By doing this, rod-makers shrewdly appealed to the way most fishermen road-test a rod: in a fly shop parking lot, where, inevitably, they try to cast as far as they can.

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Robbins threw himself into the role of team leader and arranged for Rod and Gary to test the waters as public speakers and performers, first at a law-enforcement conference and then at a walk-around magic gig.

NEWYORKER: A Pickpocket��s Tale

Dennis Lillee's dismissal of Peter Willey saw him pass Hugh Trumble's Ashes record of 141 dismissals, and at 135-7 it looked as if England had lost the Test - and Lillee and Rod Marsh their money.

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In 2002, a test by Sandia labs in the US found that a similar dowsing rod device, called the Mole detector, did not work and performed "no better than a random selection process".

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So having been negligent and then indecisive, how did Selig react when someone leaked supposedly confidential test results that in 2003 Alex Rodriguez used two no-no drugs (about which A-Rod--unlike Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens--immediately came clean)?

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