In brief: Instant replay with Keefe

Arena football: Spokane Shock coach Rob Keefe didn’t flinch when he faced a barrage of questions from fans in a live online chat Thursday afternoon.

“With the time expiring at the Iowa game, why did you call a timeout on offense just before the 1:00 warning?”

“Who are you going to blame/fire for future losses?”

“How much does the team miss having Huey Whittaker?”

Keefe typed in his own answers and had fun with his responses.

Check out the replay of Thursday’s chat at spokesman.com/shock.

College teams in dead-bat era

Baseball: College baseball teams are hitting half as many home runs and averaging a run less per game halfway through the season.

Blame – or credit – the new metal bats put into play this year.

The average Division I team is hitting 0.47 home runs a game and scoring 5.63 runs, compared with 0.85 home runs and 6.98 runs at a comparable point last season, according to the NCAA.

College baseball officials gradually have been taking pop out of bats for more than a decade because of what the considered an excess of offense.

Associated Press

Boy buys back ring for ‘Fridge’

Football: Chicago Bears great William “The Refrigerator” Perry has his 1985 Super Bowl ring back on his finger thanks to a 10-year-old boy.

Cliff Forrest of Fox Chapel, Pa., took $8,500 out of his college savings account to buy Perry’s Super Bowl ring in New York.

“He only played in one Super Bowl,” Cliff said. “I thought he would want it more than I did.”

So the boy asked his dad if he could give the ring back to Perry, who has been diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome. The autoimmune disease attacks the nervous system and can cause paralysis.

“I would not have permitted the purchase myself, but his mother is a little more soft-hearted,” Cliff Forrest Sr. said.

“He was very appreciative and he said, ‘Thank you,’ ” Cliff said.

Perry won’t say how his Super Bowl ring ended up for sale.

Perry, a lineman, played 10 seasons in the NFL.

Associated Press