Lexington Herald-Leader

LEXINGTON, Ky. – T-minus three days and counting …

This is what happens when your entity has sold out of one of the hottest sports tickets in the history of Lexington.

Everyone has an angle to play.

A man came to see Lexington Legends honcho Alan Stein late last week.

As Stein tells it, the man said he was dying from cancer.

That his grandson called the stricken man after it was announced that Roger Clemens would be pitching for the Legends this Tuesday night.

And that the boy asked if there was any way the two could go together to see Clemens pitch before “Poppy” died.

After it was announced that Clemens’ rehab appearance was a sellout, the man came to Stein with a personal plea for two tickets.

“Some of these stories,” Stein said Friday, “bring tears to your eyes.”

Others make Stein angry. One guy – who Stein believes is a ticket scalper and we don’t want to get Alan started on that – called the Legends CEO and president’s home and “asked for Uncle Alan.” On the other hand, “there’ve been a number of really funny deals,” Stein said.

A mother contacted the Legends to say her child plays T-Ball for an undefeated team that uses “Astros” as its nickname. She thought it would be nice if the star of the Houston Astros, since he is here in town, would come to a practice to give the 7- and 8-year-old Astros a pep talk.

With standing room included, there figures to be in excess of 9,000 people at Applebee’s Park when Clemens goes to the hill. Stein said he could have sold 25,000 tickets in two days to see Clemens – if he had a venue large enough.

What Stein said he’s telling those who don’t have tickets to see The Rocket – included are those with sob stories; unrealistic requests; and State House Speaker Jody Richards – is that he will put them on a waiting list.

“If any tickets are turned back in, we’ll try to help them,” Stein said.

Begin final countdown . . .

After spending the 1969-70 season as a member of the freshman basketball team at the University of Kentucky, Doug Flynn was exploring transfer options.

Among the schools being considered by Flynn – who, of course, went on to become the proverbial slick-fielding major-league baseball shortstop – was Bethel College in Tennessee.

Turns out, Bethel was recruiting two guards, Flynn and a guy named Randy Clemens.

When the two prospective Bethel guards met, Clemens introduced Flynn to his younger brother, Roger.

Yep, that Roger Clemens.

“When I first met him, he was like 9 years old,” Flynn said Thursday. “I remember Randy told me, my little brother’s a good athlete, but he doesn’t care about basketball. It’s all baseball with him.”

On the “Buzz Meter,” how does this one-time Rocket shot compare to past events in our city?

Let’s set the parameters of debate. It would be an apples and oranges comparison to measure this against any big University of Kentucky game from the past.

Not the same thing.

We’ll also stipulate that the 1985 Final Four in Rupp Arena is so far ahead of all other one-shot events, it stands alone.

The fair contrast is with one-time events or appearances here in Lex Vegas by major pro sports stars.

My top three since 1990:

3.) In September 1992, the golf set was abuzz when Raymond Floyd turned 50 and made his debut here the same week on the Senior Tour in the late, lamented Bank One Golf Classic.

2.) His royal Airness, Michael Jordan, and the Chicago Bulls hit Lexington in October 1991, for an NBA exhibition opposite Shawn Kemp and the Seattle Supersonics.

In our city – where, traditionally, you can’t draw flies with honey to an NBA pre-season game – 20,775 piled into Rupp to see MJ.

1.) Roger Clemens to pitch for the Legends.

The Jordan appearance didn’t have the months of anticipation this had. From the time Koby Clemens was assigned to the Legends’ roster and Roger announced he was not going to start this season in a big-league uniform, people have been speculating about a father-son performance here.

MJ also wasn’t playing in a Lexington uniform, as Clemens will be.

And, even as recently as 1991, the modern hype apparatus such as Internet and all-sports radio formats (in our market alone, we have two all-sports radio stations and four AM stations doing regular sports talk) was not as strong.

“That’s what’s different now,” said Tom Leach, the radio voice of University of Kentucky sports, on Friday. “There’s just so much coverage and hype around these things.” Which is why, when the Rocket relaunches his pitching career here Tuesday night, it will be the clear No. 1 on the recent Lexington Buzz Meter list.

Houston, we (will soon) have liftoff . . ..

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(c) 2006, Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Ky.).

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AP-NY-06-03-06 2108EDT