Advertisement

Maybe the Colts will pick him up

Share via
Times Staff Writer

The Kentucky Derby was a clean race.

All horses that ran for the roses were cleared by the state’s racing authority after surprise pre-race tests for performance-enhancing drugs. The Associated Press reported that the screening for blood-doping agents was conducted Wednesday.

No word on whether Olympic 100-meter champion Justin Gatlin watched Street Sense’s stirring charge to victory.

Gatlin, facing a track and field suspension of up to eight years after failing a drug test last summer, attended the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ minicamp over the weekend. Gatlin last played football as a freshman at Tennessee and is trying to make it to the NFL as a receiver.

Advertisement

“I didn’t come here on my high horse, all mighty, and saying give me a locker and let me do what I want to do,” said Gatlin, who is appealing his suspension. “I’m starting from the ground up, and that’s where I want to start.”

Trivia time

In 1975, former UCLA All-American Jamaal Wilkes was the NBA rookie of the year and helped the Golden State Warriors win the league championship. What was the title of the movie Wilkes appeared in that year?

Protecting

his name

The son of famed NFL announcer John Facenda, who was known as “the voice of God,” is suing NFL Films and NFL Properties over the use of his father’s voice on a program about a video game.

Advertisement

John Facenda Jr. previously settled a lawsuit against the Campbell Soup Co. for using a Facenda sound-alike in radio and television ads.

His lawyer told the Associated Press: “He does not want to wake up one day hearing his father’s voice advertising condoms.”

Called out

Peter Vecsey of the New York Post does not put much stock in the academic study that detected racial bias in foul calls made by NBA officials.

Advertisement

“If these Jivey-League researchers knew anything about the game, they’d realize refs, in the instant they must make a call, don’t have the time to consider a player’s uniform number, much less pigmentation,” Vecsey wrote.

Vecsey wasn’t done.

“Next on tap for the New York Times:

“* An exclusive front-page report claiming money is the root of all evil.

“* Most penalties in the NHL are called on white players.

“* Michael Jordan left baseball because he kept getting his strike zone squeezed by white umpires.

“* NBA female referees only call fouls on male players.”

Old-timers’ game

According to Barry Bloom of MLB.com, when the New York Mets’ Julio Franco faced Arizona left-hander Randy Johnson last week it was the oldest hitter-pitcher matchup in major league history. Franco is less than three months shy of his 49th birthday; Johnson is approaching 44.

Franco homered and struck out twice against Johnson.

“People put everybody in the same basket, in the same category, and we’re all different,” said Franco, who is in his 23rd season. “With all the technology now, you’re going to see more and more guys playing into their 40s. But it’s hard to do.”

Trivia answer

“Cornbread, Earl and Me.” Wilkes played the role of basketball player Nathaniel “Cornbread” Hamilton. The film also served as the movie debut for then-teenage actor Laurence Fishburne.

And finally

Brady Quinn showed up for his workout with the Cleveland Browns sporting a new haircut and told the Cleveland Plain Dealer that he thanked Joe Theismann, who had criticized Quinn for chewing gum and having messy hair and wrinkled clothes on the day of the NFL draft.

Advertisement

“I apologize, obviously, to anybody who’s a Notre Dame alum or to those fans who thought I wasn’t being very businesslike,” Quinn said. “I think I was there for a while and at that moment when you’re finally picked after waiting for 4 1/2 hours, I guess the last thought in my head was ‘spit out your gum, fix your hair or make sure your shirt looks good.’ ”

gary.klein@latimes.com

Advertisement