Overexposed

Jazz players may be wise not to complain to Jerry Sloan about residual fatigue from their preseason trip to Europe.

He thinks it was a piece of cake.

"Those Europe games, we got 30 days to adjust," Sloan said. "I didn't think it was that bad, now that I look at it."

But spending time with the enemy?

Now that's exhausting.

Sloan says when he was a rookie in Baltimore, his team played Detroit eight times during one exhibition season. The teams stayed in the same hotel and rode the same bus to the various high school gyms for the games.

"It's not a fun thing to be on a bus and have to sit next to a guy who's on the team you have to go play," Sloan said. "I never enjoyed that at all — I didn't like a lot of those people."

Entirely understandable.

Spend eight days in a bus with anyone, you're not going to like a lot of those people.

Make his day

YouTube featured a video clip, last week, of movie tough guy Clint Eastwood delivering the ceremonial kick at a Lyon vs. Sochaux soccer game. (Eastwood was in France to accept a film award.)

The kick wasn't all that smooth.

Still, it's not like he's completely useless on the grass. One of his more memorable scenes is in "Dirty Harry," where he shoots the psychopath killer in the leg at Kezar Stadium, then grinds his foot into the wound.

Which probably presents a good rule of thumb: When you're Dirty Harry, limit your field appearances to kicking bad guys, not soccer balls.

Outfoxed

Flash Fox, mascot of the Utah Flash, has been up in the night.

And day, too.

Flash camped out on a billboard in Utah County for five days, last week, to help sell 500 season tickets. On Friday the team reached its goal.

Fortuitously, the TV station most anxious to cover Flash Fox's gimmick was another Fox: Channel 13 in Salt Lake City.

Instead of sending sports guys Mike Runge, Jeff Rhineer or Rick Aaron, the station sent the considerably foxier Arrika Von.

Which raises the obvious question: How come no one lined up an interview with KUTV's Dave Fox?

Moving Forward

Reports say Mark McGwire will soon be returning to the Cardinals as a hitting coach.

Imagine what tips a former single-season home run king could give young players.

On the other hand, he did say he's not here to talk about the past.

Violation

Montana Tech football coach Bob Green, to the Montana Standard, after his team was penalized 11 times for 111 yards against Eastern Oregon: "They called us for everything but adultery."

e-mail: rock@desnews.com