Remember two weeks back when actor Will Ferrell did a tour of spring training, playing parts of 10 games for 10 different teams in Arizona?
Most teams got a kick out of it, making Ferrell his own uniform and even loading him into their online rosters. Others didn't like it as much, like former Oakland Raiders coach and television commentator John Madden.
"I hate it," Madden told a San Francisco radio station not long after the tour earlier this month. "That's a lack of respect, that's a lack of respect for the game, I think, and a respect for what players have to do to get where they are."
Ferrell answered the criticism while on Conan O'Brien's show on Friday night, pointing out the stunt was for charity. Some reports indicated Ferrell helped raise nearly $1 million for cancer research.
"First of all, he's right," Ferrell said. "Look at me. I'm all about lack of respect. I don't think the interviewer told him it was all for charity, number one, but I do love that in his mind he just thought I was just like 'Major League Baseball, I want to play in 10 different games for 10 different teams. I want to do it Thursday! Because I'm a big shot, and make it happen now!' Like I'm Veruca Salt.
"So he's like 'this Will Ferrell thinks he can insert himself into big league games.'"
To Madden's likely approval, it's not a stunt Ferrell is likely to try again.
"It's horrible, terrifying," said Ferrell, of standing in the batter's box.
Not so fast
Golf fans can be a fickle group. Case in point: Margaret, an 84-year-old woman who won a car by sinking a putt on the game show The Price is Right, recently.
Margaret's sunken putt one her a car, but the folks at Golfdigest.com decided to pick apart the achievement by pointing out why the putt would not have counted had it been made on a regulation golf course.
As noted, the putt was in violation of Rule 16-1e. The website noted that the rule was adopted in the 1960s when Sam Snead took to leaning forward so that his torso was parallel to the ground.
"They don't have to coordinate two hands, only one," Snead told Sports Illustrated in 1967.
Well, the rule was put in in 1968, then Margaret makes her putt to win a car last week.
"For the record," Sam Weinman wrote on Golfdigest.com. "The penalty here is two strokes or a loss of hole, but for now, we'll let Margaret off with a warning."
Ready if needed
Bob Essensa didn't get into a game Saturday. But the 50-year-old assistant coach for the Boston Bruins was ready.
Bruins' goalkeeper Tuukka Rask was hurt in Saturday's 4-2 victory over the New York Rangers, meaning Niklas Svedberg was the only goaltender the Bruins had left on their roster. That left the Bruins scrambling for a backup plan.
So Essensa, who last played in an NHL game in 2002, suited up and waited for a call while wearing full goalkeeper gear that, thankfully, didn't have to come.
"What a joke," Bruins Coach Claude Julien joked after the game. "He didn't even have the equipment here. He was just trying to look good."
Q. How many combined Final Four appearances do the four teams that have reached this year's Final Four have?
A. Kentucky (17), Duke (16), Michigan State (9) and Wisconsin (4) have combined for 46 Final Four appearances.
Sports on 03/30/2015