Lucky Astros fan highlights the week's wacky stories

Each Friday, SI.com's Justin Doom offers his take on the week's most interesting stories.

Not only did Shaun Dean see an all-time classic last Sunday, he caught two HRs. Jessica Kourkounis

Astros fan Shaun Dean proved on Sunday why it's never really a bad idea to take your glove to a baseball game.

The 25-year-old, who had never before caught a home run ball, caught two -- Lance Berkman's grand slam in the eighth inning, and Chris Burke's solo shot in the bottom of the 18th that ended the longest game in postseason history, in which Houston beat Atlanta 7-6 to advance to the NLCS vs. St. Louis.

"Everyone was congratulating me, patting me on the back," Dean told the Houston Chronicle. "I had several people say I should buy a lottery ticket or go to Vegas."

"It also was pretty sweet to have the 'Stros close it out at home," Dean should've added. "I really doubt I could have made that trip to Atlanta for Game 5, even though there were probably 20,000 tickets still left."

If only he could've saved the Cubs from drowning

Nomar Garciaparra, with the help of his uncle, Victor, late last week rescued two women, one of whom had hit her head on the pier and appeared unconscious, from Boston Harbor. The Garciaparras were relaxing in Nomar's nearby Charlestown condo when they heard the first woman fall into the water and went outside to investigate.

"I swam towards them and by the time I reached them, Nomar was already holding the girls up," Victor said. "But he couldn't get them up without help."

Remarkably, Nomar was not injured.

C'mon, take the money and run ... and catch and hit

Diamondbacks bonus baby Stephen Drew, who ended a yearlong holdout to sign a five-year deal that could be worth as much as $6.8 million, has been tearing up the Arizona Fall League, and could make the big-league roster as early as next season.

"You can tell right now that he commands the position of shortstop," D'backs scouting director Mike Rizzo told The Arizona Republic. "He's going to be a solid shortstop who can really hit. If you get J.D. Drew's production when he's healthy, with a solid defensive shortstop, you've got an All-Star."

"And, of course," Rizzo did not add, "if we get the equivalent of J.D.'s actual production, well, we're kind of screwed. But, no matter what happens, it still can't possibly be as bad of a signing as Russ Ortiz."

An astounding feat for a noble cause

Nine-year-old Johnny Wilson on Monday braved 53-degree water and swam from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park, about 1.4 miles, as part of an effort to raise nearly $30,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina. He'd been training in the bay for months, but this time, he told the San Francisco Chronicle, "It was a lot harder. It was a lot wavier."

Johnny is one of the youngest to ever swim that distance. "He has a great joy and love for the water," said Rick Murray, the boy's swimming coach. "I told him he had a great stroke, and I thought with proper training and a wetsuit he could swim from Alcatraz. He said, 'Really'?"

Really. Johnny be good. Really good.

The results may surprise you

With World Cup qualifying winding down, a poll was conducted in London to test the soccer knowledge of men vs. that of women, with initial research indicating that more women than men actually understood the offside rule (59 percent to 55 percent). Additionally, 65 percent of women correctly recognized the "assistant referee," instead of calling him "linesman," as 40 percent of men did.

Also, in a separate poll, 87 percent of women agreed that all soccer players should wear "prettier" cleats.

Winners sometimes quit

With two games left in the season, the Montour (Penn.) Spartans will be without the "coaching services" of Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus, who agreed to "coach" the team so --- prepare to be astounded --- the whole thing could be turned into a "reality" TV show.

"Coaching services," "coach," and "reality" were all enclosed within quotation marks in that last paragraph for very good reasons, mainly because during his eight-week contract, Butkus apparently did little more than show up to berate players on camera.

"I understood most of the stuff he was saying," senior linebacker Morgan Singletary told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "But at times, it was awkward the way he would yell at us. He wouldn't really talk to us at all during practice, then he'd come out and start yelling at us at the end."

The team's real coach, Lou Cerro, said that while all the cameras were a bit of a distraction, he didn't regret the experience.

"I went with the flow and just tried to make it work for the school and the kids," Cerro said.

Singletary, again, put it better: "If I had my choice, I probably would not want to do this again. I met a lot of cool people, but I would've just rather had coach Cerro. I think it would've been a lot of fun, with or without cameras. Without cameras, there would've been a lot less problems."

She will, she will rock you

On the flip side of quitting-on-your-team football news, we have the story of a 15-year-old quarterback who recently stepped in when her teammate went down and completed four of five passes for three touchdowns. That's right: her teammate.

Miranda McOsker, a 5-foot-9, 140-pound sophomore at Bishop Montgomery High School, is one of about 250 California high school girls playing football this year, reported the Associated Press.

"I didn't try out for quarterback, I was just looking to play anything," said Miranda, who starts on the JV team and is the third-stringer on varsity. "One day I was throwing with the quarterback after practice and the coaches watched me. They told me to play quarterback the next day and ever since I've been playing quarterback."

Miranda's uncle, John McOsker, also played quarterback for the school, which led family members to wonder if he had ever thrown for three TDs in a game. "I think the answer is no," said Miranda's father, Tim, "because he hasn't gotten back to us yet."

Don't want to be in that buffet line

Last weekend, Mandalay Bay in Vegas hosted the first officially sanctioned Grand Sumo tournament to take place in the U.S. in more than 20 years.

"We wanted to bring sumo to the United States and to the world," Dan Yoshida, the event's promoter, told Reuters.

"The only thing we were really worried about," Yoshida did not add, "is that because so many Americans are so disgustingly obese, no one would really notice our wrestlers. Good thing our guys wear those distinctive belts."

Justin Doom writes for Scorecard Daily every Friday. He can be reached at sidoomsday@yahoo.com.