Tiger stunt elicits yawn from Leach
Washington Huskies football coach Steve Sarkisian brought a live tiger to practice this week to help prepare his team for today's game at Louisiana State, which brings a tiger onto the field for its home games at Tiger Stadium.
When asked about the stunt, Mike Leach, the Washington State Cougars' colorful coach, said he wasn't impressed.
"I think it would be impressive if they let that tiger out of the cage," Leach said. "The other thing they could have done was they could have stuck a husky in there with that tiger and let that husky outduel that tiger inside that cage and I think that'd send a message to everybody."
As 24-point underdogs today, the Huskies would probably need to put their 16-month-old Bengal tiger, Sheena, in a wildcat formation to upset LSU.
Still, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he likes the way Sarkisian thinks.
"I thought it was a great idea," he said. "It's a competitive thought, to make his guys comfortable with the kind of elements they can't see any other way.
"When I was a player, we played at LSU and the same thing happened, and that thing scared the pie out of my team."
To help better prepare Seattle for this season, Carroll is reportedly bringing a meat packer and a gold miner to practice.
No truth to the report that Sarkisian will hire several hot, middle-aged women to help the Huskies prepare for their annual intrastate showdown with the Cougars.
■ LUCKIEST MAN ALIVE - Floyd Mayweather Jr. must own the 21st century version of Biff Tannen's "Grays Sports Almanac" from the "Back to the Future" flicks, because he posts nothing but winning sports wagers on his Twitter page.
His latest winners were a $200,000 halftime straight bet on the Cowboys against the Giants in Wednesday's NFL season opener, and a $100,000 halftime straight bet placed on Cincinnati against Pittsburgh in Thursday's college football game.
Dallas, getting 1½ points in the second half, led 7-3 at halftime en route to a 24-17 victory, covering the spread and bringing home a profit of $181,818.20 for Mayweather - who, it was reported, had wagered and lost $3 million on Michigan in its 41-14 defeat to Alabama last week.
"I bet the Cowboys second half $200,000. This is real. Not a rumor like Michigan," Mayweather tweeted.
We might have some respect for "Money" if he shared at least one losing ticket or bad beat with us - or, better yet, Biff's book.
■ UNHAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY - Ripped for arriving at the ballpark at 4 p.m. for a recent
7 p.m. game instead of his usual 2 p.m., Boston Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine defended his actions - saying he had to pick up his son at the airport. But he inadvertently criticized Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon in the process.
"Joe Maddon gets there every day at 4 o'clock, just for the record," Valentine said.
Apprised of Valentine's comments, Maddon responded with a witty comeback in a
5 p.m. tweet: "Apologies to the writers for being late to today's pregame session. My pedicure appointment ran a little late."
COMPILED BY TODD DEWEY
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
