Here’s Some Food for Thought

While George Raveling is coaching the USC basketball team tonight at the Sports Arena, he will be auctioned off in absentia at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel.

Raveling’s name is included among eligible bachelors at the Big Brothers Bachelor Auction. Women will bid for dates with the men of their choice. The dates will include a gourmet dinner and a theatrical show.

Sounds like great fun, but bidders should be advised of one thing. Raveling’s idea of a gourmet dinner is a buffet at a franchise Mexican restaurant.

Marty Noble of Newsday, on the deal in which Montreal gave up reliever Jeff Reardon to Minnesota for starter Neal Heaton: “Reardon is one of the premier relievers in the game. Heaton is left-handed and nearly 27. As Casey Stengel might have said, ‘In 10 years, he has a chance to be left-handed and nearly 37.’ ”

Has Jim McMahon gone Hollywood? When the Chicago quarterback underwent shoulder surgery last December at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, he gave hospital officials a list of visitors he would allow to see him.

The list: Mrs. Jim McMahon, Bruce Willis, Michael J. Fox.

Trivia Time: Why is it a myth that Enos Slaughter scored all the way from first on Harry Walker’s single to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 4-3 win over the Boston Red Sox in the deciding game of the 1946 World Series? (Answer to follow.)

Dept. of Irony: Prentice Gautt, the Big Eight associate commissioner whose office is investigating a possible violation by Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer in the recruiting of an Omaha running back, is a former Oklahoma running back himself. He was All-Big Eight in 1958-59. More noteworthy, he was the first black football player recruited in Big Eight history.

At the Westminster Dog Show in New York, somebody recalled that the late Red Smith, in covering a show, became more intrigued with the judges than the dogs.

Of one judge, Smith wrote: “He proved himself a champion among champions. He was imperious; he was painstakingly studious; he was profoundly authoritative of mien. He had splendid conformation--broad shoulders, white hair, and an erect carriage--and he was beautifully turned out in an ensemble of rich brown. One was inclined to hope that he would, in the end, award first prize to himself.”

From a release on the NIKE All-American Football Clinic next weekend in Portland, Ore.: “Jimmy Johnson, whose University of Miami team included Heisman Trophy winner Vinny Testaverde, will show how to ‘Control the Defense With Your Offense.’ ”

Presumably, films of the Fiesta Bowl won’t be included.

How good is Lloyd Daniels, the 6-8 New York product who was arrested on a drug charge in Las Vegas?

Said UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian before the season: “Lloyd Daniels is three times better than any player I’ve ever been associated with. Lloyd is so good it’s unreal.”

Trivia Answer: On the decisive hit, Walker went to second and was credited with a double, not a single as often has been reported.

Quotebook

Missouri basketball Coach Norm Stewart, after a win against Kansas State, denying he told his team anything different at halftime: “We did what we always do at halftime--visited, fought for oranges.”