Sideline Chatter
Bad calls result in too many trips to the foul line

By Dwight Perry
The Seattle Times

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Credit BellSouth phone directories for the NBA season's first turnover.

Red-faced officials of the phone company and the Charlotte Bobcats are trying to figure out why an adult chat line was listed instead of the 1-800 number for Bobcats tickets. As Chris Weiller, the team's executive vice president of corporate affairs, told the Charlotte Observer of the phone-number mixup: "We certainly apologize to any of our fans who have been inconvenienced by this."

Consumer advocates say it's easy to tell a ticket handler from an adult-chat operator: There's no charge for the seat description.

Here's the drill

Sounds like the Chicago Cubs are starting to show signs of desperation in their trade talks with the Dodgers about a Sammy Sosa-for-Shawn Green deal.

Rumor has it that the Cubs have upped the ante to include cash and some bats to be corked later.

Cup runneth dry

There was no Stanley Cup champion crowned the year after the Boston Red Sox won the 1918 World Series, and, thanks to the NHL lockout, history will likely repeat itself in 2005.
 
But, as Ian Hamilton of the Regina Leader-Post noted, the reason for the Cup's demise has gone from "a flu epidemic to a fool epidemic."

Junior mints extra

The average Denver Nuggets seat costs $35.50, but as team president Kiki Vandeweghe told the Denver Post, "I want people to be able to come to a game for the same price as a movie."

A movie ticket costs $35.50? Maybe he's counting the Cannes Film Festival.

He's always on tap

Ex-Sonics coach George Karl is a minority owner of the minor-league Idaho Stampede basketball team, but it sounds like a full-time job.

"My active role is to go out to dinner, drink some beers, talk about the team, talk about the league and talk about the state of the game of basketball," Karl told the Idaho Statesman. "Sometimes that can last six to eight hours for me."

Talking the talk

• Jesse Ventura, ex-rassler and ex-Minnesota governor, to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, on why he's unhappy with the lower-level menu at Minneapolis' Target Center: "As an American, I should be able to buy a hot dog. They've got sushi; I want a hot dog."

• Fox NFL commentator Terry Bradshaw, as quoted in the Miami Herald, on his childhood Halloween outfits: "Where I'm from in the South, when we wanted a costume change ... a little design change, we'd just wear shoes."

• Dan Daly of the Washington Times, on the latest NFL phenom: "Ben Roethlisberger is God's way of forgiving the Steelers for taking Gabe Rivera over Dan Marino in 1983."

Cy Old Award

What do you call two old geezers — Houston's Roger Clemens, 42, and Arizona's Randy Johnson, 41 — who finish 1-2 in the balloting for the National League's Cy Young Award?

The Boys of Gummer.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com