Caught on the fly

Their cleanup hitter was a mess, too.

In the first four games of a goodwill tour, a group of Major League Baseball standouts dominated the hitters of a team comprised of Japanese players, though the Japanese rallied in the final games to post a strong showing in the series. What was the biggest reason for the turnaround? Japan finally quit hitting Scott Rolenakamura in the cleanup spot.

REPORT: VITALE SUBLETS COACH K'S GUESTHOUSE

ESPN has announced its college basketball schedule for the upcoming season, with some of the highlights being "Rivalry Week Presented by Cisco Systems," "Championship Week Presented by 7 Up" and "We're on Every Week Presented by Duke."

And how is this different from the Davey O'Brien?

The Sugar Bowl committee has announced the creation of the Manning Award, which annually will be presented to the nation's top quarterback. And just to avoid confusion, the award for the nation's best player never to go to a Manning will continue to be called the Heisman.

Meanwhile, the NHL continues to negotiate with local-access channels ...

As part of the NFL's $8 billion deal with FOX and CBS, the networks reportedly are agreeable to a proposed flexible schedule, where games could be moved from Sunday to Monday to avoid lousy marquee matchups. Had the flex plan been in effect this year, the only way you would have spotted Miami during prime time on a Monday was if you caught Horatio Caine investigating crimes on South Beach.

But Spurrier's game plans were far less conservative

After the resignation of John Ashcroft as attorney general, analysts described his tenure in Washington as "polarizing" "controversial," "destructive" and a "lightning rod for criticism" Oh wait a second, Fly was remembering the D.C. resignation of Steve Spurrier.

COPYRIGHT 2004 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning