THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 20, 1996 TAG: 9609200751
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: 57 lines
Dinosaur: Speaking to a group of children in a Los Angeles suburb Wednesday, a campaigning Bob Dole referred to Hideo Nomo pitching a no-hitter for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Dole must have heard the news from Ronald Reagan.
Add Dole: Just in case he feels the need to talk baseball again, somebody better tell the GOP presidential candidate that Roy Campanella wasn't catching Nomo the other night.
Whiff-le ball: Roger Clemens' 20 Ks against the Detroit Tigers represent a great feat for a pitcher of his advancing years. Wonder what he could have done against a major-league team.
Timing is everything: Some Mets mavens are upset that management brought in Bobby Valentine to oversee a lost season, thus denying the team a chance to pursue departing Pirates manager Jim Leyland.
Positively soccer: The San Jose Clash of the MLS averaged 17,232 in attendance for their 16 regular-season home games. This is more than the Oakland Athletics' per-game attendance, and roughly the same as the San Francisco Giants.'
A new fraternity: The MEAC, Norfolk State's future conference of choice, has two schools on NCAA probation.
Sign of the times: Under an agreement with Bank One, Arizona Diamondback play-by-play announcers will be required to call every Arizona home run hit at Bank One Ballpark a ``Bank One Boomer.'' Embarrassing.
Futurewatch: If, as some are proposing, the NFL goes to an 18-game regular season, including a bye week, you're looking at a mid-August start.
BMOC: Should he jump to the NFL after this season, no one will be able to say that Tennessee junior quarterback Peyton Manning didn't take his education seriously. He's got a 3.51 grade-point average, and is on track to graduate in May.
Out for No. 1: There is no I in team, but if you switch the letters around, you can come up with ``me.'' Take Wade Boggs. The Yankees' third baseman responded to speculation that he might be platooned down the stretch by saying, ``I guess that means I'll have to go somewhere else to finish up my 3,000 hits.''
Bronx Zoo: Only George Steinbrenner would feel the need to announce that Joe Torre, who simply has kept the Yankees in first place most of the season, would be back next year as manager.
Jumping through hoops: The signing of track star Jackie Joyner-Kersee by the Richmond Rage of the new women's basketball league is no more of a gimmick than building a sand pit at one end of the court so that the Olympian can long jump at halftime.
Role reversal: If Sweetpea Whitaker fights Oscar de la Hoya next fall, Whitaker may discover how Julio Cesar Chavez felt three years ago when a younger, quicker Sweetpea took it to him.
The real stuff: Each year, more colleges are going back to grass football fields, a wise move.
Tough: Before you assume that today's ballplayers are softer than the old-timers, consider Orioles centerfielder Brady Anderson, who is playing with appendicitis and still diving into bases on his belly. by CNB