Not Only Can Favre Throw, He Can Catch

Brett Favre may be a MVP in the NFL, but in the outdoors he’s an MVF--that’s Most Valuable Fisherman.

The Green Bay Packer quarterback was taping a commercial fishing show on a small lake outside Minocqua, Wis., when he reeled in a full-bodied muskie--Wisconsin’s premier trophy fish--on his second cast.

At 36 inches, the muskie was a keeper but not trophy size. Still, on Favre’s second cast? During a TV taping? That’s a one-in-10,000 kind of catch. That’s like a new golfer getting a hole in one on his second swing, a gambler hitting the jackpot on his second pull.

“It was no big deal for me,” Favre said. “Some guy was crying when we got back to the lodge, ‘I’ve been here 30 years, I’ve never caught a muskie.’ I told him, ‘Apparently, you don’t know how to fish for them.’ ”

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Trivia time: After Toronto’s Roger Clemens, who has the most complete games among active pitchers in the major leagues?

Surprise! Houston’s Sean Berry had an apparent home run taken away from him when his ball hit a speaker hanging from the left-field ceiling of the Astrodome.

“That was a 10,000-foot double,” Berry said. “I got a high-five from the coach when I rounded first base, then all of a sudden I looked up and the ball was bouncing in left field.”

In the Astrodome, a ball that hits a speaker is in play.

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Double duty: John Lucas, the former No. 1 overall pick, all-star player, coach and general manager in the NBA, is now president of the Westside Tennis Club in Houston.

“There are two things I know, tennis and basketball,” said Lucas, a former collegiate All-American tennis player. “A lot of [young players] don’t know about my background. When they do find out, they learn I was the original Deion [Sanders].”

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Mama’s cooking: The Tennessee Oilers love it when the team plays anywhere near quarterback Steve McNair’s hometown of Mount Olive, Miss.

After their exhibition opener in Memphis, McNair’s mother, wife and mother-in-law cooked 500 pieces of fried chicken and 30 sweet potato pies for the team’s bus ride back to Nashville.

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Looking back: On this day in 1920, shortstop Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians was hit in the head by a pitch from New York’s Carl Mays. Chapman suffered a fractured skull and died the next day. It is the only on-field fatality in major league history.

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Trivia answer: Dennis Eckersley, now a St. Louis Cardinal relief pitcher, with 100.

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And finally: New York Giant owner Wellington Mara isn’t pleased with the salaries being handed out by high-income NFL teams such as Dallas and San Francisco.

“Where the thing is headed is corporate ownership,” Mara said. “I can see lining up with [Rupert] Murdoch’s Marauders against [Ted] Turner’s Terriers, which would be a shame.”