The Port Arthur News
May 03, 2008 08:02 pm
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Apparently President Bush’s staff didn’t get the Jessica Simpson memo from the Cowboys. After Dallas took Texas A&M tight end Martellus Bennett in the second round of the draft, Bennett was asked on a media conference call about playing with Tony Romo. “Any quarterback that get can Jessica Simpson, I’ve got to play with him,” Bennett said. Shortly thereafter, Bennett was told to never mention Simpson again, that Romo is tired of comments about her. So, as he was addressing the Super Bowl champion Giants Thursday in the Rose Garden, Bush referred to the imagined Jessica jinx on the Cowboys by saying, “We’re going to send Jessica Simpson to the Democrat National Convention.” No word if he’s been admonished by anyone in the Cowboys organization . . . Dale Hansen, as I knew he would, lambasted Jerry Jones for signing Pacman Jones, on my Sportsrap radio last Monday night. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to me, KLVI was off the air for part of the interview, and a lot of folks missed what he said. We’re going to replay the first part of the interview in the second hour of the show Monday night, and it will be worth your time to listen. But here’s a preview of Hansen’s disdain for signing a player who has been arrested six times. “If character really doesn’t matter, why don’t they sign Osama bin Laden to play wide receiver? He’s 6-4 and we know nobody can catch him. And as dumb as that may be, it’s no worse than the hypocrisy of the typical Cowboy fan.”
Nobody was more surprised that Jamaal Charles was not taken until the third round of the NFL draft than the former Port Arthur schoolboy star whose all-time city rushing record he broke. “I was shocked,” said Joe Washington from his home in Baltimore . “I think I know a special running back when I see one, and this kid is special. No way were there eight running backs in the draft better than Jamaal. I can’t understand it, but I know the Kansas City Chiefs have to be thrilled.” . . . Most insightful explanation on why Charles dropped so far came from an NFLExperts analyst named Tom Marino. Writing for the Chiefs’ Warpaint Illustrated publication, Marino said, “I think he has some special stuff. I think he went where he did for one particular reason, and that is the fact that he’s not in the game on third down.” Thanks again, Greg Davis . . . Only real downside of Jamaal playing in Kansas City, by the way, is you will not see any of his games on TV, unless you have the DirectTV NFL package. The Chiefs have been so bad they don’t have any Sunday night or Monday night games. All their home games are noon kickoffs. They are basically invisible outside Missouri and Kansas . . . The NFL draft wasn’t all that much fun for one of the Cowboys scouts, Drew Fabianich. With the draft in progress, Fabianich received a call from his wife saying their 17-month old son had been bitten by a rattlesnake in Austin. Fortunately, the child is fine, but can you imagine how unnerving a phone call like that would be.
Before the New York Daily News gets through with him, Roger Clemens may become a bigger punchline for jokes that Pete Rose ever was. On Monday, the Daily News broke the story about Clemens having an affair with country single Mindy McCready. On Tuesday, they had a story with her saying she couldn’t deny any of the allegations. On Wednesday, they linked Clemens to a Manhattan bartender named Angela Meyer. On Thursday, they published a story tying him romantically to one of golfer John Daly’s ex wives. At least Barry Bonds just had one mistress . . . Daly, by the way, was back in the news last week and it was not pretty. He showed up for a TV interview at a golf course he’s designing in Branson, Mo., with no shirt and no shoes, and played one hole that way with the interviewer. Naturally, the highlights showed up on YouTube. Watch them only if you enjoy the sight of a beached whale flopping around with a golf club . . . If Tiger Woods, as expected, is healthy enough to play in the U.S. Open in mid June at Torrey Pines in San Diego, the event is probably going to produce at all-time high TV rating. At least it will if Tiger is in contention. Because the tournament is being played on the West Coast, much of the third and fourth rounds will be played in prime time viewing hours everywhere east of the Rocky Mountains. Play isn’t scheduled to conclude on Saturday until 10 p.m. ET, with Sunday’s final round set for a 9 p.m. ET finish.
Isn’t it about time the Astros figure out that it’s best not to mess with St. Louis’ Albert Pujols. Starting with Brandon Backe’s batting practice dustup with Pujols a couple of weeks ago, there have been incidents before or during three games with the Cardinals that have riled the slugging first baseman. In those three games, Pujols has hit three home runs, driven in six runs, scored five, drawn four walks and is hitting .556. Cut the macho crap and leave the guy alone . . . Apparently, there’s never going to be a sequel to one of the all time great baseball movies — Bull Durham. Two decades after Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon) and Nuke LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) put the Durham Bulls on the map, producer Ron Shelton said he’s tried and tried to come up with a script but hasn’t had any success. “It was such a completed fable that it was hard to go back,” Shelton said last week at a 20th anniversary luncheon in Durham, N.C. “I couldn’t figure out in the few years right after it came out, what do you do?” . . . Cost of everything is higher in New York, but what they are doing with tickets to the July 15 All-Star game at Yankee Stadium is beyond absurd. The price range is $150 to $725. And how’s this for inflation? In 1977, when the Yankees hosted the All-Star game, tickets were $10 and $15. A fan can’t even go to Home Run Derby the day before the game without getting ripped off. Seats for that are tagged for $100 to $650. Even the Futures Game between Minor League All-Stars will set you back from $50 to $225.
Here’s some really great news. Apparently fearful that some 6-6 team might not be invited to one of the already existing 32 bowl games, the NCAA certifying board has approved two more for next year. The St. Petersburg Bowl will match up the fifth or sixth place team from the Big East against the fourth or fifth place team from Conference USA. Also new is the Congressional Bowl in Washington D.C., expected to feature Navy against the ninth place team from the ACC. No word on what happens if Navy goes about 3-8. Those two bowls mean there will be more teams (68) in bowl games than the NCAA basketball tournament (65). But still no hint of a college football playoff . . . I didn’t believe it until KLVI’s Harold Mann, Southeast Texas’ Nebraska expert, provided confirmation. In excess of 80,000 fans — 80,149 to be exact — showed up for the Cornhuskers spring game, and some of them paid scalpers up to $100 for a ticket. Let’s all pray for those folks. It can’t be easy living in Nebraska, but something really has to be missing in their lives. Other places, by the way, where attendance for spring football games suggest people need to get a life were Alabama (78,200), Ohio State (76,346) and Penn State (73,000) . . . Let’s wrap it up with this advice for Roger Clemens’ attorney, Rusty Hardin, from Ernest Nargi, a New York lawyer and former prosecutor. “If Roger was my client, I’d say, ‘Look, lets sit down and find out what’s out there. How many women are there? A girl a day? Every 15 minutes is one going to materialize from a bar or a trailer?’ Hardin needs to find out what’s out there.” Actually, it’s way too late for that.
Sports editor Bob West can be e-mailed at rdwest@usa.net. His Sportsrap radio show airs Mondays at 8:05 p.m. on KLVI (560-AM).
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