In L.A., Bill Shaikin reports Angels fan Henry Bouldin "wore a paper bag over his head" during the team's game against the Astros on Tuesday, "until the seventh inning, that is, when the Angels ordered him to take it off." Bouldin said, "Security just showed up out of nowhere. They said you can't wear anything over your head." Bouldin in reference to the Angels' payroll wrote on the bag, "$127 million + all I got was this bag. Go Angels?" Angels VP/Communications Tim Mead said that those words were "not why the Angels demanded he remove the bag." Mead: "If it had said, 'Go Angels,' it would have been the same thing" (L.A. TIMES, 6/6).
MOUNTAIN MEN: In Denver, Mark Kiszla writes there is "no doubt" Avalanche Exec VP/Hockey Operations Joe Sakic and VP/Hockey Operations and coach Patrick Roy "know their stuff at the rink." There also is "no questioning their competitive zeal." But "let's keep it real: Hiring the two greatest players in Avalanche history to lead the recovery was also an unabashed made-you-look stunt to stimulate ticket sales." Roy will "make headlines, sound bites and waves to demand attention from a city with a pro football obsession." But if Roy "doesn't make the Avs a playoff team in short order, the novelty will wear off quickly" (DENVER POST, 6/6).
BOSS TONES: Tuesday's edition of SportsNet N.Y.'s "Daily News Live" compared late Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner to his son, Yankees Managing General Partner & co-Chair Hal Steinbrenner. The N.Y. Daily News' Bill Madden said, "If you want to ask the question about how he stacks up with George, I'll tell you right now he's not nearly as fun as George was." SNY's Jonas Schwartz said there is "no doubt about that, but from a team standpoint and a winning standpoint," Hal "is better." Madden said Hal has a "lack of passion and the thing that really bothers me about Hal is the way he is so tolerant of people in his organization who aren't doing the job" ("Daily News Live," SNY, 6/4).
