MADD about beer pong night
Minor league baseball teams always are looking for the next big promotional opportunity.
Sometimes, bat day just won't cut it.
The Newark Bears are touting a plan to make a $2,000 donation to Mothers Against Drunk Driving as part of a going away send-off for departing pitching coach Jim Leyritz.
The former World Series hero was acquitted of drunken driving manslaughter charges in November. Perhaps the donation will help raise awareness of a problem that costs far too many lives each year.
Or not.
According to the Newark Star-Ledger, the Leyritz event and MADD contribution will be tied into a season-ending beer pong tournament at the team's final "Thirsty Thursday" event.
Seems like a good idea.
Other minor league teams are now racing to be the first to hold a Brett Butler tribute night in which they donate money to oral cancer research in conjunction with a tobacco spitting contest.
n SAFE AT ANY SPEED -- NASCAR star and Las Vegas native Kyle Busch can continue to drive around the track each week in pursuit of his first Sprint Cup title.
He'll just need to get a ride home from the race each week for the next 45 days.
Busch's license was revoked by a judge in North Carolina after he pleaded guilty to a May charge of driving a yellow 2012 Lexus 128 mph in a 45 mph zone. He was stopped near a subdivision, a day-care center and a church. He also was fined $1,000 and ordered to do 30 hours of community service.
He will not miss any races.
A valid license is not a requirement for driving in a NASCAR race, so the penalty will not affect the points leader's status on the circuit.
His attorney, Cliff Homesley, called Busch one of the best drivers in the world and said even at high speeds he was not driving in an unsafe manner.
"That automobile in his hands was like a scalpel in the hands of a surgeon. Not a knife in the hands of a 5-year-old," Homesley said.
Well, maybe a scalpel that has been launched at high speeds between a day-care center and a church.
n DELAY OF GAME -- It has been said no matter how many baseball games one has watched, something is bound to happen that you have never seen before.
Two such bizarre incidents occurred during major league games on Monday.
Matt Holliday of the Cardinals left a game against the Dodgers, and Angel Pagan of the Mets caused a delay.
Holliday was taken off the field in the top of the eighth inning when a moth flew into his ear and became stuck.
Eventually, a member of the training staff removed the moth with tweezers.
Pagan's "problem" was extracted more naturally.
According to the New York Daily News, Pagan "felt a rumble" that "arrived suddenly and with great force" at the end of the fourth inning and told the trainer he needed to go to the bathroom.
He was due up fourth and the inning progressed quickly, leaving him still taking care of his business when he was supposed to be hitting. The umpire approached the dugout waiting for someone to take the at-bat until Pagan finally appeared.
The center fielder grounded out to end the inning. Fortunately, he didn't leave any toilet tissue on the bottom of his shoe.
COMPILED BY ADAM HILL
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
