HOW much is choking your boss in a fit of rage worth? Sprewell’s gall is
tough to choke downOh, $30 million, according to the Mother of All Chokers, Latrell Sprewell. Indeed, he has brought a new dimension to the word "choke" in sports.
Yes, $30 million. That's how much Sprewell is suing the National Basketball Association and his team, the Golden State Warriors, for in lost wages and damages caused by his suspension for choking his coach, P.J. Carlesimo.
You heard right. The choker is suing the chokee. The perpetrator is becoming the plaintiff.
What has this world come to?
I can see it now. Some young punk defacing a H-1 highway sign will sue the state for damages after he falls and injures himself. He'll ask for $1 million to buy more spray paint.
Well, at least the NBA Players Association isn't endorsing Sprewell's latest action. It even advised against it. It's nice to know there is some semblance of reason.
Except, apparently, for Sprewell's mixed-up sense of values.
"Mr. Sprewell believes he was treated unfairly by the league and by the Warriors and that the full story has not yet come out," said his legal adviser, who added that Sprewell's civil rights also were violated.
What civil rights? If any rights were violated, I would think they were Carlesimo's.
One thing you've got to say about Sprewell, he got game. He got gall.
Me? I've wondered why Carlesimo hasn't sued Sprewell for assault.
Hey, Culligan Man. I see where the Holiday Bowl has got a new title sponsor -- United States Filter Corp., a water purifying company.
The postseason football game will be called the Culligan Holiday Bowl, and the game's MVP will be named the Culligan Man of the Game, a takeoff on the company's slogan.
Bowl games -- as well as golf tournaments -- need sponsors to survive. But sometimes sponsors, so zealous to get their names in the spotlight, can get in the way of common sense.
Remember when the University of Hawaii won the Holiday Bowl in 1992? A crowning moment in Rainbow football. But the Rainbow players had to wait for their championship rings because the rings didn't include the then title sponsor's name -- Thrifty Car Rental.
A simple "1992 Holiday Bowl Champions" stamped on the ring would have been more than sufficient. It also wouldn't make the "Thrifty" rings seem so outdated.
I can hear it if Coors Light ever sponsors a bowl game. Hey, beer man!
Once More With Feeling.
It's good to see Daniel Kim getting his kicks again.
After taking a year off to open his own school -- Pacific Tae Kwon Do -- Kim returned to competition and won the finweight (118.8 pounds) title in the U.S. National Tae Kwon Do Championships last Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
"They weren't expecting me to win. I'm one of the older guys now," said Kim, 24, a national gold medalist in 1994.
The reason for his comeback? The 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia, where tae kwon do will finally become an official medal sport.
"Everybody's fighting now to prepare for the Olympics," said Kim, who had trained under seven-time national champion Dae Sung Lee.
Lee, who runs the U.S. Tae Kwon Do Center, is planning a Hawaii Open Championship on June 13 at Kaiser High School in which Kim might compete. One of the innovations in the event will be the use of an electronic scoreboard, used for the first time this year at the U.S. Nationals.
