He Counts His Strokes Like Votes

Pro golfer Tom Sieckmann, winner of the 1981 Philippine Open, later was invited to the Ferdinand Marcos Invitational, in which the president himself was a participant.

“There were some other pros from the United States and Europe there, and we were worried about who was going to have to play with Marcos,” Sieckmann told the New York Times. “For sure, you didn’t want to be too close to him. You were afraid someone would come out of the trees with a machine gun.”

Sieckmann didn’t play with Marcos but heard that he was a pretty fair golfer.

“But he always had a big entourage with him,” Sieckmann said. “Funny, but he never had a bad lie and his ball was never in the rough. Everybody conceded him the 4 and 5-foot putts. Now, you can get a 5-handicap pretty easily that way.”

Weber State basketball Coach Larry Farmer, a native of Denver, was asked if he would feel snubbed if he wasn’t considered for the head coaching vacancy at the University of Colorado.

“Feel snubbed? Not now,” said Farmer. “I have a job now. I felt snubbed a lot during that year when I was out of work. I felt snubbed when Walter Mondale chose Geraldine Ferraro.”

Trivia Time: Name the only three schools that have won both an NCAA title in basketball and a national championship in football. (Answer below.)

When the Boston Celtics lost two straight games earlier in the week, there was concern that the Lakers would overtake them in the overall standings, but club President Red Auerbach said: “I don’t know if it’s worth it to try and win all the time and get the best record in the league. What good does it do? You lose once in the playoffs at home and you lose the advantage.”

When the Celtics lost last year, it was the sixth time they failed to win the title after posting the best regular season record.

Surprisingly, the team that had the best record was not a Bill Russell team, or a Larry Bird team. It was the 1972-73 team led by Dave Cowens and John Havlicek. It was coached by Tom Heinsohn and the roster included current NBA coaches Don Nelson and Don Chaney. After compiling a 68-14 record, it was knocked off by the New York Knicks, who went on to beat the Lakers for the title.

From Darryl Dawkins of the New Jersey Nets, explaining his carefree manner on the court: “I’m basically a happy guy. I like having fun. Some guys walk out on the floor looking like Sammy Davis Jr. sucking on a lemon.”

No, Charlie Hough isn’t embarrassed that his pitches barely reach 60 m.p.h. on the speed gun.

‘If you’re getting hit, it doesn’t make any difference how hard you’re throwing,” the Texas knuckleballer said. “I’ve sat back there with the gun on Dave Stewart. He was throwing every pitch 92-93 m.p.h. and they were hitting them out 103-104 m.p.h.”

Stewart now is trying to catch on with Philadelphia. Hough, 38, already has been tabbed to pitch the Ranger opener.

Add 38: Pete Rose told Milton Richman of UPI: “The last year I was with the Phillies, we had six guys over 38--myself, Tony Perez, Ron Reed, Joe Morgan, Steve Carlton and Tug McGraw--and we beat the Dodgers in the playoffs. Remember that?”

Trivia Answer: UCLA, Ohio State, Michigan State. Quotebook

Tony Dorsett of the Dallas Cowboys, asked how his life has changed since his problems with the IRS last summer: “Well, nobody asks me to loan them money anymore.”