NBC lands a Super man...Letterman's choice: shut out or shut up...Spellbound Aussies

Granted
By the Evansville/Vanderburgh (Ind.) County Board of Zoning Appeals, permission for Yankee Don Mattingly and his wife, Kim, to construct a six-foot-high brick wall around the four-acre lot on which their house in Darmstadt sits. The Mattinglys hope the wall will keep autograph seekers at bay. "We want it completed before Don gets back," says Don's lawyer, Jack Schroeder, "hopefully from the World Series."

Coached
By Larry Bird, the White team, to a 178-170 loss against the Red team in Bird's fourth annual charity basketball game, in Indianapolis. Bird, who five days earlier had stitches removed from an incision made during lower-back surgery on June 7, claimed to be pain-free for the first time in years as he gingerly roamed the Market Square Arena sidelines in a back brace.

Signed
By Williamstown United of Melbourne's Footscray District Australian Rules Football League, a four-year, $18,400 sponsorship deal with the Spellbound brothel. Williamstown United, which was founded in 1942 by a local Methodist church, will wear Spellbound's script white S on its jerseys and will post signs bordering its field advising fans that Spellbound is open for postgame entertainment. "It's a good deal for everyone," says the bordello's owner, Samantha Johnson. "But this is strictly a business arrangement. There'll be no discounts or freebies for the players."

Invited
By the Triple A Tucson Toros, to pitch an inning of exhibition baseball against their parent club, the Houston Astros, late-night talk show host David Letterman. Last Friday, Letterman, who for a few months has been offering to pitch one inning of shutout ball for any major league club that would have him, balked at the team's invite—leaving many to wonder whether Letterman was just feeding the Toros a line of bull.

Hired
By NBC as a studio analyst for its NFL Live show, former New York Giants coach Bill Parcells. Parcells, whose three-season deal is reportedly worth $250,000 a year—half of what he made coaching the Giants—has an escape clause in his contract should he wish to return to the sidelines. When Parcells, who is responsible for bringing inside information to the show, was asked if some of his ex-rival coaches might still hold grudges, he said, "I think they've gotten over that. Well, maybe Joe Gibbs will take a little while to warm up to me."

Recovering
After surgery during which his left arm was amputated, former San Francisco Giants pitcher Dave Dravecky. Three years ago Dravecky, a lefty, captured the attention—and hearts—of the nation when he battled back from surgery for cancer on his left arm to pitch seven shutout innings. However, during his next start, his arm snapped, and a subsequent medical examination revealed a recurrence of the cancer. After the amputation, deemed necessary because of increasing pain and loss of function of the arm, Dravecky said it was a relief to no longer be suffering.

PHOTO

HARRY BENSON

The Mattinglys got a zone of their own.