All McCray could do was smile, and for good reason. Braves' pitching coach Leo Mazzone's annual pre-spring training throwing workouts are usually ranked just slightly above a trip to the dentist's by most of the Atlanta veterans. In fact, righthander Greg Maddux has never bothered to come. But for Smoltz, who missed all of last season following elbow surgery, Camp Leo was another chance to show off his surgically-repaired right arm. No one ever went broke selling sex and violence.
Football is another matter.
The National Football League is the 800-pound gorilla of sports leagues at the moment, but the jungle is littered with the bodies of imitators. The limp was barely noticeable as Tiger Woods headed to the first tee Thursday. What followed was a game that's all too familiar. Although it isn't polite to stare, several Grand American Road Racers were doing just that during practice Thursday for the Rolex 24-Hour endurance race. Movement stopped momentarily in the pit boxes as heads craned to catch a glimpse of Dale Earnhardt wheeling past, not in his famed black No. 3 Chevy stock car, but in a sleek black No. 3 GTS Corvette.