SPORTS FOLDEROL

Catching up: SO THE GIANTS hired  TONY VITELLO  away from  Tennessee, the University of, and now your Washington  Nationals will name  BLAKE BUTERA , who has no  major-league managerial experience. Heck, he’s only 33  years old, Finally, at last, what took them so long? Teams are wising  up and not settling for retreads. Of course, if Vitello, 47, and/or Butera (said to be MLB’s  youngest skipper in 50 yeras) doesn’t succeed, it will be  back to the same old, same old. Count on it, HERE, WE THINK sports are important … but nothing  like, say Louisiana … where the governor takes the hiring  and firing of coaches personally. JEFF LANDRY , who had a role in Sunday’s ouster of  LSU football’s  BRIAN KELLY , made it clear  Wednesday athletic director  SCOTT WOODWARD  would have nothing to do with coming up with a high- profile replacement. “ I’d rather have President [ DONALD ]  T RUMP  pick  ...

  I give up. What the heck is Korn Ferry, which is the title  sponsor for the professional golf tournament that will  replace the Dominion Energy Classic here starting next  fall? The Korn Ferry Tour, scheduled for the Federal Club over  the next four years, is (in baseball terminology) triple-A  competition that qualifies 20 players annually for the  PGA (major league) Tour. The first … Korn Ferry Tour  Championship Presented by Virginia’s Richmond Region  … will be held Oct. 5-11 at the Glen Allen course  designed by late, great Arnold Palmer … and will be the  final stop in 2026. The Dominion Classic, a mainstay on the PGA’s  Champions circuit, lasted 10 years and was such a  success, not to mention a favorite of the contestants, it  could have gone another 10 years, if not more, at Country  Club of Virginia’s James River course. However, CCV’s large golf-playing membership didn’t  appreciate having to tu...

  Of all things: Check it out. The Washington Capitals’  TOM WILSON  hit  FILIP CHYTIL  of Vancouver last Sunday with one  of those checks that could have been a lot worse except  Wilson did it in almost excuse-me fashion (for him,  anyway). No penalty was called (rightfully so) after the  player Caps-on-TV’s  JOE BENINATI  calls  “unquestionably the NHL’s best power forward” ran into  Chytil, hitting him in the chest … and down he went near  the end of the first period. The former New York Ranger, who has been hurt a lot  including gosh-knows how many concussions, went to  the dressing room and did not return. Meanwhile, his  teammates saw what happened, which helped to explain  why no one went after Wilson. It was almost like Chytil  ran into Wilson as much as Wilson ran over Chytil. That didn’t keep an unidentified writer from demanding,  according to the headline … NHL Must Throw the ...