THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507140142
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
A suggestion: Before Major League Baseball can really speed up its games, it will need to find a way to make players cut back on all that scratching and spitting.
No sweat: If researchers are correct that people in their 20s today - the so-called Generation X - are heavier and less physically active than people in that age group five to 10 years ago, that would make them Generation XL, wouldn't it?
In passing: There aren't many things more poignant than a 63-year-old Mickey Mantle telling the world, ``I just blew it.''
Huh? After the All-Star Game, ABC's Lesley Visser looks at home run hero Jeff Conine, who is not exactly Joe DiMaggio, and says something along the lines of, ``Maybe this will help bring people back to baseball.'' Maybe Lesley should repeat that for the benefit of all the people who were already asleep.
More bad news: The five-day FanFest, held in Dallas in conjunction with the All-Star Game, drew 90,000 people. Last year, the same event in Pittsburgh attracted 150,000.
There she is: Cancel the Miss America swimsuit competition and turn it into an Olympic sport. Couldn't be any more nonsensical than inviting ballroom dancing into the Summer Games.
Futurewatch: If cheerleading is about to become a recognized high school sport in Florida, complete with a state championship, then marching bands should be able to start their own pro league.
TV timeout: All the people Danny Ainge irritated as a player be warned - the Phoenix Suns guard is auditioning for Doug Collins' old courtside spot on TNT games.
Tube talk: To my surprise, both Chris Evert and John McEnroe contributed decent analysis and good humor to NBC's coverage of Wimbledon. In McEnroe's case, it's almost enough to make me forget what a jerk he used to be on the court. Almost.
Numbers game: Sorry, Andre, but computer or no computer, a Pete Sampras who wins Wimbledon again must be considered the No. 1 player in the world for the time being.
This year's model: Steffi Graf captures her sixth Wimbledon title, Sampras his third in a row, and who is on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated but Monica Seles. Her comeback is bigger than anything else in tennis right now.
Money line: Toronto, the Yankees and Baltimore, with three of the four highest payrolls in baseball, are all below .500.
Hoop decline: The Russian economy isn't all that's fallen on hard times. In the recent European Championships, the famed Big Red basketball team failed to qualify for the Olympics for the first time.
Counting heads: The 1995 NCAA attendance figures reveal that Division I men's basketball averaged only 5,641 a game. In other words, criticism of programs that do not pack them in like North Carolina, Kentucky and Syracuse is off the mark.
Medical report: Here's the long and short of Brad Daugherty's comeback attempt. He's working out again, but the Cleveland Cavaliers center has lost an inch in height due to back surgery. I've heard of a player losing a step, but an inch?
Hype-making machinery: Hugh Grant is discovering what Don King has known for years - there is no such thing as bad publicity. by CNB