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MONDAY MEANDERINGS

July 30, 2007

With the Milwaukee Brewers having lost three in a row (including two heart-breakers to the St. Louis Cardinals) and the Cubs one game up on the loss side, Cubs fans can continue to dream of the postseason. As in 2007.

•  With the departure of second baseman Tadahito Iguchi to the Philadelphia Phillies and the ascension of rookie Danny Richar (not to mention outfielder Jerry Owens of Saturday's game-winning homer fame), White Sox fans once again can start dreaming of the postseason. As in 2005. Or, for the forward thinking in the crowd: 2008 and beyond.

•  If the Brewers play .500 ball the rest of the season, the Cubs need to go 31-28 to finish ahead of them. The Cardinals would need to go 36-24 to do so.

•  Department of corrections: A photo of Patrycja Mikula that appeared last week on these pages had a misspelled credit. The photo credit should be: Don Bersano. Quick Hits regrets the error but not the chance to run another photo of Mikula.

HER ISLE SMILES TELL ALL
Hockey players apparently have more star appeal away from the rink.

Or so it seems with pop star Hilary Duff, who sings the praises of new New York Islanders forward Mike Comrie.

''Mike and I met a week ago, and we've been out a couple times, and it's like, he's great, he's really nice,'' Duff, 19, told the Edmonton Journal. ''But we're not, like, boyfriend and girlfriend. You know, we've been to dinner a couple of times.''

Comrie even can afford to pay. He is an heir to the Brick Warehouse, which is something like Sears in Canada.

And Canada is where Duff has begun a concert tour. It will be in Edmonton on Wednesday.

Might Edmonton native Comrie be attending?

''I'm not sure,'' Duff said. ''Maybe you'll see him there, maybe you won't.''

Houston native Duff admits to lacking knowledge about the sport.

''I was actually laughing with my friends, because I don't know anything about hockey,'' she said. ''Maybe I'm going to have to learn.''

WAR OF WORDS: Iraqi star uses game as pulpit
Celebrating was short-lived for Iraqi soccer star Younis Mahmoud.

Then again, Iraqis are becoming all too familiar with the concept of short lives.

After he scored the winning goal in a 1-0 Asian Cup title game against favored Saudi Arabia at Jakarta, Indonesia, the Iraqi captain was a little defensive about returning to his homeland and on the offensive about American involvement in the region.

''I don't want the Iraqi people to be angry with me,'' he said. But ...

''If I go back with the team, anybody could kill me or try to hurt me.

''One of my closest friends, [authorities] came to arrest him, and for one year neither me nor his family knew where he is.''

Iraq's team wore black arm bands to pay tribute to the Iraqi citizens killed by car bombers after Iraq's semifinal victory Wednesday against South Korea.

''I want America to go out,'' Mahmoud said. ''Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn't invade Iraq, and hopefully it will be over soon.''

MARTA PLEATED, FETED: Pele says this story has legs
As far as assessing Brazilian soccer stars, far be it from Pele to skirt the issue.

A Rio de Janeiro newspaper quoted him as referring to Marta, the 21-year-old who led Brazil's women's team to the gold medal at the Pan American Games, as ''Pele in skirts.''

''Actually it was my assistant, Pepito, who made the comparison,'' Pele said. ''And I agree. And I'll say this: She has an advantage because her legs are prettier than mine.''

Pele telephoned Marta, who had 12 of Brazil's 33 goals -- including two in the final against the United States.

''I told her she should maintain the simplicity she showed at the [Olympic] Games in Athens in 2004 [when the American team defeated Brazil in the finals],'' Pele said. ''Her positive image will be important for the growth of women's soccer.''

Marta wears jersey No. 10, as Pele did.

''He called me so I could relay his congratulations to the entire team for our victory,'' she said. ''I was touched.''

IT'S 2007, RIGHT?: They kiss prejudice goodbye
Ah, to be young and in love.

Before Ian Johnson and Chrissy Popadics were married Saturday, they prayed to end prejudice.

Good luck.

The Boise State running back, who proposed to his cheerleader girlfriend on national television after scoring the decisive two-point conversion against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1, and Popadics were wed without incident Saturday in Boise.

He had been concerned because of personal threats over a black man marrying a white woman (isn't that so last-century?).

After the ceremony, which included the African tradition of jumping over a broom, the couple drove away in a limo, with Johnson kissing his bride and saying, ''Let's play ball.''

Which seems more likely than prejudice ending any time soon.

UMPS' IRON MAN: Cal's pal stops Hall of a run
The man with baseball's most incredible streak was at the Hall of Fame ceremonies Sunday in Cooperstown, N.Y.

And so was Cal Ripken.

The former Baltimore Orioles shortstop played in a big-league record 2,632 consecutive games in surpassing Lou Gehrig's iron-man streak.

Orioles umpire attendant Ernie Tyler worked his 3,769th straight regular-season home game Friday but ended the streak Saturday to attend Ripken's induction.

Tyler, 83, had not missed a home game since 1960, when he started.

''I saw him was he was 12 years old,'' Tyler said of Ripken. ''I knew his father [Cal Sr., a longtime Orioles coach and manager] well. What better time to do it than to go now? When I heard he wanted me to go to Cooperstown, how could I say no? The streak doesn't mean that much when you're thinking about your relationship with the Ripken family.''

Including exhibition games, postseason contests and the 1993 All-Star Game, Tyler worked 3,819 games in a row before he headed for Cooperstown on Saturday.

''If I were ill or got hurt, there might be some remorse,'' Tyler said. ''But under the circumstances, there are no regrets whatsoever.

''I never thought of it as a streak. I just thought of it as seeing a ballgame. It's better than being around the house all day, helping with the dishes or mowing the lawn.''