For the Record
Suspended
For the remainder of the season, Rangers pitcher Frank Francisco (circled), who threw a folding chair into the crowd during a Sept. 13 dustup between Texas relievers and loudmouthed fans behind the bullpen at Network Associates Coliseum in Oakland. The toss left Jennifer Bueno, 41, with a broken and bloodied nose. Francisco was arrested on a felony charge of aggravated assault, and on Sept. 15 Bueno--whose husband, Craig, acknowledged that he had bought season tickets near the bullpen so he and his wife could verbally abuse visiting pitchers--called a news conference to announce that she will file a civil suit. Craig Bueno added that he considered heckling to be "an American tradition."
Apologized
To Brigham Young University for a halftime show that poked fun at polygamy (a practice that the Mormon school does not condone), Stanford athletic director Ted Leland. The Cardinal band's halftime show at the Sept.11 game at Stanford Stadium, which the Cardinal won 37-10, featured five women dancing in wedding veils. "We are committed to being good hosts," Leland said, "and anything that doesn't reflect this is regrettable." In 1997 the Stanford band apologized to Notre Dame for a halftime show that included a parody of the Irish potato famine and a character called Seamus O'Hungry. Six years earlier the band was banned from playing at Notre Dame after it performed a number called The Vatican Rag, which mocked the Pope.
Pleaded
Guilty to felonious assault, Walter Case Jr., one of harness racing's most successful--and most troubled--drivers. Case, 43, drove 11,027 winners, second alltime, and he finished in the money in an astounding 54.6% of his starts. But he battled with drug addiction, and last year he lost his license in Ohio after repeated suspensions, mostly for kicking his horses during races. In June, Case stabbed his wife of two years, Nadine, 26, in the back with a steak knife during a dispute outside their home in Streetsboro, Ohio, puncturing her lung. He faces eight years in prison. "I think he's had it," said attorney Max Kravitz, who represented Case in his attempt to get his racing license back. "This is a talent gone to waste."
Sued
The Campbell Soup Co., by the estate of John Facenda, the late NFL Films narrator known as the Voice of God. During the NFL's opening weekend, Campbell aired TV and radio ads featuring clips of old games while a man with a low baritone voice talked about chili. Facenda's son John Jr. thought the voice sounded a little too much like his father, whose oft-repeated signature line, a reference to the turf at Lambeau Field for the 1967 NFL title game, was "the frozen tundra." A Campbell spokesman says the voice is similar but not "sound-alike." The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages and a retaping of the commercials.
Suspended
For the rest of the season, Norwegian soccer player Jahn Ricard Nitter--a punishment that Nitter imposed upon himself. The striker, who plays for third division Aamot, elbowed an opponent in the head during a game on Sept. 11, giving the player a concussion and a cut that required three stitches. A guilt-racked Nitter last week proclaimed, "I am not like that. I am banning myself for the rest of the season. I do not condone what I did."
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D. ROSS CAMERON-THE OAKLAND TRIBUNE/AP (CHAIR)
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CHRIS GRAYTHEN/AP (MACHA)
Look-alike Leaders
A's manager Ken Macha
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DEBRA REID/AP (CHENEY)
Look-alike Leaders
W's veep, Dick Cheney
