Just Practicing Fire Prevention

Kevin Mackey, the basketball coach who turned Cleveland State into a contender with inner-city recruits, started his career at Boston’s Cathedral High, where he stored the uniforms in the trunk of his car because the school had no gym or locker room.

According to Paul Daugherty of Newsday, when Mackey took the job, he convinced the Sister Superior to admit kids from the projects across the streets.

“It’ll be good public relations for the school,” Mackey told her. “It’s God’s work, Sister. Besides, if we don’t let them in, they’re going to burn the school down.”

Add Mackey: Asked why he looks for talent in the projects, he said: “You can’t win with players from the shopping malls.”

Mark Jackson of St. John’s, explaining Saturday’s win over UCLA, said it was a matter of tempo.

“They like to play a ratty game,” he said, “so we decided to take them for a little waltz.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: From The Sporting News: “When the Philadelphia Eagles practiced in Los Angeles prior to their Nov. 30 game against the Raiders, Coach Buddy Ryan asked the players if they wanted to have a Thanksgiving dinner together. Instead, the Eagles voted to take their $35 per diem and go their separate ways.”

Is there a moral there somewhere?

Trivia Time: On what NBA team are the top three scorers all rookies? (Answer in column two.)

Bill Buckner has heard enough. Some critics say the Boston Red Sox first baseman shouldn’t have been playing at all in the World Series because of his damaged ankles. Most agree that he should have been replaced for defensive purposes in Game 6, when he made the fateful error in the 10th inning.

“If people want to remember that play, it shows their ignorance,” Buckner told the New York Times. “It shows they don’t know much about baseball. I made one error in the Series, but I thought I played a better first base than Keith Hernandez. He made some pretty bad plays.”

Sparky Anderson, the Detroit Tigers manager, said things were so slow at the baseball meetings that he and his wife spent most of their time watching movies on cable TV.

“I told her we can’t watch HBO for the rest of the winter,” Anderson said. “We’ve seen all the movies.”

It’s been a tough year for Washington Redskins placekicker Max Zendejas, but Coach Joe Gibbs gave him a vote of confidence, even though he missed an extra point that gave the Denver Broncos a 31-30 win Saturday.

Zendejas’ teammates weren’t as generous.

Said Safety Curtis Jordan: “If this had been a big game, he probably would have been running out of here to get to the first plane south of the border to save his life.

“He’s sitting out there with a 41-yard chip shot and almost hits our center in the back of the head. You just can’t have that.”

The Prophet: Wrote Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal on Sept. 24: “You can say this, and make book on it. Fred Akers is gone at Texas, win or lose. He has made the terrible mistake of alienating even the last few that supported him.”

Trivia Answer: The Cleveland Cavaliers, whose top scorers are rookies Ron Harper, John Williams and Brad Daugherty.

Quotebook

Fuzzy Zoeller, asked if he would like to see any changes in the game of golf: “I’d like to see the holes bigger. They’re much too small.”