Sideline Chatter
Toe jam slams Rodman's comeback attempt

By Dwight Perry
The Seattle Times

Dennis Rodman

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Dennis Rodman hasn't played in the NBA in four seasons, but that didn't stop Nuggets general manager Kiki Vandeweghe from giving the 43-year-old Worm a courtesy workout recently.

"I know how these guys feel, and why they want to play again," Vandeweghe told the Denver Post. "Because, honestly, it never gets out of your system. The very thing that makes pro athletes great keeps them hanging on to the dream. They need to compete at something. And that instant gratification of feeling it's all on the line with the next shot? You just cannot duplicate it anywhere else in life."

Four years ago, Vandeweghe, then 42 and far removed from his 13-year NBA career, got that same feeling when he easily poured in 30 points in the opening game of a barnstorming tour of China and sensed his old magic was back.

"And then the next day," he told the Post, laughing, "I couldn't walk."

Alas, Rodman now knows that feeling too: He had barely worked up a sweat in the Pepsi Center scrimmage before he abruptly walked off the floor in pain, citing an ingrown toenail, and then he was gone again, return uncertain.

Join the (singles) club

Now that he's broken one of baseball's oldest records — Wee Willie's 1898 mark for most singles in a season — there can be no doubt: Ichiro has a Keeler instinct.

It's in the cards

News flash: Harrah's Entertainment Inc. and ESPN have announced plans to stage the World Series of Poker Circuit, with televised competitions at Harrah's casinos in Las Vegas, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, New Orleans and San Diego.
 
But still to be ironed out with the Major League Poker-Players Association, we hear, are such tricky matters as interleague play, division of revenue from playing-card sales, home-table advantage from the All-Star Game, and which league gets to use the designated dealer.

Relish the thought

If the Philadelphia Eagles were seeking the perfect receiving condiment — er, complement — for hot-dogging Terrell Owens, how did they ever let the Cleveland Browns beat them to tight end Chad Mustard?

Talking the talk

• Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun, on the leading candidate to manage the Blue Jays next season: "Charlie McCarthy. He comes equipped with marionette strings that reach all the way to the general manager's box."

• Elliott Harris of the Chicago Sun-Times, on reports that David and Victoria Beckham named their first child Brooklyn because he was conceived there, and will do likewise with their third child, to be named Riviera: "Which, if nothing else, sure beats calling the kid Benz Backseat."

• Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post, on the Redskins' seven turnovers in Sunday's loss to the Giants: "I don't remember that Clinton Portis dropped his pen when he signed that $50.5 million contract, so why would he drop the football so much?"

Once more, with filling

It's only Week 2 of the NHL owners' lockout, but the economic impact is already being felt.

Which probably explains those despondent, out-of-work team dentists on local freeway off-ramps holding up those "Will Drill For Food" signs.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com