Published: May 06, 2008 09:46 am            

THE PERRY COMMENTARY: NEWS AND NOTES FROM THE WORLD OF SPORTS

Clemens’ story has soap opera appeal; Papa John’s cries foul and will pay

As a youngster, I lived for my baseball card collection. I began earnestly collecting the cards in about 1981 or 82 and still have most of them. Boxes of “commons” sit in totes in an out building, while folders of the “star” players have been passed down to my son.

Among those folders is about a dozen pages filled with Roger Clemens cards. At one point, these cards were hot items. Now days, they could serve better as conversations starters than collectable investments.

I’m not sure I have ever seen a sports star fall so far so fast. Barry Bonds’ decline was over a long period of time, while Clemen’s demise has come in the past few months following the famed Mitchell Report. Now, stories of infidelity and a relationship with a minor have surfaced and fed the media storm surrounding Clemens. His story has made watching SportsCenter more like watching an episode of All My Children. I’m just waiting to hear that Clemens and Erica Kane have a love child that has just returned to Pine Valley!

• Be glad you are not an employee at one of the Cleveland area Papa John’s this week.

Thanks to what the pizza company has called a regretful mistake, residents of Cleveland will be offered a one topping large pizza for 23 cents on Thursday. Yes, 23 cents!

The offer comes after Papa John’s printed T-shirts that were distributed at the Cleveland Cavilers vs. Washington Wizards playoff game last week that had the number 23 on the back with the words “CRY BABY” written under the number.

The shirts were printed after LeBron James was called a cry baby by an opponent for complaining about fouls.

The 23-cent pizzas are to honor James’ uniform number.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess this little snafu is going to cost the pizza maker some big money.

• Finally, the Celtics put away the Hawks! My hopes of a Celtics vs. Lakers NBA Finals still lives, at least for another series anyway.

• A quick glance at the list of students who earned a distinguished on their senior Writing Portfolios speaks well of student athletes at McCreary Central High School.

Of the 27 students who earned the highest marks on the portfolios, I noticed more than a handful were athletes. Basketball players, tennis players, softball players and cross country runners were among the names that jumped out at me.

That goes a long way to dispel the stereotype of dumb jocks and shows everyone the capability of the students in McCreary County schools. I am glad to congratulate all the students, especially the true student athletes.

        

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