Say this for Abdullah the Butcher: As pro rasslers go, he sews what he reaps.

"In Japan, where Abdullah is a beloved figure who visits retirement homes to cheer up the elderly," wrote Graeme Wood of TheAtlantic.com, "two skeptics once spotted him in a hotel lobby and remarked loudly that his shows were fake.

"Without hesitation, Abdullah shattered a glass against his scalp, then picked out the shards, produced a needle and thread, and stitched himself up."

Where's the beer?

The New York Mets — after reliever Frank Francisco called the rival Yankees "chickens" — have brought in a live barnyard fowl as a clubhouse pet, so now it's time to give it a name.

Red Sox pitchers suggest "Original Recipe" or "Extra Crispy."

Sock-it Thome

And just when you thought baseball couldn't come up with yet another record, the Phillies' Jim Thome broke a tie with Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Babe Ruth, Stan Musial and Frank Robinson by hitting his 13th career walkoff home run against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday.

Though Foxx and Robinson still own the walkoff mark for 20th-century right-handers.

Playing small ball

Caleb Isaacson, 13, of Gunnison, Colo., won the boys title with an 8-6 win at the 89th annual National Marbles Tournament in Wildwood, N.J.

"He got third three years in a row," his mother Donna told The Press of Atlantic City. "This was his year."

Stat of the Week

When the Miami Heat's Juwan Howard, 39, finally earned a title ring last week, it was the first for a member of Michigan's famed Fab Five in a combined 48 NBA seasons.

Here's the rundown

The top 10 NFL running backs of all time, in the estimation of former Cowboys talent guru Gil Brandt: 1, Jim Brown; 2, Barry Sanders; 3, Walter Payton; 4, Gale Sayers; 5, O.J. Simpson; 6, Earl Campbell; 7, Eric Dickerson; 8, Tony Dorsett; 9, LaDainian Tomlinson; 10, Emmitt Smith.

Who?

"And in golf," reported Greg Cote of the Miami Herald, "somebody not named Tiger Woods won the 112th U.S. Open."

Talking the talk

• Blogger and Yankees fan Chad Picasner, with a cure for Alex Rodriguez's lagging home-run numbers: "Trade Phil Hughes so Alex could bat against him a few times. That seems to be working for everyone else."

• Mike Bianchi of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel, after Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally ended his four-year victory drought: "The most important development in NASCAR Nation since the advent of naked-lady mudflaps."

• Ex-closer Eddie Guardado, when told in 2008 that the Twins had traded him for Rangers pitching prospect Mark Hamburger: "What? I was traded for a hamburger?"

• Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, on college football's proposed four-team playoff: "Details still have to be worked out, including how to make sure that Boise State finishes fifth every year."

Here's the catch

Hear about the Cubs infielder who got caught with a foreign substance in his mitt last week?

It was a baseball.

Dwight Perry: 206-464-8250 or dperry@seattletimes.com