Players’ payback no smashing success
Ever hear of Friday Night Lights … Out?
Seven La Joya (Texas) High School students - five of them players who’d quit the football team just days before - took out their frustrations on the car of first-year coach Leonel Casas, smashing out lights and windows and pouring brake fluid on the paint, the McAllen Monitor reported. Six of the seven 17-year-olds were sitting in jail Monday, unable to post bond ranging from $25,000 to $50,000, but got a reprieve when Casas decided to drop the charges. They still are on the hook for $2,200 in damage to the car, though, and face school discipline.
Jesenia Zamora, a sister of one of the suspects, alleged the coach had driven the players to quit, telling Harlingen’s KGBT-TV: “They didn’t kill nobody, you know … 50 K is a lot.”
And soon, they’re about to discover, so is 2.2 K.
Turtleneck time
Reading’s Michael Duberry experienced a soccer defender’s worst nightmare - a backfire into his own net - in an English Premier League match last Saturday, but teammate Shane Long bailed him out with the tiebreaking goal in a 2-1 win over Newcastle.
“I gave Longy a big kiss in the changing room,” Duberry told the London Sun. “I don’t know if his girlfriend’s going to be happy with that big love bite on his neck, but that was me.”
Tears of Joey Dept.
White Sox bench coach Joey Cora will be interviewed this week for the hapless Pirates’ vacant managerial position, the Chicago Tribune reported. Cora proved long ago he had the No. 1 prerequisite for the job during his playing days as Mariner - but enough about that memorable cry on A-Rod’s shoulder.
Tooth or consequences
The U.S. government is recalling “Ugly Teeth” because they contain excessive amounts of lead, the Consumer Product Safety Commission announced.
Not realizing it was a reference to fake Halloween choppers, 39 NHL players turned themselves in for questioning.
Quote, end quote
• Ex-manager Joe Torre, on CBS’s “Late Show with David Letterman,” on his breakup with the Yankees: “Now that the divorce has taken place, we’re not sure who gets custody of Billy Crystal.”
• Syndicated columnist Norman Chad, on success turning those once-lovable Red Sox fans cocky and obnoxious: “Now I know why Shelly Long left ‘Cheers.’ ”
• Jaguars running back Fred Taylor, to The Associated Press, when asked what 254-pound QB Quinn Gray brings to the table: “Probably some ribs, some chicken.”
Dear John Dept.
Formula One runner-up Lewis Hamilton is leaving his native England for relative anonymity in Switzerland, telling BBC News: “I go to the bathroom in a petrol station, and people come in there for autographs.”
What’s the world coming to when a race-car driver can’t even make a quick pit stop?
Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com