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Bob Wardle came ready to root for the Arizona Diamondbacks on opening day Down Under, all dressed in his Paul Goldschmidt jersey.
The special menu at Sydney Cricket Ground? Not quite to his taste.
“I’m not sure if I’ll try anything here,” said Wardle, born in Canada and now living in Sydney. “I’ve already had some very strange things at ballparks in the U.S.”
At $36 for a 2-foot-long hot dog, he was ready to pass Saturday night.
No worries, though.
Wardle and his daughter were having a fun time as the most quintessential of American sports took top billing at the home of Australia’s national game when the 2014 Major League Baseball season got started.
At a venue steeped in the history of another bat and ball game — cricket — the Dodgers beat the Diamondbacks 3-1 before a sellout crowd of around 40,000.
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The CBS/Turner broadcast Friday of the Gonzaga-Oklahoma State game took an unusual turn when announcer Andrew Catalon made a reference to GU’s Polish sophomore center Przemek Karnowski as a “Polack.”
Late in the game, as Oklahoma State sent Karnowski to the free throw line in a strategy of fouling Catalon referred to it as a “Hack-a-Polack” approach.
He apologized on the air and later did so in person to Karnowski, tweeting that Karnowski “was very gracious in accepting my apology.”
Karnowski acknowledged on an interview podium that he didn’t know the term was offensive and tweeted in part that “I really appreciate it! But the most important thing right now is we have this W (win).”
After Karnowski spoke, GU coach Mark Few interjected: “I think the guy (Catalon) made an honest mistake and I don’t think we need to crucify him for it. We’ve all made mistakes, everybody in this room.”
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