Camacho Takes Punches, Not Orders

Hector (Macho) Camacho, who will defend his World Boxing Council lightweight title tonight against Edwin Rosario, said he doesn’t like people telling him what he can and cannot do.

To illustrate his point, he told of buying a model airplane and being told by the salesman, “Don’t try to fly it yourself.”

So?

“I flew it,” he said.

And?

“It crashed and cost me $360.”

Danny Ainge of the Boston Celtics says they call Kevin McHale the Black Hole “because when you throw the ball in there you never see it again.”

Explained McHale to Steve Kelley of the Seattle Times: “My rookie year, I played with Tiny Archibald, probably the best point guard ever to play the game. I remember he made me a great pass and I passed to somebody else. He got mad at me. Told me that when he passed me the ball, I was supposed to shoot it. I cost him an assist. I tell my teammates that’s when I started the gunner routine you see now.”

Add McHale: “Look at the guys I’ve played with,” he said. “Tiny, Cedric Maxwell, Dennis Johnson, Robert Parish and, of course, Larry Bird. I’m just happy to be here.

“Hey, wait a minute. That sounds like a Bill Walton quote. All season long, that’s all we’ve heard from Bill. ‘I’m just happy to be here. I’m just happy to be here.’ You say, ‘Hey, Bill, Chernobyl just blew up,’ he says, ‘I’m just happy to be here.’ ”

How-times-have-changed Dept.: The clubhouse at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, an impressive two-story structure, was built in 1892 at a cost of $6,550.

The cost to rent a house in the area for this week’s U.S. Open is between $25,000 and $50,000 a week.

Walter Zembriski, a former construction worker who never made a dime on the PGA Tour, already has earned $44,168 this year on the Senior Tour.

He told the Denver Post that his closest brush with fame occurred when he made the cut in the 1978 U.S. Open at Cherry Hills in Denver.

“I was happy as all hell, and I was lying down enjoying it on a bench in front of my locker in the clubhouse,” he said. “Tom Weiskopf walked in and thought I was a locker attendant. He asked me to open his locker for him. The great thing was, I was leading him by a stroke at the time.”

Trivia Time: When the New York Mets obtained pitcher Bob Miller from the Cincinnati Reds during the 1962 season, why did it create a problem for Manager Casey Stengel? (Answer below.)

A UPI story on veteran columnist Milton Richman, who died this week, said that Pete Rose was upset with Richman for breaking the story of his return to manage the Cincinnati Reds in August 1984.

“Milton, I just wonder why a man at the top of his profession would feel he had to break that story,” Rose had said.

Answered Richman: “Well, Petey, you’re a man at the top of your profession. Tell me, why do you feel you have to break Ty Cobb’s record?”

Said Rose: “I’ll have to think about that, Milton.”

Trivia Answer: The Mets already had a Bob Miller on the pitching staff. That gave them two Bob Millers.

Quotebook

Notre Dame football Coach Lou Holtz, on how much control he has over the program: “I’ve pretty much got my way, but somebody has to be your boss. The only person in this country who doesn’t have a boss is Mrs. Reagan.”