A high-priced Yugo...beaned by backstop...Al Capone to the rescue
Placed
Third in the seven-card stud championship at the World Series of Poker, in Las Vegas, Los Angeles Laker owner Jerry Buss. Buss, who has been playing competitive poker for only two years, earned pots totaling $33,250. After drawing just a pair of jacks on his final hand, which lost to Don Williams's two pairs, kings and 10's, Buss said, "I needed Magic."
Passed Out
From carbon monoxide poisoning, Minnesota Viking running back Herschel Walker. Early on May 6 at his Irving, Texas, house, Walker, a confirmed night owl, started his car engine so he could listen to a tape while he was doing chores in his garage and an adjacent room built for his dog, Al Capone. When a favorite song came on, Walker sat down in the car to listen and fell asleep behind the wheel. Walker's wife, Cindy, found him 15 minutes later after being awakened by Al Capone's barking.
Earned
By the University of Utah, the Western Athletic Conference softball championship, after 12 hours of competition against runner-up Creighton University. In the final matchup of the double elimination tournament, which began at 6 p.m. on May 11, the Lady Jays beat the Utes 1-0 in a 31-inning game to give both schools one loss. The deciding game started shortly thereafter—at 12:45 a.m. on May 12—and Utah was crowned champ after it scored a run on a throwing error at 6:08 a.m. to clinch a 4-3, 25-inning victory. Afterward, Creighton pitcher Kelly Brookhart, who worked 51‚Äö√Ñ√∂‚àö√±‚àö¬® innings for the Blue Jays, said, "I need ice."
Purchased
By Bjorn Borg, three mid-sized graphite tennis rackets from a sporting goods store in Rome. Borg, who canned his familiar wooden rackets—along with his not-so-familiar coach/sensei Ron Thatcher—after being blitzed 6-2, 6-3 by Jordi Arrese at the Monte Carlo Open two weeks ago, is practicing with Dunlop G200 Pro's, the racket once used by former rival John McEnroe.
Knocked
On the noggin by a thrown baseball bat, Alice Torre, the wife of St. Louis Cardinals manager Joe Torre, when Atlanta Braves catcher Mike Heath's bat slipped free after he struck out. Alice, who was sitting in the first row, beside the third-base dugout at Fulton County Stadium, needed seven stitches near her hairline to close the wound. For her troubles, she also received a bouquet of flowers from Heath and a batting helmet with a bull's-eye painted on top from Cards equipment manager Buddy Bates.
Signed
To a six-year, $13 million contract by Benetton Treviso of the Italian Basketball League, 6'9", 22-year-old Yugoslav guard Toni Kukoc, who is generally considered the world's best non-American player. The Chicago Bulls, who selected Kukoc in the second round of last spring's NBA draft, attempted to sign him for much of this season, but he decided to stay in Europe, in part because he wanted to be near his family, which lives in strife-torn Croatia.
PHOTO
DAVID LEE WAITE
In Vegas, Buss lacked the Magic touch.