Keeping Score

Frank McCourt, the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, is in a messy situation with his soon-to-be ex-wife Jamie. She wants money and he says he doesn’t have any. He told a court the other day that he is low on cash. Sheesh, he admitted that his personal chequing account had all but bottomed out at, yes, $167,000. The last time my chequing account was in that neighbourhood, my wife went shopping. . . . In case you were wondering, a TSN press release points out that the “combined weight in pounds of the CFL on TSN panel” is 1,050. . . . By the way, TSN will have a total of 150 people working Sunday’s Grey Cup telecast from Calgary. . . . Have we yet begun to contemplate the world of afternoon TV without Oprah? Or do we even want to go there? . . . Thankfully, her smiling mug will continue to shine down on us from the cover of her magazine.
“Bud Selig said that next year Major League Baseball will try to have less off-days between playoff games,” notes the Left Coast Sports Babe. “Translation: Fox has decided the World Series going into November hurts their fall schedule.” . . . Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Word out of Vancouver says the Canucks are the latest NHL team to jump the queue to get their H1N1 shots. Once again, a group of men suffers the embarrassment of premature inoculation.” . . . The Frick and Frack Tap House was the sight of an interesting gathering on Monday evening. Al Trotter, a decorated veteran and an author, was in some Fast Company as he broke bread with four young Kamloops athletes — speed skating sisters Josie and Tori Spence, race car driver Brendan Langlois and mountain biker Chayse Marshall — as part of a local mentoring program. And wouldn’t it have been great to hear some of those yarns?
Mark Mangino, the, uhh, overweight head football coach at Kansas, had a brain cramp the other day and blasted some parents. Now he is in the eye of a hurricane. . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “While Kansas football tyrant Mark Mangino is threatening to send his players back to the ghetto, maybe he should consider sending himself back to the salad bar.” . . . David Whitley, over at FanHouse: “In case you missed it, Kansas launched an investigation into Mangino’s alleged tyrannical abuse of football players. We say ‘alleged’ because Mangino apparently ate three of the players set to testify against him.”
So . . . the Kamloops Blazers didn’t hire you as their latest head coach? Perhaps you’re next in line. . . . Let’s be honest. Even if the B.C. Lions could have tackled they wouldn’t have come close to beating the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday. Besides, would there not have been something wrong about a team from Vancouver representing the East in a Grey Cup game played in Calgary? . . . The Lions still came out ahead this season if only because they now have an undisputed No. 1 quarterback in Casey Printers. You are able to win in the NFL without a star at quarterback, but you can’t do it in the CFL. . . . As for Sunday’s big game, take the Alouettes and give whatever points are required. . . . From R.J. Currie, over at sportsdeke.com: “The women ski jumpers hoping to get into the 2010 Olympics lost their case before the B.C. Court of Appeal. They now suggest IOC president Jacques Rogge be the one to take a flying leap.”
Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Giants’ Tim Lincecum, recently busted for marijuana possession, won the NL High Young award again. Wait. Sorry. I meant Cy Young. A couple of days later, reformed pot-smoker Ricky Williams scored three touchdowns to lead the Dolphins’ big Thursday night victory. Parents, you might want to wait awhile on that talk with your kids about how weed will destroy their bodies and ruin their lives.” . . . One more from Cote: “Remember when Allen Iverson wrote on his Twitter site: ‘God chose Memphis?’ Didn’t quite work out. ‘Even I make mistakes,’ Tweeted God.” . . . Jeff Blair of theglobeandmail.com, after Montreal Canadiens heavy Georges Laraque took out Detroit Red Wings defenceman Niklas Kronwall with a knee-on-knee hit: “No group of professional athletes have less respect for their peers than hockey players. None.”
The only way NASCAR could have added excitement to its last few weeks would have been to have Jimmy Johnson, the old football coach, driving Jimmie Johnson’s car. . . . Eric Francis reports in the Calgary Sun: “Dion Phaneuf’s 15-year-old brother Dane caused a bit of a stir in Edmonton last week when he rubbed out Hayley Wickenheiser in a non-contact exhibition game against the women’s national team. Wickenheiser, 31, took exception to the jarring and let him know by applying a rather violent choke-hold from behind in an effort to try wrestling him to the ice. Dion thought it was funny . . .” The younger Phaneuf’s WHL rights belong to the Prince George Cougars. . . . Social note: Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn and U.S. gymnast Alicia Sacramone are an item. She has been to Browns games; he has yet to attend a gymnastics meet.

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