Stealing money, stealing wallets, and yet more stalkers
1) Today's scary stalking story.... Lakers player Luke Walton has had a woman not get the hint. Bizarrest detail: she allegedly pretended to fire gunshots at him with her hand as the gun.
2) Have $434,000 in petty cash? Then you too can buy a 30-second ad on Sunday Night Football.
3) Watch your wallet in South Bend...U.S. Senator Mel Martinez had his car broken into and wallet stolen while attending the Stanford-Notre Dame game. Martinez' nephew, Eric Maust, plays for the Irish.
The Mob, Starbury, one from the not smart files...
1) Wow. UConn freshman hoopster Nate Miles has been expelled from school because he violated a restraining order put out on him by a woman he was trying to date. The scary part: he violated the order 16 minutes after it was put in place.
2) Holy Sopranos! Las Vegas has a new tourist attraction: a museum dedicated to the Mob. Only Vegas would have a museum for a criminal enterprise.
3) This is not a joke: Stephon Marbury is coming out with an exercise video around Christmas. He says his video is for everybody. Except, as we all know, Starbury isn't like the rest of most of us.
Planes, kids, and going AWOL...
1) Shawn Kemp's attempt to come back has hit a big road block, thanks to Kemp...he walked away from his Italian league team and didn't bother to return. He went home to Houston before Hurricane Ike and never came back to Italy. So the team was forced to cut him. Not good.
2) What were you doing when you were 14? This teen hockey phenom has decided to commit to the University of Wisconsin-Madison's hockey team. Most freshmen are trying to figure out how to get through high school, much less commit to a college. Wow.
3) Interesting story on how pilots landing planes into LaGuardia are going to need to figure out the new landscape when Shea Stadium is torn down. For anybody who has flown into LaGuardia, it almost seems like they're going to land in the old stadium's parking lot.
Beware killer golf carts!
1) Beware of killer golf carts! Blues defenseman (or defenceman to our Canadian friends) Erik Johnson accidentally trashed his knee thanks to a run-in with a mean golf cart. Ouch.
2) Apparently Chicago is preparing for the worst-case scenario: drunken and maruading Cubs playoff fans. Mayor Daley is pondering stopping alcohol sales in Wrigleyville during the post-season to keep things at a sane level. Good luck with that. And on the golf cart theme, watch for a drunken Cubs fan Bill Murray on the loose.
Brats, splats, nom de hoops....
1) Apparently, Rudy Guiliani's son, Andrew, is a bit of a diva. He was dismissed from Duke's golf team earlier this year for conduct issues. Now he's doing the American thing - suing the school.
2) Star chef Gordon Ramsay almost became roadkill over the weekend, thanks to falling off a cliff. Yeah, and I bet he swore up a blue streak on the way down.
3) I wonder if Tayshaun Prince went with an alias? Perhaps Prince Rogers Nelson? Seems the clan of Team USA hoops checked in under some aliases this week during their training camp in Las Vegas.
Look away, duck next time, bye bye bye
1) Note to self: if partying at a Russian rave, DO NOT look directly at the laser show. Some poor ravers have lost some of their eyesight because of the laser hitting them. Ouch.
2) Down goes Canseco. Down does Canseco. In the first round no less. Former baseball player/serial book writer and confessor Jose Canseco got pummeled over the weekend at a celebrity boxing gig. If Jose wants to fight again, I'd bet it wouldn't be hard to find somebody to punch him...
3) Bye bye, Billy Packer. CBS sports is going another direction with its NCAA basketball announcing teams...
Famous kids, famous moms, and famous kitties...
1) See, even ballplayers know Hello Kitty is cool....OK, maybe in the Mets case - not so much. Don't disrespect the Hello Kitty!
2) Now starting at quarterback... either Wayne Gretzky's son or Joe Montana's son. And they're throwing passes to Will Smith's kid. Interesting high school we have here...
3) Uh...today's bizarre tidbit: Brady Bunch mom Florence Henderson is a licensed hypnotherapist. Which is probably how she got through those horrible made-for-TV Brady reunion movies. She tranced herself into it.
Walking, choking, and flee from the dogs!
1) I've heard of teams going to the dogs, but never dogs going to the teams. Run away from the Rottweilers!
2) Aaaaooww! The Ontario Provincial Police have saved a national treasure...a police officer came to the rescue of former/current/former Van Halen frontman "Diamond" David Lee Roth.
3) It's not often that racewalkers become sporting icons, but Jefferson Perez has become big stuff in Ecuador. Walk on dude!
I found Joey Harrington...
I knew there had to be something here on the campus of the University of Oregon. I knew there had to be some kind of shrine to Joey Harrington.
Didn't see anything at the Autzen football stadium (it's like a NFL stadium - wow). But a trip to the student bookstore...and I found Joey.
There is a curio cabinet filled with his NFL stuff, from an autographed Lions jersey (on sale for $295) to Falcons and Dolphins helmets. It's all for sale, with proceeds going to the Harrington family charitable foundation.
There is a typed letter from Joey in the case, saying he's having the Ducks bookstore sell this autographed stuff in response to the demand.
I asked the kid working the cashier counter if there is much demand for Harrington stuff. He told me that there hasn't been much lately, but added, "Joey Harrington is a god around here."
I told the kid I was from Detroit, and his Joey-induced smile went away. Yeah. Lions fans know that feeling.
Real World: Detroit, Don't coach me dad, Adios Toronto
1) If only they had done "Real World: Detroit" (or better yet, Real World: Downriver), then they could have avoided rioting at MTV's offices.
2) Verrry interesting. A lot of coaches dream of having their son or daughter on their team. Gophers football coach Tim Brewster could have had that scenario, as his son Clint, a freshman QB, plays for Minnesota. Buuut, it seems son doesn't want dad yelling at him...he's transferring.
3) Raptors Jorge Garbajosa has rescinded his contract with the team, freeing himself to play for Spain in the Olympics. The Raptors had not allowed him to play for Spain, fearing injury. The Spanish Federation had been dueling with the Raptors over Garbajosa. The parties have been negotiating in Madrid the last few days, and reached the agreement to allow Garbajosa to walk.
