What was one of the first things that NFL receiver Plaxico Burress did after getting out of jail last week? He opened a Twitter account. Yes, you are able to follow him at @iamplaxico. . . . With rumblings that Burress will end up with the Philadelphia Eagles, Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald scribbled: "What better preparation for playing in front of Philly sports fans than two years in prison?" . . . If you missed it, the San Diego Padres used a sixth-round pick in MLB’s recent draft to take Kyle Gaedele, a 6-foot-3 outfielder from Valparaiso. He is a great nephew of Eddie Gaedel, the 3-foot-7 midget who had one plate appearance with Bill Veeck’s St. Louis Browns in 1951. Yes, Gaedel walked. . . .
Midway through the third period of the Stanley Cup final’s Game 7, Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post tweeted: “Meet the Sedin brothers: Henrik, Daniel and LeBron.” . . . If you wonder how it is that big league owners end up having problems, consider the case of the New York Mets and former third baseman Bobby Bonilla. He hasn’t played since Oct. 7, 2001, but starting on July 1, the Mets will pay him US$1,193,248.20 a year for 25 years. That is the price the Mets paid to get out of the $5.9 million they owed him in 2000. . . .
If you missed Roger Sloan’s victory at the Canadian Tour’s Western Championship at Rivershore Golf Links last week, I would suggest you missed a great chapter in this area’s sporting history. There was no doubt that the pride of Merritt was the best golfer on the tour this particular week and he handled winning with honesty and grace. . . . It surely would be nice to see the Western Championship become a fixture on the Canadian Tour’s calendar, but, as was mentioned in these pages Monday, it won’t happen without sponsors stepping up. . . .
Kevin Paul Dupont, in the Boston Globe: “The Green Guys, made famous by their creative antics beside the penalty box in Vancouver, call themselves ‘Sully’ and ‘Force.’ But, really, wouldn’t two guys dressed in green unitards be better to go by ‘Mint’ and ‘Julep’? . . . Larry Brooks, in the New York Daily News, after NBC-TV and Hockey Night in Canada analyst Mike Milbury mocked the Sedin brothers: “Of course, Milbury was once coached by Don Cherry, the jingoistic Canadian who has spent decades polluting the air by defaming athletes whose first language is something other than English. So the question is, what on earth is wrong with the North American television network executives who make the decisions to hire these people to spew their ignorance?” . . .
South African Charl Schwartzel, who won the Masters in April, wore his green jacket to the European PGA Tour’s black-tie Players Awards gala the other night. When asked by The Associated Press how that was received, he replied: “Most people thought I was a waiter.” . . . After the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat for the NBA title, Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register tweeted: “Thousands gather at the airport to celebrate the Mavericks victory. The Cleveland airport.” . . . Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post, after the Canucks were whipped 8-1 and 4-0 by the Bruins in Boston in Games 3 and 4, wrote that the results “changed the atmosphere on the West Coast. It would appear Vancouver’s smug alert has been lifted.” . . .
Sukanya Roy, 14, won the National Spelling Bee by correctly spelling ‘cymotrichous.’ As Greg Cote of the Miami Herald noted: "She received $40,000 in cash and merchandise — just like an Ohio State football player." . . . John McEnroe, in the HBO documentary McEnroe/Borg: Fire & Ice, on Bjorn Borg: "I'd never seen a tennis player look like this . . . He had this sort of perfect Viking godlike look, and I certainly wanted to get the same type of things that he seemed to be getting, which was a lot of interest and a lot of girls." . . . After the NCAA came down hard on USC for violations, the Left Coast Sports Babe wrote: "USC was stripped of their 2004 national football title. So can we say that, like John Edwards, this was a Trojan epic fail?" . . .
With FIFA embroiled in scandal and two officials apparently on the way out the door, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote: “Finally! It’s time to get the old cheating scoundrels out of the organization . . . and bring in the new cheating scoundrels.” . . . Why do I think Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon would have been the perfect choices to run FIFA. . . . Bill Simmons, at grantland.com, after the Dallas Mavericks beat the Miami Heat in the NBA final: “Yet another irony of this series: LeBron's best friend, business partner, and confidante being named ‘Maverick.’ That's almost as good as Anthony Weiner's last name being ‘Weiner.’ ”
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 Saturdays.
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