Montana gets back to business...Knight moves...Give us your tired, your poor, your polo ponies
Aired Out
Joe Montana's surgically repaired right elbow, during a two-day mini-camp conducted by the San Francisco 49ers. The 35-year-old quarterback, who missed the '91 season, threw with zip throughout a 75-minute workout with receivers last Friday. "I didn't see any glitches," said coach George Seifert. Said Montana, "It's like learning to walk again."
Booted
From the Indiana University basketball team, Pat Knight, son of coach Bob Knight. Pat and two friends left a Bloomington bar early Wednesday morning and got into a red BMW. The car was stopped by police, who cited the driver for having a suspended license. Knight, 21, was charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct after he allegedly screamed curses at the officers from the backseat. He spent four hours in jail. Later that day Bob Knight dropped his son from the team without comment.
Sprinted
To the finish line, in a tight race for a seat in Great Britain's House of Commons, Sebastian Coe, who outdistanced his closest rival by 3,267 votes to claim the Falmouth and Camborne district in western England for the Conservative Party. A two-time Olympic gold medalist in the 1,500 meters, Coe, 35, hung up his track shoes in 1990 to chase a career in politics.
Relieved
From having to defend themselves against charges of sexual assault, three members of the New York Mets. A 31-year-old Manhattan woman alleged last month that she had been raped by Daryl Boston. Vince Coleman and Dwight Gooden in Port St. Lucie, Fla., in March 1991. A Florida state attorney announced last Thursday that investigators had collected insufficient evidence to charge the three players. "We've all been hurt," said Gooden. "Especially me." Said the woman's lawyer, "My client told the authorities the absolute truth."
Defected
A royal Jordanian polo pony, which inexplicably bolted from its handler during a waterfront workout and swam several hundred yards across the Gulf of Aqaba to the beach at Eilat, Israel. Suspicious Israeli police immediately searched the quivering pony, property of Crown Prince Hassan, for booby traps. The pony finally was taken to a remote spot on the fortified border, where a UN official repatriated it. The prince's brother, King Hussein, guffawed when he heard about the incident. "It's too late for April Fools' Day," he said.
Retired
Lou Carnesecca, the garrulous, sweater-wearing St. John's basketball coach. Carnesecca, 67, who led the Redmen to a 526-200 record and 18 trips to the NCAA tournament in 24 seasons, was named to the Basketball Hall of Fame earlier this year. Although his 1991-92 team did not live up to lofty expectations, finishing 19-10, Carnesecca said he was not leaving under pressure. "I'm deciding that it's time to go," he said. "I'm going to miss it. I'm going to miss it bad, but I had to give it up sometime."
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JOE PUGLIESE/AP
Montana is rearmed after surgery.