After golfer Kevin Na took a 16 on a par-4 hole during last week’s Valero Texas Open, comedy writer Jim Barach noted: “He gives new meaning to the lyrics ‘Na na na na, hey hey hey goodbye!’ ” . . . No idea yet who will be playing but this summer’s TELUS World Skins Game is set for Banff, July 25 and 26. . . . Still with golf, Ernie Els plans on playing in the Canadian Open at Shaughnessy in Vancouver, July 21-24, and he will have former NHLer Dan Quinn on his bag. . . . The big city media has discovered what our Mark Hunter told Daily News readers about last summer — South African golfers Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel are regular visitors to Kamloops, where they visit family and friends, and play a little golf. And, yes, Oosthuizen, the defending British Open champ, and Schwartzel, who won the Masters last weekend, will be at Shaughnessy in July. . . .
Ron Judd, in the Seattle Times: “Olympic National Park is seeking volunteers to sit in alpine meadows all summer and count marmots. Oddly, the first applicants were the same five guys who waited in line overnight to buy single-game Mariners tickets.” . . . One more from Judd: “Franchise-thieving weasel Clay Bennett, owner of the former Seattle Sonics, has been named chairman of the NBA's relocation committee. For once, words escape us.” . . . Kristin Bond of Kamloops, who ran in the Boston Marathon for the first time on Monday, was amazed at the crowds that saluted the runners all along the course. “Boy,” she said, “there was a lot of Canadian fans with flags. You let them know you’re from (Canada) and they’d go nuts.” . . .
With the Boston Red Sox off to a horribly slow start, the Left Coast Sports Babe notes that “even Cubs fans are sending sympathy notes.” . . . She also was intrigued when she woke up one day to find the Cleveland Indians leading the AL Central. As she put it: “The last time the Indians had such an unexpectedly good week, Custer was involved.” . . . CFJC-TV’s Bill O’Donovan is living on the edge these days, using a Chicago Blackhawks’ logo as the avatar on his Twitter account. . . . A gem from Twitter this week: “The trouble with quotes on the Internet is that you can never tell if they are genuine. — Abraham Lincoln.” . . .
You have to love the NHL playoffs and what they do to people. Just the other night, Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Patrick Kane of the Chicago Blackhawks were walking back to their hotel. Well, here’s what Kane told the Chicago Tribune: "An elderly lady ws in a car and she had the oxygen tubes up her nose and she rolled down the window and gave us a certain gesture. It was awesome." . . . Greg Cote, in the Miami Herald: “The Stanley Cup playoffs are under way, led by top seeds Washington and Vancouver. Canucks seek to bring the Stanley Cup back to Canada for first the time since 1993. Not sure what should embarrass Canadians more: That drought. Or their inexplicable fascination with curling.” . . .
It wasn’t that long ago when it seemed the NDP was this close () to ruling our fair province. But that was before the night of the long knives. And then they scheduled their leadership gala right up against a Vancouver Canucks playoff game and the same day as the Vancouver Sun Run. . . . Hello, is anybody home? . . . The Washington Capitals have been of the opinion that the New York Rangers are targeting defenceman Mike Green, who missed 20 late-season games with a concussion. And Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau hasn’t been shy talking about it and other things. Of Madison Square Garden, he said: “The locker rooms are horrible. The benches are horrible. Its reputation is far better than the actual building.” To which New York Rangers head coach John Tortorella told the Washington Post: "We have confidence in the league, we have confidence in the officials that they won't be influenced by all the whining going on here right now.” . . .
After Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake was arrested Monday for shoplifting, Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News wrote: “On Friday, Cincinnati Reds pitcher Mike Leake was handed a paycheck for $40,000. On Monday, Leake was arrested at the downtown Cincinnati Macy’s for allegedly shoplifting six t-shirts valued at $59.65. . . . If this is true, what was he thinking?” . . . Not only that, but Leake got a $1.8-million signing bonus two years ago. . . . Mike Lupica, in the New York Post: “Donald Trump says that he's putting Celebrity Apprentice on hold until he decides whether or not he is going to run for President. So, right there is a reason to hope the big guy decides to throw his hat in the ring. Not that he would ever wear a hat, obviously, and keep that flow of his under wraps.” . . .
The best part of the Detroit Red Wings having advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is that the octopi throwing is bound to continue, despite attempts by the NHL to put a stop to one of the fun parts of the postseason. . . . Scott Ostler, in the San Francisco Chronicle: “Tiger Woods would have better luck if he went back to playing golf instead of auditioning for a Shakespeare tragedy. The body language is getting hard to watch. ‘My lord, I am a man whom fortune hath cruelly scratched.’ ” . . . One more from Ostler: “Manny Ramirez flunks another drug test and retires. More female fertility drugs? Hey, it's just Manny being Minnie. Ramirez says he is now ‘at ease.’ So add ‘conscience’ to the list of things that shrink when you use steroids.”
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 returns May 14.
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