The Page 2 notes, born in the USA. …
Bill Plaschke of the L.A. Times, after Tiger Woods‘ victory at the British Open: “Woods is not simply a golfer anymore, he is Microsoft, he is Coke, he is Steinbrenner, and that isn’t fun.
“He is not as beloved as much as he is feared. He draws fewer embraces than stares.”
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, or the words of a guy who needed a quick column so he could play tourist in Scotland? For the answer, we take you to Las Vegas, where Phil Mickelson, not Tiger, is the people’s champion.
“Mickelson usually gets more tickets written than Tiger does,” said Jeff Sherman, assistant director of the world’s largest race and sports book at the Las Vegas Hilton. “I don’t know the reason, but everybody likes Mickelson. Tiger wins more, but Mickelson gets more support every time a major comes around.”
Part of the reason could be the short odds that Tiger carries. To wit: He opened at 5-2 to win the PGA Championship and already has dropped to 2-1. That leaves some delicious odds for the other members of the Big Four. Ernie Els and Vijay Singh are 10-1 and Mickelson is 12-1.
Some members of the national champion Northwestern women’s lacrosse team wore flip-flops to the White House to meet President Bush, setting off a firestorm of controversy in Chicago.
Excuse me? Half the people in America work at home in their underwear. …
Trivia time: Who is the other Hall of Famer-in-waiting, along with newly retired Tim Brown, to sign an offer sheet with the Broncos, only to have his team match the offer? Answer several dots below. …
You’ve got your death, you’ve got your taxes, and you’ve got Lou Piniella melting down after another lousy call by the umpires. This guy can do it all – throw bases, toss his cap, kick dirt on the umps, scream at writers and smash water coolers. Does that make him a five-tool maniac? …
Did you know? CSU, which didn’t have a 1,000-yard rusher last season, went into the eleventh hour with DonTrell Moore on the recruiting trail, only to have him go to New Mexico, where he has emerged into a possible No. 1 draft choice. …
Hottest trading-deadline rumor: Austin Kearns from Cincy to the Cubs. …
Looking for a reason to watch the Rockies in September? Here’s one: Todd Helton, who came into the season hitting .339 for his career, stood at .3351648 before Tuesday’s game, No. 2 among active players. I carried the numbers that far because Ichiro Suzuki, the active leader, was at .3355921. …
Trivia answer: Bruce Smith, then a member of the Bills. …
You can’t blame Kenny Rogers for giving grief to another cameraman at the cop shop. He’s a new-millennium, multimillionaire ballplayer. If it were up to him, he would have sent the clubhouse kid to get fingerprinted for him. …
As if the cameras are ever going to leave Rogers alone. Or anyone else, for that matter. Or maybe you didn’t see the electronic eye catching Manny Ramirez the other night as he ducked through a door in the Green Monster for a quick nature walk. …
David Thomas of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, on the NHL’s new drug policy: “Among the banned substances will be whatever the players’ union was on while negotiating its way into the new collective bargaining agreement.”
Catch Jim Armstrong from 6-9 a.m. during “The Press Box” on ESPN 560 AM and on Fox Sports Net’s “Insider Edition.” He can be reached at 303-820-5452 or jmarmstrong@denverpost.com.
