without hesitating, Clint turned to me on camera and said, ‘I have never made an adult film in my life.’ “
Get a spin doctor
Dan Wheldon smoked his tires and put his car in a spin to celebrate winning the Indianapolis 500 last Sunday.
Jaime Camara did the same thing after winning an Infiniti Pro Series race last Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Except Camara inadvertently hit the inside wall. And he was on camera.
“I’ve always heard about ‘the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat,’ ” he said. “If the TV people ever do anything with ‘the agony of victory,’ then I guess I have the footage for them.”
Soccer injury
Fans in New York are immune to the charms of visiting superstar David Beckham, the New York Post’s Mike Vaccaro says, because they simply don’t get soccer.
“We see a soccer game invade our television screen and will pull a hamstring lunging for the remote to change the channel,” the columnist writes.
It’s only right
Greg Cote in the Miami Herald: “The NFL has passed a rule banning so-called ‘horse-collar tackles.’ However, those tackles will still be allowed against the Colts and Broncos.”
It’s dangerous out there
What’s it like working on a pit crew? David Hyder, crew chief for NASCAR driver Ken Schrader, told Monte Dutton of the Gaston (N.C.) Gazette, “It’s like changing the tires on the left side of your car on an interstate during a state troopers’ strike.”
Spare us
Elliott Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times offers this as a reason to pray there’s not an NBA lockout: “Ron Artest would have even more time to record another rap CD.”
Let Berman at him
Indy driver Danica Patrick is no relation to ESPN’s Dan Patrick. His real name is Dan Patrick Pugh.
He decided to go with Dan Patrick at the suggestion of his bosses when he worked at CNN.
As the Los Angeles Times’ Morning Briefing notes: Just as well. He avoided catcalls of “Pugh, you stink.”
The last word
George Brett, a guest on “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” on the New York Yankees’ Alex Rodriguez seeing a therapist: “I never saw a therapist. … But if I was making $25 million in New York, I’d probably need one too.”