Cardinals 1B MARK McGWIRE has been named The Sporting
News' '97 Sportsman of the Year (TSN)....TAMEEKA MESSIER,
the 23-year-old woman who says she was badly injured last
month when Patriot QB DREW BLEDSOE and OL MAX LANE "dove off
the stage of a Boston nightclub into a crowd of patrons,
filed a lawsuit against the players yesterday" (BOSTON
GLOBE, 12/11)....ERIC LINDROS appeared on the "Late Show"
with David Letterman. Lindros, after Letterman asked about
the "violence" in the NHL: "Everyone's been talking about
this violence. It's grown men, playing at a high tempo and
it's very spirited. There are no angels, so let's just
leave it at that" (CBS, 12/10). In Philadelphia, Les Bowen
writes that Lindros "turned in a solid effort [on Letterman]
in what might have been his biggest off-ice performance."
The appearance "closely followed the debut of a national IBM
commercial, Lindros's first such exposure" (DAILY NEWS,
12/11)....MSNBC's KEITH OLBERMANN had Comedy Central's CRAIG
KILBORN on "The Big Show." Olbermann played "5 Questions"
with Kilborn, with the first question, "What's the most god-
forsaken place on the East Coast?" Kilborn: "Secaucus, New
Jersey." Olbermann: "No, the correct answer is still
Bristol, Connecticut." The last question was "11:00pm ET:
Daily Show, Big Show or SportsCenter?" Kilborn answered the
Daily Show, but the correct answer was "None of the above."
Kilborn: "Is 'SportsCenter' still on? You know what I
watch, call me quirky, I watch the CNN/SI show and that Fox
Sports -- they're doing a heck of a job" (MSNBC, 12/10).
