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Show Wacky, wordy, world of sports tm 11 l! Reflections by Tom Haraldsen Speaking of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Hall of Fame manager Casey Stengel was once a fun-loving fun-loving outfielder for the Dodgers. He once hid himself in a sprinkler control box in left field during an exhibition game in Pensacola, Fla. During the game, an opponent lofted a soft flyball to left, but to the Dodger fans' puzzlement, no fielder appeared. At the last moment, Stengel lifted the box's lid, reached out and snagged the ball. Not all sports luck is good, however. In 1988, Andre Dawson of the Chicago Cubs was in windy Candlestick Park in San Francisco. He hit a soft fly ball toward Giants outfielder Brett Butler, then rounded round-ed first base slowly as he saw Butler dive and catch the ball. Or so Dawson thought. The wind had actually ac-tually pushed the ball out of Butler's reach, but by the time Dawson realized that the ball had fallen untouched, he was near the dugout Butler threw him out at first by 1 30 feet And then there's Australian golfer Robert Emond, who in 1989 had a rather bad time with a par-5 hole during the Australian Players Championship. He whacked his ball into four different water hazards, once removing his right shoe and sock to try to blast one of the balls from the water. After two attempts, he opted for a drop, but the ball rolled into the shoe that he had taken off for a two-stroke penalty. He ended up taking a 19 on the hole. No wonder golfers get teed off at the game. the lake's previous record catch, and when their bass were found to be already rotting and stinking when they brought them in, they were given a he detector test, which they failed. Rumor has it they've given up fishing and have entered politics. In 1980, the track and field world was saddened, then shocked, when Polish star Stella Walsh was killed in the crossfire of a bungled robbery attempt in Cleveland. An autopsy later proved even more shocking. The former Olympic gold medalist was actually a man. Sometimes, of course, cheaters do get away with it, however. Back in 1925, baseball officials covering a spring training game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and a minor league team were duped when pitcher pit-cher Dazzy Vance called his first baseman to the mound. He slipped the ball to Jack Fournier, who returned re-turned to first base. When the batter and umpire were ready for the payoff pitch with the bases loaded, Fournier rifled the ball to the plate from first. All the batter and umpire heard was the ball hit the mitt. The mystery pitch was called a strike and the inning was over. Nothing lends itself to more great quotes, or funnier stories, than the world of sports. There is probably no public figure short of Winston Churchill or Will Rogers that has been more quotable than Yogi Berra, he who has uttered such phrases as "It was deja vu all over again," or the infamous line about the fat lady singing. So in the best of quotable quotes, as this prep sports season winds down, here are a few of my favorites from nationally-known sources: Actor Bill Cosby, on his football days at Temple University in Philadelphia: "We lost every week. We lost to schools I never heard of. One year we lost to a school called 'We Want U.'" Utah Jazz play-by-play announcer an-nouncer Hot Rod Hundley: "My biggest thrill came the night Elgin Baylor and I combined for 73 points in Madison Square Garden. Elgin had 71 of them. Denver Bronco fans' favorite joke after the Broncos lost Super Bowls by scores of 39-20 to the Giants, 42-10 to the Redskins and 55-10 to the 49ers: "How many Broncos does it take to change a flat tire? One, unless it's a blowout. Then the whole team shows up." Hall of Famer and all-time home run leader Hank Aaron: "It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon on the golf course. ' Former Cornell football coach Gloomy' Gil Dobie, chewing out a player who had made a game-saving game-saving tackle by grabbing an opposing oppos-ing player's arm as he was headed for a TD: "I suppose you're proud of that tackle. If his arm had come off, they would've had six points." " And Will Rogers himself: "You know horses are smarter than people. peo-ple. You never heard of a horse going go-ing broke betting on people." Perhaps more memorable than sports quotes are sports anecdotes, those little miracles that sometimes turn defeat into victory, or the other way around. And cheaters usually become the biggest losers. In 1983, brothers John and Archie Ar-chie Wade were disqualified from the Lake Wright bass tournament in Texas. Why? Well, both their catches cat-ches were two pounds heavier than f" |
