Leaf hit trifecta when it came to pre-draft snafus
Three-and-out? No kidding. Arizona Cardinals coach Bruce Arians, in his new book “The Quarterback Whisperer,” revealed that Washington State QB Ryan Leaf made it easy for the Colts to choose Peyton Manning with the No. 1 pick in the 1998 draft after Leaf: a) showed up at the NFL combine overweight; b) blew off a private meeting with Colts coaches; and c) got scathing reviews from Pullman, Wash., residents when Arians came to town and started asking about him.
HEADLINES
At SportsPickle.com: “Six ways to confront a friend or family member you suspect may be watching NBA Summer League.”
In the Los Angeles Times: “NFL Films tackles challenge of making the 2016 Rams watchable.”
WATCH YOUR ELBOWS
The Class-A Potomac Nationals gave away 1,250 Tommy John surgery bobbleheads — a headless half-torso with a cutaway elbow. Replacement rubber bands not included.
ERR JORDANS?
Ballyhooed Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball shot just 13 per cent — 2 for 15 — in his summer league debut. “It’s gotta be the shoes,” chuckled Mars Blackmon.
MONEY PLAYER
Virginia cornerback Chuck Davis won $100,000 playing the state’s “Cash 5” lottery. “Lightweight,” sniffed an SEC booster.
CHEQUEBOOKS IN MOTION
The 29 NFL teams that didn’t move will each collect $55.2 million over the next 11 years from the transplanted Rams, Chargers and Raiders, ESPN.com reported. And you thought your moving expenses were excessive?
TALKING THE TALK
Washington State football coach Mike Leach, to ESPN.com, on the athleticism of 6-foot-8, 370-pound guard Cody O’Connell: “He’s weirdly flexible.”
Janice Hough of LeftCoastSportsBabe.com, on all that’s left to complete the Ball family circus: “Date a Kardashian.”
PISTOL OFFENCE DEPT.
Bills defensive lineman Adolphus Washington was arrested Sunday for improperly carrying a concealed firearm outside the Splash Park water park in Sharonville, Ohio. Unfortunately for Washington, it wasn’t a squirt gun.
LAWSUIT OF THE WEEK
A woman injured while riding a mechanical bull is suing a New York bar because she was allowed to ride while visibly intoxicated.
GOLD-MEDAL ALIBI
U.S. 400-metre runner Gil Roberts, who flunked a drug test, got it overturned after he successfully argued that the masking agent probenecid got in his system as a result of kissing his girlfriend and ingesting some of her sinus-infection medicine. “Now why didn’t I think of that?” groaned Josh Gordon, slapping his forehead.
HERE COME DA JUDGE
Aaron Judge hit a Yankee rookie-record 30 home runs this season — in 301 at-bats. Compare that to the 18 career homers he hit in three seasons at Fresno State — in 594 at-bats. Judge won the 2017 All-Star Home Run Derby with 47 — that travelled a combined 3.9 miles. He won the 2012 College Home Run Derby — with 16.
SPORTS FOR $1,000, ALEX
Answer: Canadian snowboarder Mark McMorris crashed during a jump in March, leaving him with a broken jaw, broken left arm, ruptured spleen, stable pelvic fracture, rib fractures, collapsed left lung and more than a dozen broken bones in all. Question: What do you get when you cross snowboarding with the 12 Days of Christmas?
QUOTE MARKS
Peyton Manning, emceeing the ESPYs, vowing that Atlanta will rebound from blowing a 28-3 lead in the Super Bowl: “I want the Falcons to hear that from me now, at the beginning of the show, because I know they will stop paying attention three-quarters of the way in.”
Packers LB Clay Matthews, to the NFL Network, on collecting 8½ of his 72½ career sacks against ex-Bear Jay Cutler: “Hopefully, the next in line in Chicago will be as equally willing to help me pad my stats.”
Mark Townsend of Big League Stew, on Royals pitcher Danny Duffy getting “randomly” drug-tested 12 times this season — one for each start he’s made: “If MLB’s drugtesting truly is random, then perhaps Duffy should consider playing the lottery.”
Comedian Argus Hamilton, on police resorting to water cannons to repeal protesters at the G-20 summit in Hamburg, Germany: “The rioting, looting and rockthrowing got so bad that casual passers-by assumed that Hamburg just defeated Dusseldorf.”
Jim Barach of WCHS-TV in Charleston, W.Va., after 44-year-old pitcher Bartolo Colon signed with his 10th MLB organization, the Twins: “Not to say he has been around awhile, but some of his other teams include the Cincinnati Red Stockings, Washington Senators and Philadelphia Athletics.”
Eric Kolenich of the Richmond (Va.) TimesDispatch, after forward Otto Porter — the Wizards’ third-best player — landed a 4year, $106-million contract: “Upon hearing the news, Kirk Cousins spent the rest of the day practising his fadeaway jumper.”
Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) WorldHerald, on reports that LeBron James sleeps 12 hours per night: “So that’s why he wanted to go to Cleveland.”