He Wants Bubby to Be His Buddy

Bob Kravitz in the Rocky Mountain News on Denver Bronco backup quarterback Bubby Brister:

“You’ve got to love Bubby. How can’t you love Bubby, well, a guy named Bubby-- anybody have the heart to tell him Bubby is Yiddish for ‘grandma’?--who also happens to be the anti-Ryan Leaf, the ultimate big-hearted guy who has survived a cruel athletic life as Terry Bradshaw’s successor and then two stints with Rich Kotite [which should be deemed both cruel and unusual], first in Philly and then New York?

”. . . Let’s face it, there’s something about Bubby.”

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Trivia time: Bernie Williams became the eighth New York Yankee to win the American League batting title. Who are the others?

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Flawed analysis: Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder commenting on his team’s 35-24 loss to USC last Saturday:

“We went to their place and out-hit them. The tempo was ours. I’m mad at the other stuff [blocked punt, interception]. We couldn’t close the game.”

Out-hit them? Next time try to outscore them, Bruce.

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Do we want them back? The St. Louis Rams have an eight-game home losing streak at the Trans World Dome, longest currently in the NFL, prompting Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch to say that the stadium has become the “Trans World Doom.”

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Negative statistic: The home-run race is over and so is the gopher-ball race. Pedro Astacio of the Colorado Rockies and Brian Anderson of the Arizona Diamondbacks tied for that dubious honor, each giving up 39 homers.

Jayson Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer notes that only three National League pitchers have ever served up more than those two: Bill Gullickson, Phil Niekro and Robin Roberts.

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What did you expect? Seattle Seahawk linebacker Chad Brown was apparently stunned when he was booed by Pittsburgh Steeler fans in his first time returning to Three Rivers Stadium since he signed as a free agent with the Seahawks.

“Two years ago the fans loved me,” he said. “Now they give me the finger. Their $45 [ticket] doesn’t obligate them to cuss at me. If they saw me on the street and cussed at me, I’d beat their. . . .”

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Looking back: On this day in 1993, the Mighty Ducks, in their first NHL game, lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 7-2, before 17,174 at the Arrowhead Pond.

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Trivia answer: Babe Ruth, 1924; Lou Gehrig, 1934; Joe DiMaggio, 1939, ‘40; Snuffy Stirnweiss, 1945; Mickey Mantle, 1956; Don Mattingly, 1984, and Paul O’Neill, 1994.

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And finally: Bernie Lincicome in the Chicago Tribune: “Somewhere, maybe everywhere, people are smiling about the Cubs. Not pity, not even sympathy, just smiles. Nice Sammy. No harm, no threat, and they are, after all, the Cubs.

“What I am saying is that the world needs the Cubs, needs them in place, needs them to fail, gamely but invariably, not big perpetual failures, not the Los Angeles Clippers type of failures, but warm and tender failures, the kind that will take a bow after losing and be cheered for doing it.”