LITTLE ROCK — Outfielder no fan of angry birds
Don’t expect to see Denard Span on the Outdoor Channel anytime soon.
Apparently, the Washington Nationals outfielder has a problem withbirds. And fish.
Pretty much anything you might find in the wild.
Span admitted as much this week after a large, low-flying bird buzzed the Nationals’ spring training facility in Viera,Fla., and dropped a fish it was carrying into shallow center field.
Startled players huddled around the fish at first, then noticed the bird was circling the field. That’s when Span began to freak out.
“I was kind of squealing a little bit,” Span told Brad Horn of the Washington Post. “I kept thinking, that’s his dinner. That’s his food.
As I was looking down at the fish, I didn’t want him to think that I was trying to take his dinner and have the bird come from behind me or come from the sky and try to attack me.
“I kept my head on a swivel and made sure the bird didn’t catch me slipping.”
Shortstop Ian Desmond cameto the rescue and tossed the fish over the fence, but that did little to ease Span’s concerns.
“I’m scared of fish, scared of birds,” he said. “The only thing I’m not scared of is probably, like, an ant or something like that.” Yo, Money
Luke Donald began his rise to No. 1 in the world two years ago by working with Dave Alred, a performance guru from Britain who is famous for working with rugby players such as Johnny Wilkinson.
Donald’s latest influence is none other than Michael Jordan, the six-time NBA champion.
Donald spends half the year in south Florida, where Jordan is building a home.
The two first met in Chicago when Donald was playing college golf at Northwestern, and they have become frequent golf buddies.
Donald said he enjoys picking the brain of someone with such a winning pedigree, and it’s already paying off for him.
“I usually give him six [shots] a side,” Donald told The Associated Press, “and that’s usually not enough for him.”Dead-ball foul
South Carolina’s men’s basketball team may not be much fun to watch, but its coach sure is.
Frank Martin didn’t hold back Thursday night after the Gamecocks’ 64-46 loss to LSU dropped South Carolina to 12-12 overall and 2-9 in SEC play. About the only member of the team to escape Martin’s wrath was point guard Bruce Ellington.
“If you take Bruce Ellington off our team, you’d probably have the 12 leading candidates for the starring roles in The Return of the Living Dead, the zombie movie,” Martin told reporters. “If you took Bruce off our team, our guys would probably win an Academy [Award] for their performance in that movie.
“I’ve been doing this for 28 years, nine of which as a juniorvarsity high school coach. That means I’ve dealt with 14-yearolds. I’ve never been more embarrassed to call myself a basketball coach than I am today.”Quote of the day “I know Coach
Anderson really wanted it a lot, too, but these other
guys were just as amped
up as we were to win.” Arkansas guard BJ Young on the Razorbacks’ 73-71 victory over Missouri on Saturday in Fayetteville
Sports, Pages 28 on 02/17/2013