Pro golf star Chip Beck just returned from the PGA’s Hawaiian Open to his Highland Park house, where frozen pipes burst in our current cold snap. Sort of makes you smile, knowing that a guy who makes a great living in warm, sunny climates is suffering with us. “It does make you appreciate that warm weather a little more,” agreed Beck, who also has a North Carolina home.
Going for the gold: Nancy Kerrigan’s rush to get back on the ice? Maybe we should color it green. “If she wins a gold, she stands to make five times more than she would have if she hadn’t been attacked in Detroit,” said David Burns, Chicago-based sports agent who has been involved in numerous Olympic-related endorsement deals. “She’s gone from the sports pages to the front pages, and that’s what makes the telephone ring. The skaters never make as much as the general public thinks, but Kerrigan is in position to clean up.” And Tonya Harding? Said Burns: “The advertising people won’t be interested even if she were to win a gold. Actually, I predict she’ll pull out before it’s over. There’s too much pressure on her, both mental and physical. Nobody’s that tough.”
Shootouts: The Sands casino in Las Vegas has posted odds that say the 49ers’ Steve Young will throw for more yards than the Cowboys’ Troy Aikman, but Dallas will beat San Francisco by a touchdown in their NFC title game. Maybe the difference is this: The Sands likes Emmitt Smith to run for more yards than Ricky Watters.
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Taking a swing: Baseball is just around the corner, like this weekend in Chicago. The Colorado Silver Bullets, new women’s professional baseball team sponsored by Coors Brewing, will conduct tryouts here Saturday and Sunday. They’ll be held at Northwestern in Evanston, and they’re indoors, thank goodness. The team hopes to put together a 20-woman team. There is a minimum salary of $20,000 for a five-month season in which about 50 games will be played against regular minor-league teams. Phil Niekro is the manager, but he won’t be here for the tryouts. Instead, they’ll be run by former Orlando Cubs manager Tommy Jones, who’ll be a roving instructor in the Cubs’ organization this season. The Silver Bullets’ new GM is former Orlando Cubs GM Shereen Samonds.
Puck fever: Jeremy Roenick, who yearns for big-time exposure, will get it Thursday, when he’s scheduled for a guest shot on NBC-TV’s “Today Show” with the Rangers’ Adam Graves. Not too coincidentally, the network is doing the upcoming National Hockey League All-Star Game. The league is pulling out all stops for the contest not to be its usual snore, too; it’s offering a better payoff for the participants.
On the run: Ken Popejoy, an attorney in the west suburbs, set a U.S. masters mile record last weekend in Champaign, where he ran it in 4 minutes 14.41 seconds in the armory. With plans to retire from competitive running after this year’s Drake Relays, the 43-year-old Popejoy said before last weekend’s effort his goal was to be no more than 10 seconds slower than the 4:04 he once ran in the same building in Champaign in 1970 as a Michigan State athlete. He did it, but maybe it was predestined. When he arrived at the armory, the only available locker was No. 414. . . . Marty Liquori, former Olympic runner and world record-holder in the 2-mile and 2,000-meter races, comes to Chicago Feb. 10 for a marathon training session for first-time marathoners. It’s sponsored by the Leukemia Society of America. In ’93, Liquori was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.
Random thought: Is it too late for Michael Jordan, apparently desperate for competition these days, to try for a spot on the U.S. bobsled team-the one Herschel Walker used to covet? The Winter Olympics are next month.
Around town 1: Former WGN-TV sportscaster Sid Garcia is the new host of a sports talk show on KCKC-AM in San Bernardino, Calif. . . . Lou Holtz will review the ’93 season Feb. 4 during the 36th annual Knute Rockne Awards Dinner in the Chicago Hilton and Towers. Among honored guests will be Phoenix QB Steve Beuerlein, the Tribune’s Bill Jauss, assistant AD Tom Kelly, NBC Sports’ Mary Ann Grabavoy and Marian Catholic High coach Dave Mattio. . . . Vinny’s managed to find a booth large enough for 7-foot-6-inch Shawn Bradley, who ate at the restaurant during his Chicago stay.
Around town 2: Among new members elected to the Western Golf Association’s Board of Directors: Sam Skinner, president of Commonwealth Edison and former chief of White House staff for George Bush; Doug Schmidt, Kemper Sports Management CEO; and Elmer Beard, founder of the 700-member Jackson Park Golf Association. . . . Jim McMahon will be guest host during the annual Super Bowl viewing party at Thiry-Four’s in Schaumburg. Other ex-Bear appearances at Super Bowl parties: Dennis McKinnon at Two Rivers in Naperville and Emery Moorehead at Slammers in Westmont.
And finally: This just in from Clark and Addison: The Cubs are announcing they’ve signed Mickey Mouse and Goofy to appear at their annual fan convention Feb. 11-13-and fill in your own punch line. They’re limitless.