NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Garth Brooks has no plans to quit singing to become a right wing with the Nashville Predators. But coach Barry Trotz likes what he’s seen of Brooks in skates.
“He’s a banger,” Trotz says. “He’s aggressive.”
The friendship between the hockey coach and the country and western singer goes back two years to when Trotz was coaching an AHL team in Portland, Maine. There was a Brooks concert at the arena one night and Trotz, when he heard that the singer and some of his band members were hockey fans, helped arrange ice time afterwards.
“We played shinny till 3 a.m.,” Trotz said. “We had a great time.”
Trotz also helped arrange for ice time in other towns for Brooks.
“You know, he probably would be a good hockey player,” Trotz said. “I haven’t seen him skate in two years but he’s as fit as an athlete and he plays hockey just like his shows — all out.”
Men to boys
NEW YORK (AP) — Don Sutton, Larry Doby, Lee MacPhail and Sam Lacy, all inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame last summer, will be among the honorees at the annual All Sports Hall of Fame dinner to honor the Boys Club of New York on Nov. 4 at the Waldorf Astoria hotel.
Also to be honored are football’s Dwight Stephenson and basketball’s Marques Haynes, Alex Hannum and Arne Risen, all Hall of Fame inductees this year.
P.J.’s big day
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — P.J. Carlesimo, coach of the Golden State Warriors, served as grand marshal Sunday for the 130th Italian Heritage Parade to celebrate Columbus Day in San Francisco.
The parade has honored the city’s Italian-American community since 1869.
FloJo honored
CHICAGO (AP) — Florence Griffith Joyner‘s husband, Al Joyner, and sister-in-law, Jackie Joyner Kersee, will accept the ARETE Life Award for courage in sports Nov. 4 to commemorate the late track star who died in her sleep Sept. 21 at the age of 38.
The ARETE Awards show will be taped and shown by ESPN in late December.