Taking Note

Janice Hough, the Left Coast Sports Babe, after Mark McGwire said Jose Canseco is lying when he claims they injected each other with steroids: “Isn’t McGwire calling Canseco a liar like John Edwards calling Tiger Woods a bad husband?’’ . . . Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post, on the news that New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter will wed Minka Kelly on Nov. 5: “No one yet knows who’s going to the wedding, but it would seem natural that Ryan Church, Buddy Groom, Mike Vail and Bake McBride will be invited. Too bad Preacher Roe died in 2008.” . . . One more from Hamilton: “General Motors has ended its deal with Tiger Woods through which he was provided with free cars and SUVs. That likely won’t have much impact on Woods. It would appear he prefers pickups anyway.” . . .
Despite Tiger’s problems, EA Sports will go ahead with its release of Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online. “Apparently, gamers are not put off by reports of Woods’ serial infidelity,” wrote Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle. “As one gamer said, ‘What’s a wife’?” . . . And then there’s late night TV’s Jimmy Kimmel: “Tiger Woods has not been seen since Thanksgiving. He’s so hard to find, people are speculating that he may be working in customer service at Home Depot.” . . . Headline at sports pickle.com: WWE to Investigate Long-Term Effects of Referee Concussions. . . . Here’s hoping the New York Jets beat the Colts on Sunday in Indianapolis. That way Jets head coach Rex Ryan will have two weeks to talk about what the New York Post says is his 7,000-calories-a-day eating habits. . . .
If you have a daughter with long blonde hair, you may want to ask if it was her uplifting performance that titillated the crowd during the Blazers’ 6-3 victory over the visiting Red Deer Rebels the other night. . . . For a moment there it almost was the second coming of Pamela Anderson, or was it Suzanne Somers in American Graffiti? . . . Two more days of football and, thankfully, we won’t have to watch that Bud girls commercial anymore. Not to mention all of those CTV promos. Mercifully. . . . San Jose Sharks 9, Calgary Flames 1. Have the Flames quit on Smilin’ Brent Sutter already? . . . There was a 40-minute delay at the Australian Open one day this week after a ball boy wet his pants. L.A. Times reader Bob Tucker asked: “Did Serena cuss him out?” . . .
A recent KIJHL game featured the Chase Chiefs, including Colton DeFrias, and the Kamloops Storm, including Brett DeFrias. And wouldn’t you know that they both ended up getting misconducts at the same time late in the game. Fred Bott, the public address announcers, now wishes he had announced: “DeFrias, party of two, your penalty box is ready.” . . . Every player on the Minnesota Vikings will be wearing custom-fitted ear plugs Sunday when they play the Saints in New Orleans. The Vikes wore them all week in their indoor practice facility as the coaching staff cranked up the volume on the music. . . . Did you really think Ron MacLean (aka Don Cherry’s pinata) would criticize the NHL with his good buddy Coley Campbell sitting right beside him? It’s about credibility and MacLean just spent whatever he had left. . . .
By the way, here’s Sunday — Jim Nantz and Phil Simms with the Jets and Colts on CBS, followed by Joe Buck and Troy Aikman with the Vikings and Saints on Fox. . . . You’re right. Taking down the Christmas lights can wait. . . . The head says Colts and Saints, but the Vikings’ defence was so good a week ago and the Jets have some karma going. . . . What if that was Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James, rather than Washington Wizards class clown Gilbert Arenas, dealing with gun-related charges? “If LeBron had been caught with a gun,” notes Mike Bianchi of the Orlando Sentinel, “(NBA commissioner David) Stern would have modified all NBA uniforms to include a shoulder holster.” . . . One more from Bianchi: “Can you believe Pete Carroll will make $7 million a year to coach the Seahawks? Geez, that’s almost as much as Reggie Bush made at USC.” . . .
Brad Dickson, in the Omaha World-Herald: “Gilbert Arenas faced five years in jail on felony gun charges, but late on (Jan. 15) he plea-bargained down to two years with the Nets.” . . . It turns out that organizers made a change and Ross Jardine won’t have to go out of town to carry the Olympic torch. Instead, he’ll do his 300 metres right downtown on Wednesday. So watch for him around Victoria Street and 1st Avenue. . . . Sorry, but I can’t look at the torch without seeing a rather large doobey, and, no, I’m not talking about Devan Dubnyk. . . . Canadian comedian Brent Butt, pointing out something I wondered about a while ago: “Cracks me up that McDonald’s is the official restaurant of the Olympics. They should be sponsored by smokes and whiskey, too.” . . .
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. He is at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca and gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.