Bleacher Bits: Even small names make big mistakes

With another week of numerous rain-outs testing my stress level, and needing to lighten my mood, I took to cyberworld this week to find some sports tidbits to make me chuckle — or at least shake my head.

Sure, there were the "normal" stories of Division I college coaches being fired for off-the-field antics, or pro franchise owners confronting high-priced athletes, but what I came across shows that idiocy knows no bounds and can affect athletes and even fans at every level.

The first one is a "two-fer," meaning it made me laugh; at the same time I was shaking my head. It seems that Raphael Davis, 35, filed for worker's compensation between 2008 and 2011 while he was laid up from his job as a Los Angeles fireman.

Don't get me wrong, there's nothing funny about that, unless of course you factor in that he is facing four felony counts of insurance fraud after it was found he was moonlighting as a mixed martial arts fighter.

I guess he should have tapped out sooner.

My second example shows that if you're ever told to "go pound sand," it might be wise to do so. The phrase is another way of telling someone to "get lost," and 40-year-old Clayton Price Baker should have done just that.

Instead, he allegedly snuck onto the course at Augusta after the recent Masters Golf Tournament ended and tried to scoop up a cup of sand from a sandtrap as a souvenir. What he ended up with was an empty cup and an arrest for disorderly conduct.

I'm sure the framed arrest report will look good on the wall in his den.

Finally, falling into "ludicrous" territory, the Homestead (Fla.) Senior High track team was traveling to a meet in Gainesville when its assistant coach was pulled over for speeding. When it was determined the coach had a suspended license for failing to pay past tickets and failing to appear in court, the rental vehicle was towed, leaving members of the team briefly stranded on the side of the highway.

When the kids called their parents, who in turn contacted the school, the athletic department said that since the meet wasn't an official event, the school was unwilling to provide any aid. A pair of brothers on the team were eventually transported to the nearest exit - one with the police officer and another in the tow truck.

I guess even in track and field, it is sometimes more advisable to slow down.

CONTACT Craig Purcell at 824-1036 or cpurcell@tcnpress.com.