When He Said ‘Bite,’ He Meant a Chip Shot
You know you’re having a bad day on the links when a lynx charges out of the brush and attacks you.
OK, so it was a bobcat that clawed and bit Jerry Crown last week as he and his partner were playing No. 18 at Skyline Country Club in Tucson.
Crown was hospitalized with puncture wounds to the legs; the wildcat succumbed to the fierce iron play of both duffers.
Afterward, Loren Crown issued a statement on his brother’s behalf to the Arizona Daily Star: “It doesn’t feel good to get bit by a bobcat.”
Batting cleanup: Speaking of sporting implements being used to dispatch vicious predators....
The San Antonio Express-News reports that Texas resident Courtney Mann warmed up on a late-night intruder by punching him in the face five times. She then took a baseball bat and whacked him across the back of his head, causing him to fly face-first into a flowerpot.
Ex-con Juan Caballero was sent back to jail and Mann, rumor has it, has been contacted by the struggling Texas Rangers.
Trivia time: Kobe Bryant had a 35.1-point scoring average before Sunday’s game against the Clippers and could become the first player since Michael Jordan in 1987-88 to average at least 35 points. Three other players have done it. Who are they?
Move over, Barry: David Thomas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, noting the power shift in baseball: “Barry Bonds has yet to homer, and it’s looking more and more like Chris Shelton will beat him to Babe Ruth’s mark.”
What’s the deal? Corky Simpson of the Tucson Citizen begs: “Somebody tell me, please, what it is about playing poker that makes it worth putting on television?”
Partial to green: Ish Monroe had the high weight in the season-opening Elite Series Bassmaster Tour event in Del Rio, Texas, to become the first African American to win a major bass-fishing tournament.
Said the Northern California angler: “I can’t see what color has to do with anything when it comes to fishing. The only color I care about is the green fish and the green money.”
Big-name player: Sportswriters in Atlanta will rue the day Jarrod Saltalamacchia emerges from the Braves’ farm system and joins the big leagues. Because they’re the ones who will have to spell it on deadline.
It would become the longest name in the majors. Minor-league manager Jeff Blauser doesn’t understand the fuss. He just calls the player “Salty.”
Giggy time: On this day in 2003, Duck goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere set an NHL record for saves in a playoff debut with 63 in a 2-1 triple-overtime win over Detroit.
Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain (five times with the Philadelphia and San Francisco Warriors, including a 50.4-point average in 1961-62), Elgin Baylor (38.3 with the Lakers in 1961-62), and Rick Barry (35.6 with the Warriors in 1966-67).
And finally: Asked about 270-pound White Sox closer Bobby Jenks, Manager Ozzie Guillen told the Daily Herald of Chicago: “When you get guys out, you’re big. When you don’t get guys out, you’re fat.”
