Anyone for Fun 'n' games: 10/29/05

Saturday, October 29, 2005
Following the bouncing ball:A year ago, the ball used for the final out of the World Series caused a controversy. Boston first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz caught a toss from pitcher Keith Foulke for the final out and kept the ball. Why the nerve. Later, the Red Sox said they wanted it, and Mientkiewicz lent it to the team for a year, thus avoiding an ugly battle. There will be no controversy this year, although there was some mystery about the last ball's whereabouts. We here at Fun 'n' games were prepared to dispatch some of our crack research team to Chicago to solve that mystery, but it was solved yesterday before we bought the plane tickets. Whew! Our travel budget is tight. But we digress. It seems that first baseman Paul Konerko kept the ball that Houston's Orlando Palmeiro hit for the final out of the Series. Konerko fielded a throw from shortstop Juan Uribe, and that's 6-3 if you are scoring at home. But, in the most emotional moment of the White Sox's victory celebration, Konerko gave the ball to team owner Jerry Reinsdorf. We're not certain, but we think that's 3-No. 1 if you are scoring at home.

The name game:First, they were the Charlotte Hornets, and then they moved to New Orleans. Now, with New Orleans reeling in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the Hornets will play 35 of their NBA home games this season in Oklahoma City and six in Baton Rouge. Which raises some perplexing questions: What's a radio and TV network to do? And what do you call the team? With a little help from Mel Bracht of the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City, we here at Fun 'n' games will try to answer those questions. We consider it our obligation. And we will do it backward (no jokes, please). First, the team technically is being called the New Orleans-Oklahoma City Hornets. On the air, broadcasters will refer to the team as simply the Hornets. The radio and TV network will work like this: radio broadcasts will be carried on 12 stations in Louisiana, 11 in Oklahoma and 3 in Mississippi. The 65 telecasts produced by Cox Sports Television will reach about 500,000 homes in Oklahoma and 700,000 in Louisiana. Advertisers will be from the Oklahoma area, and, yes, that will sound strange to the audience in Louisiana and Mississippi.


Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/