In Lehman’s Terms, Her Game Wasn’t Up to Par

Tom Lehman played in an alternate-shot couples’ tournament with his wife, Melissa, and learned a lesson in reasoning.

The former British Open champion hit his tee shot down the middle about 275 yards on the first hole. Melissa shanked the next shot about 100 yards from the green. Lehman hit their third shot 15 feet from the cup. Melissa’s putt ended up 20 feet on the other side. Lehman sank his putt for a bogey.

Leaving the green, he told Melissa that if they expected to win, she needed to start playing a little better.

“Well,” she said, “You took three shots. I only took two.”

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Trivia time: What was the first televised professional football game?

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Sound appraisal: The New York Jets are 1-5 and Keyshawn Johnson is getting worried that his season will be a short one.

“It is getting dark,” he said. “Once the lights go out, we can’t turn on the street lights and still stay out and play.”

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Home sweet home: In Stamford, Conn., the city he called home for 17 years, Jackie Robinson is bigger than life. A 7 1/2-foot bronze statue of the baseball legend in his batting stance has been erected in the city park.

Community activists spent three years raising $150,000 to pay for the statue, including $733 selling baked goods and Christmas decorations from the Greenwich Country Day School, which Robinson’s daughter, Sharon, once attended.

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Pete’s poll: By a 2-1 margin, most people think Pete Rose should be reinstated to baseball, even though many believe he did gamble on his sport, according to an Associated Press poll.

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Boxing’s best: Sport magazine ranks the top 10 boxers of all time: 1. Muhammad Ali; 2. Sugar Ray Robinson; 3. Joe Louis; 4. Henry Armstrong; 5. Harry Greb; 6. Sugar Ray Leonard; 7. Willie Pep; 8. Rocky Marciano; 9. Jack Johnson; 10. Benny Leonard.

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Understated: Tim Duncan, the San Antonio Spur superstar, has impressed guard Steve Kerr during preseason workouts.

“He’s really improved,” said Kerr, tongue in cheek. “I told him the other day that he could probably start for a lot of teams in this league.”

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Trivia answer: Sixty years ago today, W2XBS, an experimental NBC station in New York, televised the Brooklyn Dodgers’ 23-14 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Ebbets Field.

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What it was like: Fewer than 1,000 people watched that first NFL TV game. There were no monitors, no spotters, no visual aids. Only two cameras covered the game, one on he 50-yard line and another from the mezzanine. As many as 30 cameras are used today.

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And finally: The Sporting News has named Rafael Palmeiro, mostly a designated hitter for the Texas Rangers, as its major league player of the year.

Is a designated hitter really a baseball player?