Keeping Score

Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “The Yankees, with their new ballpark, will solidify their hold on first place in the Most Annoying Sports Franchise standings. I’ve got (in order): Yankees, Cowboys, Knicks, Celtics, Patriots. Am I leaving anyone out?” . . . The U of Idaho’s
cheerleaders are having their uniforms redone. As The Associated Press reported, the unies were, uhh, "flashing a little more than school spirit." However, as Bruce Pitman, the dean of students pointed out: "To be fair, there were a number of fans who liked them." . . . Russ Parker, the owner of the Regina Pats whose first love is baseball, and his son, Darren, are the proud owners of the Golden Baseball League’s Victoria Seals. Yes, the team is named after the San Francisco Seals, who, when they played in the Pacific Coast League, had an oufielder named Joe DiMaggio. Victoria is fortunate to have landed ownership like the Parkers, who are Canadian and know their way around the baseball world.

Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Panthers, out of the playoffs six consecutive seasons but starting fresh with new coach Peter DeBoer, began a string of six exhibitions in six nights with consecutive victories at Calgary and Edmonton. Unfortunately, the NHL turned down Florida's request to count those two games, call it a season and immediately start the playoffs.” . . . There are whispers that lawyers are about to get involved in the KIBIHT-to-LIBIHT fiasco. . . . It seems there is likely to be another bantam tournament sliding into the void in the calendar left by
KIBIHT's departure. . . . But, sheesh, this hasn’t been a good year for the Tournament Capital of the Free World when you consider that the Strauss Canada Cup of Curling and KIBIHT, two of the calendar year’s biggest events are gone, and KIBT, the baseball tournament, has down-sized from eight to six teams.

Jim Haslett, the defensive co-ordinator who took over as head coach of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams earlier this week, got a 1:15 a.m. phone call asking him to take over from Scott Linehan. "Who calls you at 1:15 in the morning?” Haslett said. “Usually it's a prank call . . ." The way the Rams are going, he may end up wishing he hadn¹t answered the phone. . . . Vijay Singh has a problem. He is 45, has won 34 PGA titles, with 22 of those coming in the last five years, and is starting to sound like Yogi Berra. As Singh explains it: "The older you get, the harder it is to feel younger." . . . Janice Hough, the Left Coast Sports Babe, sees a horrible precedent for Canada in the way the U.S. government is bailing out some of that country's institutions. As she says: "How long until Canadians pressure the government to bail out the Maple Leafs?'' . . . The World Baseball Challenge, which is to run next summer in Prince George, looks as though it is about to become even bigger and better. Hey, P.G. fans, how about an eight-team tournament, instead of six, featuring a host team, Canada, the U.S., Cuba, Taiwan, Reno, Nev., Venezuela and Germany? How about Cuba vs. the U.S., in your jewel of a ballpark under a summer evening sun?

Headline at stltoday.com: Al Davis returns from Mars, addresses media. . . . Davis attended Tuesday’s news conference at which the Oakland Raiders' managing partner fired head coach Lane Kiffin, with cause. In other words, Davis doesn’t want to pay for this mistake. . . . “It was something I wasn’t proud of to be associated with and I was embarrassed for him, to tell
you the truth,” Kiffin said of the news conference. . . . Outfielder Torii Hunter of the Los Angeles Angels has said that steroid testing definitely had something to do with major leaguers in 2008 hitting the fewest home runs since 1993. To which Jerry Crowe of the Los Angeles Times writes: “No kidding. . . . Fear of embarrassing oneself in front of Congress may have played a part, too. . . . Thanks for that, Roger Clemens.” . . . You are right. It doesn’t matter who wears the ‘C’ on a hockey team and the Vancouver Canucks have just proven it. . . . Leaders lead and followers follow. It has always been like that and always will be like that.

Guard Baron Davis of the Los Angeles Clippers spent the summer on a Jenny Craig program and lost some weight. “And this may be a misunderstanding,” writes Pete McEntegart of SI.com, “but half his teammates promptly asked Davis to send Jenny to their room once he was through with her.” . . . Mark Kriegel, at FoxSports.com: “Seriously, not to take anything from Brett Favre’s great day, but those guys in the Wrangler commercial play tougher defence than the Cardinals’ secondary.” . . . John Elway, the former Denver Broncos’ quarterback, says he had to ask three times before his fiancee finally said yes. To which Elliott Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times notes: "Meaning you can chalk up another third-down conversion for Elway." . . . But you have to wonder what Broncos’ fans think of the fact that Paige Green, 41, is a former Oakland Raiders’ cheerleader.

What do major league managers do after clinching a pennant? If you’re Joe Torre of the L.A. Dodgers you pamper yourself. Torre went for a manicure and pedicure in San Francisco and was shocked when the manicurist asked if he had circulation problems. It seems the celebrating Dodgers had sprayed champagne all over the place and Torre’s feet had gotten so wet that some of the dye from his shoes had turned his feet a shade of blue. . . . All of which makes the Dodgers’ managerial position a job to dye for. . . . Dwight Perry, in the Seattle Times: “Early holiday gift alert: The third annual ‘Women of Curling’ nude calendar has gone on sale in Canada. You could say the calendar goes beyond the sport: Instead of 10 ends, you get 12.” . . . Clay Dyer of Hamilton, Ala., is a 30-year-old professional fisherman who doesn’t have any limbs, other than a partial right arm. He told the Boston Globe the other day about being a youngster and wanting a $300 rod and reel. "I'm pleading my case,” Dyer said, “but they wasn't buying into it. Finally, I broke down and told my family, 'Think of all the money that you've saved by not buying me shoes.' "

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.