Ticket stub can hide your lie

Millions of fans over the years have claimed to have attended milestone sporting events.

Until now, their word was their only proof.

But if you want to brag to have seen firsthand the Philadelphia Phillies' Roy Halladay pitch his perfect game Saturday against the Florida Marlins, you can hide your lie behind a ticket.

The Marlins are selling tickets to the game at face value, and they will be counted in the game's official attendance figure. The crowd was announced at 25,086 for the 20th perfect game in major league history. More than 3,000 tickets sold within four hours of hitting the market Tuesday.

The Chicago White Sox sold souvenir tickets to Mark Buehrle's perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays on July 23 at U.S. Cellular Field, but the collector's items did not count in the attendance figure.

"We are not misleading anybody; no one is buying a ticket thinking they are going to the game," Marlins president David Sampson said. "Nobody is saying, 'Oh, my God, I wonder who wins?' So it's not as if there is any consumer fraud that is going on."

■ WIN FOR LOSING BIG -- With World Cup soccer on the horizon, the quest for goals will reach its peak.

But in one part of Canada, scoring is no longer the primary goal.

The Gloucester Dragons Recreational Soccer League for 4- to 18-year-olds in Ottawa has instituted a rule that any team that loses by five goals is the winner by default.

The rule replaces the league's five-goal mercy regulation, whereby any goals scored beyond five would not be registered.

Charles Gooch of The Kansas City (Mo.) Star writes, "I propose we find a new name for 'youth soccer' leagues that enforce rules like this or hand out participation trophies. Perhaps we call it 'Everyone's a Winner and We Love You Because You're a Precious Snowflake Ball.'

"I was always taught that you could learn more by losing than you could by winning and trophies were more meaningful when they were earned (not awarded for just showing up and trying)."

It's all about self-esteem, and fostering a "noncompetitive" environment, a league representative told the National Post.

So why keep score?

■ RECRUITING DELIVERY -- Josh Pastner learned a lot about recruiting as an assistant to John Calipari at Memphis. When Calipari left to take the Kentucky job after the 2008-09 season, the Memphis job was handed to Pastner.

Although some of Calipari's recruiting methods have been investigated by the NCAA, Pastner took it to a new level Thursday when his wife, Kerri, gave birth to their first child.

Pastner was in the delivery room -- with cell phone -- at a hospital in Memphis, Tenn.

"I had to keep in touch," he told The Commercial Appeal. And that included recruits. "I also told them where I was calling from."

COMPILED BY JEFF WOLF
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL