Beach ball kicks up trouble

Maybe a lifeguard should have run on the field and declared no goal.

A beach ball from the stands floated on the field in the opening minutes of Saturday's Sunderland-Liverpool soccer game in the Premier League in Sunderland, England. It might as well have been a set piece for Sunderland.

Sunderland's Darren Bent took a shot that Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina appeared to have covered. But Bent's ball hit a large, red beach ball, deflecting past Reina and into the net.

The goal, coming in the fifth minute at the Stadium of Light, stood. No referee -- or lifeguard -- waved it off.

It was the game's only goal, and the 1-0 loss put Liverpool further out of title contention. Making matters worse for Liverpool was that one of its fans had thrown the beach ball onto the field.

"We didn't play well, but we had bad luck," said Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, whose team lost for the fourth time this season to slip to eighth place.

Benitez said he didn't see the beach-ball deflection.

"I was surprised because the linesman was there, and afterward they were explaining to me," he said. "But you cannot change things."

• RUNNING JOKE -- Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning says it's tough watching younger brother Eli play on TV, says it's nerve-racking, says it can be aggravating, especially when Joe Buck is calling the game for Fox.

"Of course Joe Buck's just ripping Eli, just because that's what he seems to enjoy doing," Peyton said during an interview with NBC's Bob Costas. "So I'm yelling at Joe Buck, 'Just call the play-by-play, Joe. Let (Troy) Aikman do the commentary!' "

Manning said he quickly composed himself. "I said to myself ... 'What are you doing? Why are you on top of the bed yelling at the TV?' "

Buck, Fox's lead football play-by-play announcer, said the subject has become a running joke between them.

"I thought it was great," Buck said of Manning bringing up his name on NBC. "I've never been that flattered in my life. It's probably the greatest thing a player ever has said about me, that he's aware of what I do. He and I have talked about it before in a joking manner ...

"Any time they want to mention me on NBC, it's fine."

• PURE FICTION -- Dan Brown, author of "The Da Vinci Code," has a new book out titled "The Lost Symbol."

The book opens with a security guard listening to a Washington Redskins playoff game on the radio.

Reader Paul Singleton writes: "Know how you can tell that Dan Brown's new book is truly fiction? The Redskins are in the playoffs."

• GOOD SEAT -- Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Cole Hamels, to The Associated Press, on leaving Game 2 of the National League division series in the front seat of a squad car to head for the hospital and the birth of his first child: "Best cop ride I had ever been a part of when I wasn't in the back."

• MAN AT WORK -- Exercise guru Jack LaLanne, still doing two-hour daily workouts at age 95, to the San Francisco Chronicle: "I work at living. Most people work at dying. Dying's easy."

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