Fan Has a Lot of Kissing Up to Do Now

Sneaking in a little kiss at the ballpark isn’t even safe anymore. Especially, it seems, if you’re a convicted felon and wanted for failing to appear in court.

David Horton and his girlfriend were caught smooching by the “Kiss Cam” at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati during a Reds-St. Louis Cardinals game earlier this month, an otherwise innocent, little gotcha for the scoreboard screen -- if it hadn’t been for Horton’s parole officer, who was also among the 25,917 in attendance.

Shortly after a clip of the kiss was shown, Horton was arrested in his front-row seat.

Out after two years in jail after a 1999 assault conviction, Horton had been arrested two weeks earlier on a drug charge and allegedly missed his court date for a hearing.

Trivia time: Which horse, in an attempt to complete the Triple Crown, had the worst showing in the Belmont?

Fantasyland: Angel owner Arte Moreno said he planned to lower beer prices at Edison Field and, in what MSNBC.com columnist Michael Ventre reported was a related development, “David Wells revealed that he has always dreamed of ending his career in Anaheim.”

Catching Zs: When New York Yankee Todd Zeile hit the 238th home run of his career recently, he passed Gus “Ozark Ike” Zernial and became major league baseball’s leader among players whose last name begins with a Z.

View from the top: Earlier this week, on the eve of the 50th anniversary of his historic climb of the world’s tallest mountain, Sir Edmund Hillary ripped the many climbers partying at a base camp before trying to scale Mount Everest.

“Just sitting around in a big base camp, knocking back cans of beer, I don’t particularly regard as mountaineering,” he told Associated Press.

No, that would be fishing.

Foul ball: One more sign that baseball executives just don’t get it: The Milwaukee Brewers are selling $36 outfield tickets with the guarantee that fans will walk away with a ball that has been used in a game.

“One of the great thrills for a baseball fan is to leave the ballpark with a ball used during the game,” Jim Bathey, assistant vice president in charge of ticket sales for the Brewers, told Associated Press.

He’s right -- if you earn it by catching it, not buying it.

Fore! This from the Sporting News: “While Annika Sorenstam was creating a frenzy on the course last week, [Detroit] Red Wing winger Brett Hull quietly was trying to make it through a U.S. Open qualifying stage.

“Though Hull missed the cut, he drove home his love of the game, saying, ‘I’d rather play golf than hockey.’ That, of course, was clear in the Ducks series.”

Trivia answer: War Emblem, who finished eighth, beaten by 19 1/2 lengths by Sarava last year.

And finally: The day after his place was secured in the NBA draft, which followed his signing a $90-million shoe endorsement deal, LeBron James was back at St. Vincent-St. Mary High, standing in a cafeteria line.

Darrell Whitford, a cafeteria volunteer, was asked by the Akron Beacon Journal if LeBron had given him a tip as he passed.

“Yeah,” Whitford replied. “He told me to work on my jump shot.”

-- Mike Hiserman