Show me the facemask, Nickey

IT’S NOT every day Nickey Brennan would put you in mind of a Tom Cruise film, but he did this week.

Not late-period Cruise, the weird Magnolia roles, or early, toothy Cruise, like Taps or Rumble Fish. No, Nickey’s plea to hurlers to leave off their helmets had us scratching the head and frowning — shouldn’t there be a specific word to describes that feeling? — before we remembered Jerry Maguire, or what we like to call Classic Cruise.

When the eponymous agent, played by T. Cruise Esq., suggests to Rod Tidwell (Cuba Gooding Jr) that maybe he could show some more enthusiasm when he scores, maybe his team might come across with more bucks...