The winner of the Jessamine County Fair demolition derby in Nicholasville, Ky., stands accused of getting wrecked — really wrecked — during the competition. It seems that the long arm of the law reached out for David L. Warner Jr. right after the derby and charged him with driving under the influence. Yes, DUI during the derby. Warner told WKYT-TV: “I mean, I'm not denying I wasn't drinking by no means, but I was not drunk. I was under the limit.” . . . As Adam Hill of the Las Vegas Review-Journal pointed out: “Well, at least it's not the same old clichés we hear from every other star athlete after a triumphant performance.” . . . David Braley owns two CFL teams, the B.C. Lions and Toronto Argonauts. They are a combined 1-9. . . . Perhaps he should buy another team, say the Vancouver Island Raiders. . . .
A Monday tweet from sports writer Ryan Clark of the Fargo, N.D., Forum: “Glad to see football will be back but if a lockout meant keeping Brett Favre in retirement then I really wonder if anyone won today.” . . . With the Pittsburgh Pirates floating in the rarified air near the top of the NL Central, Jack Finarelli, the Sports Curmudgeon, noted: “In other news, six pigs called approach control to request landing clearance at Pittsburgh International Airport.” . . . Former NFL head coach Brian Billick, now an analyst with Fox-TV, was asked by the St. Paul Pioneer Press why he isn't expecting to be offered a coaching job. His response: “They're looking for young and cheap, and I'm neither.” . . .
Steve Seibel, Kamloops' contribution to the international world of basketball officiating, is packing his bags. Again. He's off to the Tuto Marchand Cup in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, Aug. 24-26. And then, from Aug. 30 to Sept. 11, he'll be in Mar del Plata, Argentina, at the FIBA Americas Championship that will feature 10 teams, including Canada. . . . The FIBA Americas event is an Olympic qualifier. . . . The Dominican Republic's men's team will be in both of those competitions. Its head coach? None other than John Calipari, the head coach of the Kentucky Wildcats. . . . After Yao Ming, the Houston Rockets' 7-foot-6 centre, announced his retirement from the NBA, comedy writer Jerry Perisho wrote: “What is a huge foreigner who barely speaks English supposed to do now, I mean, besides becoming governor of California?” . . . Elli Terwiel's pursuit of a spot on the Canadian national women's ski team takes her to a Canadian Alpine Ski Team camp in New Zealand this weekend. Terwiel, who skis out of Sun Peaks, has been training with the B.C. men's team on Mt. Hood in Oregon. . . .
A tweet from former Kamloops Blazers goaltender Jeff Bosch after the club dealt defenceman Brandon Underwood to the Regina Pats on Thursday: “Good Luck to my ex teamate @BUND3RWOOD in Regina next year, one of the true gems in the WHL . . . Things are looking up in Reg now.” . . . There are rumblings that Elin Nordegren is dating an American financier. As Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press explained: “So Tiger might still be sidelined, but she isn't.” . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “In Minneapolis, former Heat player Michael Beasley was found in possession of 16.2 grams of marijuana. Seldom a good sign when your career scoring average is exceeded by your career grams-per-possession average.” . . . After the NBA office laid off 114 employees, Seattle Times reader Bill Littlejohn claimed: “And that's just LeBron's posse.” . . . Don't be surprised if winger J.T. Barnett of the Blazers goes to camp with the NHL's New Jersey Devils in September. . . .
Len Berman of ThatsSports.com, with his take: “The NBA fired 11 per cent of its work force. Then they issued a press release saying, 'The layoffs are not a direct result of the lockout.' I have to check the rule book. I think that's the definition of double drivel.” . . . Former Blazers defenceman Chad Starling, who will be 31 in September, has signed on for his fourth season with the ECHL's Ontario Reign and his eighth straight in the league. Thanks to a groin injury, he played in only 14 games last season and has since twice undergone surgery. But the 6-foot-6 Starling, who was named to the ECHL's all-decade team last season, says he now is ready for what will be his 11th season of pro hockey. . . . Alex Rodriguez, the New York Yankees' third baseman, is on the shelf after a knee injury. “While he's out of action,” writes Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald, “Cameron Diaz called up some guy from the minors.” . . . Scott Ostler, of the San Francisco Chronicle: “Reggie Bush's family took back a copy of Reggie's 2005 Heisman Trophy from a San Diego sports museum. The best place to display that hardware is at the Ripley's Believe It or Not Museum.” . . . Ostler continues: “Meanwhile, a copy of O.J. Simpson's Heisman is proudly displayed at USC's Heritage Hall, along with other O.J. memorabilia. But no gloves.” . . .
Ian Hamilton, in the Regina Leader-Post: “Tennis legends John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg recently announced the launch of a line of underwear. If sales don't go well, the partnership could be brief. . . . If tennis players can get into that racket, should Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier team up to sell boxers?” . . . Just the other day someone streaked during an ice show in Sun Valley, Idaho. “The streaker has been described as a man in his mid-20s,” wrote Tony Evans of Ketchum's Idaho Mountain Express, “but no one interviewed for this story could provide a description of his face.”
Catharine Pendrel of Kamloops will compete in the UCI Mountain Bike and Trial World Championships in Champéry, Switzerland, from Aug. 31 through Sept. 4. Pendrel, the 2010 World Cup champion, won her third Canadian elite championship earlier this month. At present, Pendrel is second in the World Cup standings. . . . Whenever I watch Slap Shot - yes, it was on again in the wee hours the other day - I find myself wondering why Paul Newman wasn't at least nominated for an Oscar for best actor. The field in 1977? Woody Allen (Annie Hall), Richard Burton (Equus), Richard Dreyfuss (The Goodbye Girl), Marcello Mastroianni (A Special Day) and John Travolta (Saturday Night Fever). . . . Come on! Who was better? Newman or Travolta. . . . The winner, by the way, was Dreyfuss. . . . Sports Business Journal reported this week that NHL commissioner Gary Bettman's income “topped” US$7.5 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. I just want you to know that works out to $20,547.95 per day. Now go out and enjoy your day.
Gregg Drinnan is sports editor of The Daily News. Email him at gdrinnan@kamloopsnews.ca, follow him at twitter.com/gdrinnan, or visit his blog at gdrinnan.blogspot.com. Keeping Score appears sporadically throughout the summer.
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