Dave Gorman

Dave Gorman often seems to be laughing when he takes the stage, as if he's reliving a private joke with himself. He's probably not chuckling at a line of his own but rather at the strange and astonishing people he's met while building his routine -- and perhaps the sense that he's survived it all. The pale, gangly Gorman, once a stand-up comedian in his native England, now practices what a London Times reviewer dubbed "documentary comedy."

Dave Gorman often seems to be laughing when he takes the stage, as if he's reliving a private joke with himself. He's probably not chuckling at a line of his own but rather at the strange and astonishing people he's met while building his routine -- and perhaps the sense that he's survived it all. The pale, gangly Gorman, once a stand-up comedian in his native England, now practices what a London Times reviewer dubbed "documentary comedy."

The Houston Boxing Assn. will promote the Feb. 28 World Boxing Assn. featherweight championship bout between titleholder Steve Cruz and No. 1 contender Antonio Esparragoza of Venezuela. Dave Gorman, Cruz' manager, bid $123,000 for the HBA. Sites under consideration for the fight are Fort Worth, the champion's hometown; San Antonio, and Atlantic City, N.J. Cruz, who won the title from Barry McGuigan June 23, will get 75% of the purse and Esparragoza 25%.

It took British comedian Dave Gorman's uniquely quirky and obsessive mind to parlay an unsolicited e-mail into a quest of heroic proportions and to chronicle it in a hilarious confessional solo performance piece, "Dave Gorman's Googlewhack! Adventure," currently at UCLA's Macgowan LittleTheater.

Donald Curry was the toast of boxing a year ago. Fresh from a stunning second-round knockout of Milton McCrory for the undisputed welterweight title, he was hailed as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. He had big plans--a few quick defenses of his 147-pound crown, followed by a move up in weight and a possible megabucks fight against Marvelous Marvin Hagler. But an unheralded Briton named Lloyd Honeyghan wouldn't cooperate.

In a decision that angered many Los Angeles-area veterans, U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown announced Monday that the quake-damaged Sepulveda VA hospital will be demolished and replaced with a $65-million outpatient care center. The 431-bed federal hospital has been closed since the Jan. 17 temblor wrecked operating rooms, knocked out heat and water supplies and littered corridors with broken glass, forcing the evacuation of 331 patients.

This quiet mining town is deluged with PIBs (People in Black). The local trustafarian (a hippie trust-funder who bears the Grateful Dead sticker on the back of a turbo Saab) has been displaced by another breed--the zealous PR agent. Stretch-limo Jeep Wagoneers and Range Rovers line the curb outside the St. Regis Hotel, the headquarters for the annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival. The St. Regis has been transformed into a Who's Who of Comedy.

Michael Nunn's handlers had been looking for a worthy opponent for their opponent. And while Nunn didn't exactly meet his match Wednesday night at the Showboat Sports Pavilion, he had to go the full eight rounds to score a unanimous decision over Charles Campbell. That in itself qualifies as a marathon performance for Nunn, the unbeaten middleweight who had won his first eight professional bouts by knockout.

May 19, 1986. It's 10:45 a.m. in Fort Worth, and 22-year-old plumber's helper Steve Cruz is cutting plastic pipe in a suburban neighborhood. "We were running a sewer line from the main line under the street to a new house," Cruz recalled Friday afternoon at Johnny Tocco's steamy Ringside Gym in Las Vegas. "I work for Rivera Plumbing in Fort Worth, and a messenger was sent out to tell me to get to my gym quick, that it was important."

The fields for the two grass races are expected to be bigger than ever when the Breeders' Cup is run at Woodbine in suburban Toronto next October. There already have been negotiations between Woodbine and Breeders' Cup officials to enlarge the grass fields--perhaps to as many as 20 horses--for the $2-million Breeders' Cup Turf Stakes and the $1-million Mile. Since the Breeders' Cup started in 1984, the seven races--five on dirt, two on grass--have been limited to 14 horses.

In a decision that angered many Los Angeles-area veterans, U. S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown announced Monday that the quake-damaged Sepulveda VA hospital will be demolished and replaced with a $65-million outpatient care center. The 431-bed federal hospital has been closed since the Jan. 17 temblor wrecked operating rooms, knocked out heat and water supplies and littered corridors with broken glass, forcing the evacuation of 331 patients.