Second thoughts

Don’t mess with guys in Customs

Golfer Graeme McDowell’s first experience in America didn’t start so well, thanks mainly to a run-in with a U.S. customs officer.
Golfer Graeme McDowell’s first experience in America didn’t start so well, thanks mainly to a run-in with a U.S. customs officer.

Graeme McDowell’s first trip to America was a recruiting visit to the University of Alabama-Birmingham. It was a harrowing experience — not the recruiting part, but getting through customs.

McDowell said he planned to stay four days because he was coming from Northern Ireland, and that would be longer than the standard 48-hour recruiting trip. His problems began when he was asked by U.S. Customs where he was staying and didn’t have the address.

“The guy said, ‘You’re not on a recruiting trip here, are you?’ I guess I would have been teed up to say, ‘No,’ by my coach because obviously it wasn’t within regulations,” McDowell said. “I said, ‘No. Just vacationing and playing a little golf.’ ”

As for the address? McDowell only had the phone number of a UAB golfer with whom he was staying.

“The guy calls him in front of me and says, ‘I have Mr. McDowell here. What is the purpose of his visit? Oh, he’s on a recruiting trip?’” McDowell said. “So now I’ve just lied to this customs officer. Long story short, it was no big deal in the end. But I missed my connection to Birmingham. I spent the night in Memphis and thought, ‘Man, what is this country all about?’ ”

It worked out well. McDowell won six times in his final year and received the Fred Haskins Award as the outstanding college golfer.

Protest

A Division III basketball team in New Jersey forfeited a conference game to protest the firing of its coach, dressing and warming up before collectively walking off the court as the game was about to begin.

William Paterson forfeited Tuesday night against Ramapo College in support of longtime coach Jose Rebimbas, who was in his 21st season.

Rebimbas declined comment on Wednesday, but said Sunday on Facebook that he was fired because of a misunderstanding over facility rental fees for a camp he runs.

Ramapo Coach Chuck McBreen said when his team was getting ready for introductions, William Paterson’s players threw their warmup shirts on the floor and walked off. McBreen said the interim coach then said the players had decided not to play.

Repeat performance

Australian Carlton Williams, 50, broke his own world record by doing 2,200 pushups in an hour.

Wrote Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times; “The resulting notoriety is nice, he admitted, but it has its ups and downs.”

The Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are now 16-0, setting a new NBA record for the start of the season.

“Although, really, they beat the LA Lakers,” wrote Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com. “Isn’t that kind of winning the College Football Playoff against an FCS team?”

Sports quiz

What is Ramapo College’s mascot?

Answer

The Roadrunner

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