Will Ferrell's wacky spring training tour was a grand success.
Ferrell accomplished his goal of playing 10 positions in one day for 10 teams across five Cactus League games and raised an estimated $1 million for charity.
Still, there were a few people who voiced displeasure that the 47-year-old actor was taking part in exhibition games with professional baseball players.
Count Hall of Fame football coach and longtime broadcaster John Madden among those who didn't appreciate Ferrell's stunt.
"I hate it," Madden told a San Francisco radio station. "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."
Fortunately for Ferrell, the opinion of Cubs Manager Joe Maddon carried much more weight than John Madden's in this situation. The Cubs were one of the teams Ferrell suited up for Thursday, and his presence was a big hit with their players and coaches.
"It was a lot of fun, man," Maddon told CSN Chicago. "Nice play in the outfield. He was a lot of fun on the bench. I think it's good for baseball in general to have him do something like that with his popularity."
WHAT'S ALL THE HOOPLA?
Despite the hoopla surrounding John Daly and Tiger Woods over the past couple of weeks, Henrik Stenson pays little attention to the drug testing the PGA Tour performs on a semi-random basis.
Even though he has been tested for illegal substances about three times per year on average, the world's third-ranked golfer believes the only drug that can help a player hit golf balls "long and straight" is one that can do likewise for a certain private part of the male anatomy.
"Viagra might be the only one that's going to get you anywhere," Stenson said Wednesday during a pre-Valspar Championship news conference. "I don't know what else you take for performance enhancement in golf."
Stenson said he provided the Tour with a sample during last week's WGC-Cadillac Championship where he finished tied for fourth, and that he tends to do so most often at the start of the season.
"I've been tested at Honda, [WGC-Cadillac] Match Play, Doral -- last week I had to pee in a cup there," Stenson said. "It's always something in the early part of the year. I've been tested at Akron [WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August]. Can't remember. Yeah, early in the spring, it seems to be quite a lot."
ACE OF A COACH
Virginia Tech is adding women's golf to its sports program, with its first season starting this fall.
The team's coach, Carol Robertson, has some coaching experience from two seasons at Old Dominion. She also is a solid player in her own right. In 2010, she was in the final at the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur.
Even so, what she accomplished Wednesday was amazing. Playing at Celebration Golf Club near Orlando, Fla., Robertson made two holes in one in one round. On back-to-back par 3s. There was just one hole separating the two par 3s.
Cliff Schrock, who oversees Golf Digest's records and rarities, said the odds of someone making two holes in ones on back-to-back par 3s is 67 million to one.
The Washington Post reported that as Robertson was walking to the next par 3 after her first hole in one, she jokingly said, "I'll just go ahead and make a one on this one, too."
QUIZ
What position did Will Ferrell play on his high school football team?
ANSWER
Kicker
Sports on 03/14/2015