ESPN's Trey Wingo reported that the Pioneer League
Butte (MT) Copper Kings will offer on July 7 "free admission
to anyone from New York, anyone who's ridden the No. 7 train
in New York, any young mother with children, anyone who has
purple hair, anybody who doesn't speak English as their
primary language or anyone who's a member of any other
group" that Braves P John Rocker offended with his
controversial comments to SI last December. Residents of
Rocker, MT, will also be given free admission. Rocker "had
no comment" on the promo (ESPN, 5/10)....MLB Commissioner
Bud Selig has "ordered" Orioles Majority Owner Peter Angelos
to pay former GM Frank Wren "approximately $350,000 to
settle the final two years" of Wren's contract with the
team. Angelos suspended payments shortly after firing Wren
last October even though Wren had two years remaining on a
three-year, $1.35M contract (WASHINGTON POST, 5/11)....In
Philadelphia, Ashley McGeachy writes that during last
night's 76ers loss to the Pacers, disgruntled 76ers fans
threw beer, soda and punch onto the court. At one point,
76ers coach Larry Brown "took the public-address announcer's
microphone and implored the crowd to stop" (PHILA. INQUIRER,
5/11). In Philadelphia, John Smallwood, on the incident:
"No question, [the city of Philadelphia] will be the butt of
sarcastic remarks, bad jokes and comments of disgust from
the amateur comics on TV sportscasts across the nation"
(PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 5/11)....In Cincinnati, Neil
Schmidt writes that individual-game ticket sales for the
Bengals began yesterday and "calls to the ticket office were
so brisk early that employees couldn't get an outside phone
line" (CINCY ENQUIRER, 5/11).
