OK, let’s have a show of hands. How many of you out there aren’t carrying Tom Brady’s baby?
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Wild, isn’t it? First, Bridget Moynahan, Brady’s old girlfriend, announces she’s pregnant with his kid, then word filters out that Gisele Bundchen, his new squeeze, might be in a similar condition. Talk about a hurry-up offense.
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Brady has always been coy about his political aspirations, but it looks to me like he’s well on his way to being the Father of Our Country.
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It’s enough to make you wonder if the Patriots signed a second Brady — free agent tight end Kyle — just to create a diversion.
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Well, Al Davis is back to his old tricks. He just signed another Super Bowl hero, the Colts’ Dominic Rhodes, to play for the Raiders — as he did with Larry Brown, Desmond Howard and Dexter Jackson.
And Al’s not stopping there, either. He’s also negotiating, I’m told, with Jim O’Brien and Ottis Anderson.
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Elsewhere in the NFL, Cardinals assistant Richie Anderson got snared in an anti-prostitution sting operation run by Phoenix police. Anderson says it’s all a misunderstanding, that he was just doing research for his upcoming screen debut in “The Eugene Robinson Story.”
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The Cards, meanwhile, have issued the following statement:
“Hey, it wasn’t like he was driving around naked or anything.”
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A man named Boo almost won a golf tournament last weekend. Such an occasion cries out for a list of Notable Boos in Sports History — and the Sunday Column is happy to oblige:
5. Thomas “Boo” Weekley — The aforementioned golfer, who came within a three-footer of winning the Honda Classic. At 33, he’s finally making a little noise on the PGA Tour, posting top-10 finishes in his last two events.
4. Russell “Boo” Bowers — All-time leading scorer in American University basketball history with 2,056 points. Led the Gary Williams-coached Eagles to a 24-6 record and an NIT berth as a senior in 1980-81.
3. Boo-yah! — No explanation necessary.
2. Dave “Boo” Ferris — Won 25 games for the 1946 Red Sox — and also shut out the Cardinals in the World Series. Arm trouble curtailed his career.
1. Jim Boo — There was nothing remarkable about this defenseman’s brief NHL career, a scoreless, six-game stint with the Minnesota North Stars in 1978. He’s just the only athlete I’ve come across whose last name is actually Boo.
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A question I never got to ask Tiger Woods at last week’s press conference for the AT&T National:
Tiger, how long do you figure it will be before Tadd Fujikawa has his own tournament?
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Speaking of the AT&T National, Rich Beem is already grumbling about plans to make it a “limited field” event. Can’t say I blame him. The Beemer loves Avenel — he won one Kemper and nearly won another — and Tiger’s tournament could well be played there in years when Congressional isn’t available. Then, too, Beem might not get an invite if he doesn’t start playing better (especially since he beat out Woods for the ’02 PGA Championship).
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So I’m reading about the Dodgers’ Matt White discovering $2 billion worth of rock on some land he owns, and I’m thinking: This almost makes up for the 2 billion stories about athletes getting stoned.
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News item: John Rocker might have used human growth hormone while pitching in the majors.
Comment: I’m confused. Isn’t that stuff supposed to be for humans?
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Moving to basketball, Ron Artest, the Kings’ rapper-forward, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. It’s strictly speculation, but I’m guessing his wife made the mistake of saying, “I’m your biggest fan.”
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I mean, we all know how Ron treats fans — particularly in Detroit.
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The Timberwolves’ Kevin McHale is the top general manager in sports?
What did Forbes.com base its rankings on, height?
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That’s like Forbes naming Herbert Hoover the 1929 Businessman of the Year.
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Our dogged University of Maryland writer, Patrick Stevens, had a great item on his blog the other day about the voting for the all-ACC basketball teams. Seems a player can be declared a “unanimous” selection even if he’s left off a couple of ballots. “We do this,” explained John Justus, president of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association, “in order to avoid possibly singling out the one or two people who did not vote for a particular player. We feel that is the best policy and avoids any unneeded distractions in the overall process.”
In other ACC hoops news, North Carolina finished the regular season undefeated with a 25-6 record.
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You see, John, a policy like that simply substitutes one “unneeded distraction” for another.
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Look at it this way: Cal Ripken wasn’t voted unanimously into the Baseball Hall of Fame — and nobody made a big deal out of it. So who’s going to care that Tyler Hansbrough wasn’t a unanimous all-ACC choice? A little perspective, please.
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No joke: Are we worried about some reporter getting his house egged by enraged Tar Heels zealots?
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Or is this just another example of grade inflation?
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Department of Corrections: Eagle-eyed reader Matt Dauchess spotted an error in a recent column. Turns out Jack Nicklaus has played in five tournaments in the Washington area, not three. I neglected to mention — obviously because of my advancing age — the ’95 Senior Open and ’97 U.S. Open (both at Congressional).
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Mike Penner of the Los Angeles Times on why Mike Richter, who’s mulling a run for Congress, is the perfect candidate: “He played for the [New York] Rangers in the 1990s, so he will understand why the Pentagon spends $700 for a hammer.”
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And finally …
A female competitor in the Iditarod took a wrong turn Thursday and ended up on another trail.
Her name wouldn’t be Ruiz, would it?
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