Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Maybe they can bring in Bob Costas to pitch

Billy Crystal is going to sign a one day contract to play for the New York Yankees in an exhibition game on Thursday against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Crystal has been in three great movies (When Harry Met Sally, The Princess Bride, Monsters, Inc.) and a bunch or drek will turn 60 on Friday. He will be the latest in a line of celebrities to play with professional teams, including Garth Brooks (who played at Oklahoma State and went to spring training with the Padres, Mets, and Royals), Master P (the Hornets and Raptors in 1999), and Tom Selleck (the Tigers in 1992).

This would never happen in the NFL. Can you imagine if an NFL team signed, say, Bon Jovi to play a preseason game? He would be in traction within an hour. Stuart Scott went to Jets training camp in 2002 and suffered a detached cornea after being hit in the eye from a football shot out of a JUGS machine. He was 37 and presumably in decent shape, and he suffered a serious injury in a drill. Even an action star would get pummeled in an NFL preseason game.

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