Keeping Score

The Left Coast Sports Babe, with a question and the answer: “How bad are the Washington Wizards? They've been thinking of changing their name to the Washington Generals.” . . . Bill Goldberg, a former grapplin’ champ, told the Tulsa World that, despite reports to the contrary, he isn’t pondering a comeback: “I'm 43 years old. Do I want to be Ric Flair? Do I want to be Hulk Hogan? In the twilight of my life, do I want to be running around in my underwear trying to injure people? Absolutely not." . . . Does that sound like there might be a comeback and a couple of grudge matches in the works, or what? Gotta wonder if Randy (The Ram) Robinson might be interested? . . .

Local old-timer hockey players need to know that Murray Owen is “one job” from retirement. Owen, a dangler of note in local hockey circles, will then have more time to commit to working on his game. . . . After NBAer Gilbert Arenas told Esquire magazine that he owned more than 500 guns, Bill Littlejohn, an avid Seattle Times reader, noted: “He also revealed that when he signed with the Wizards, he dropped his plans to invade Luxembourg." . . . Headline at TheOnion.com: Jake Delhomme misses dotted line trying to sign contract. . . .

If you happened to catch Sunday’s CIS men’s basketball championship game on TSN2 from Ottawa, you may have noticed a Kamloops flavour to it. That’s because our own Steve Seibel, who is one of Canada’s top basketball officials, got the assignment to work the championship game, in which the U of Saskatchewan Huskies won their first title, beating the UBC Thunderbirds, 91-81. Seibel, who in his other life is a lawyer with Cundari Seibel, also worked a semifinal in which the Huskies upset the No.1-ranked Carleton Ravens. . . . Just last month Seibel was in Argentina working the FIBA Americas League final. . . . But the really big news is that Seibel has been selected to officiate in the FIBA World Championship in Turkey, Aug. 28 to Sept. 12. . . . “I still can’t believe I got the appointment,” Seibel said. “I’m very shocked and honoured.” . . .

Mike Lupica, in the New York Daily News: “You read some of these texts that Tiger Woods allegedly sent to the porn girl, and what strikes you first — even given the dopey language of text messages, dirty and otherwise — is that the guy wasn't an English major at Stanford.” . . . Donald Fehr running the NHLPA has to be a nightmare of epic proportions for NHL owners. . . . Local numbers man Norm Daley was in Dunedin, Fla., a couple of weeks ago and watched in awe as fans of the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays gave outfielder Tyson Gillies a standing ovation for his work in the outfield. Gillies, one of the Phillies’ top prospects, is likely to start the season with the Double A Reading Phillies. . . .

Since winning the Memorial Cup right here in River City in the spring of 1995, the Kamloops Blazers have decided to go in more different directions than Lindsay Lohan’s career, changing management people and head coaches on numerous occasions. Other than the springs of 1996 (lost in conference final) and 1999 (lost in WHL final), the Blazers have lost 12 first-round series, going 9-48 in the process. . . . So who did the deal with the devil for the Memorial Cup championships in 1992, ’94 and ’95? Or is it simply a case of the Curses of Brownie and Habby piling on? . . . Blazers centre C.J. Stretch deserved better than to go out winless in 16 playoff games. Say what you want about Stretch, he has NHL hands. . . .

Cam Hutchinson of the Saskatoon StarPhoenix wonders: “If television stations want fees from cable providers for using their signals, shouldn’t radio stations pay newspapers for using their news?” . . . I have only had time to watch Part 1 of the Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg 10-parter The Pacific on HBO, but it looks like a keeper. . . . The Seattle Seahawks recently acquired quarterback Charlie Whitehurst from the San Diego Chargers and signed him to a two-year, US$8-million deal. . . . According to Peter King at SI.com, Whitehurst hasn’t thrown a regular-season pass in an NFL game in four years. . . .

Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “I don't want to say I'm worried for the Dodgers, but . . . they recently lost to the Chinese All-Stars. Approximately 29 people in China play baseball. Most people in China would identify baseball bats as Yao Ming's chopsticks.” . . . Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “Noted golfer/philanderer Tiger Woods will make a triumphant return to golf next month at the Masters. Where else? Augusta is one of the last, best places in the country for good ol' boy players like Tiger to revel in subjugating women.” . . . One more from Judd: “The Canadian dollar, long a weakling stepsister to the U.S. greenback, has approached near parity with the American dollar. Big deal. They still don't know how to spell ‘favorite’ or ‘labor.’ ” . . .

Former Blazers captain Ajay Baines was in Abbotsford last night where he served as the analyst on the visiting team’s radio broadcast of the Hamilton Bulldogs’ AHL game with the Heat. Baines captained the Bulldogs in 2006-07 and scored the Calder Cup-winning goal in Game 5 of the championship final. The always smiling Baines, who turned 32 on Thursday, retired over the summer and lives in Kamloops. . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “An injury will prevent heartthrob David Beckham from competing for England in the World Cup, causing the World Cup's immediate indefinite postponement until which time his recovery is complete.” . . . One more from Cote: “Coach Urban Meyer has returned to the Florida Gators football team in time for spring practice, following a leave of absence that was somewhat unusual in that it did not involve any actual leaving.” . . .

Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. Email him at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, or visit his blog at gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears Saturdays.