Recommendation From Stirling Wasn’t as Good as Gold

New York Knick General Manager Scotty Stirling, denying he is trying to lure Larry Brown from Kansas, told the New York Times that he has talked to Brown a couple of times in recent months but not about the job.

Once, he said, Brown called him while trying to recruit a top high school player for Kansas.

“Larry wanted me to write a letter to the kid about Larry’s coaching ability, to help him recruit the kid,” Stirling said.

And?

“I wrote the letter.”

And?

“The kid went to Nebraska.”

Marist College, featuring 7-3 Rik Smits from Holland, also has Peter Krasovec from Hungary, Miro Pecarski from Yugoslavia, Rudy Bourgarel from Guadeloupe and Mark Shamley from the United States.

Said Monmouth Coach Ron Krayl after a 17-point loss to Marist: “Not only did we lose, but we were dunked on in five different languages.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: When Pat Riley was a high school senior in Schenectady, N.Y, his team beat Power Memorial when Lew Alcindor was a junior. Riley scored 22 points, Alcindor 8.

“The key to the game,” Riley confessed to reporters at the All-Star game, “was our two hometown refs who fouled him out in the third quarter.”

In a rematch the next year, when Alcindor was a senior and Riley had departed to the University of Kentucky, Power Memorial won, 131-40.

Trivia Time: Mike Squires is the answer to what trivia question? (Answer below.)

From Charles Barkley of the Philadelphia 76ers: “My body is a gift from God. I’ve never lifted a weight.”

He thus joins Lawrence Taylor and Herschel Walker as bodies beautiful who have never pumped iron.

Add Taylor: Said Washington Redskin quarterback Jay Schroeder when asked about the linebacker: “When Lawrence Taylor hits you, you have to take inventory and check to see if everything is still working.”

The Baltimore Orioles last year grounded into a club-record 159 double plays and had only 13 triples, the fewest in major league history.

So what did they do?

Said Richard Justice of the Washington Post: “In the off-season, they added second baseman Rick Burleson, catcher Terry Kennedy and third baseman Ray Knight who make them, if anything, slower.”

No, John McNamara isn’t worried that all the honors heaped upon Roger Clemens will affect his performance this year.

McNamara: “Roger Clemens is a very poised young man. He has a very positive attitude--plus a 95 to 97 m.p.h. fastball.”

How good is Temple, rated No. 5 in the Associated Press college basketball poll?

“They’re a potential Final Four team,” St. Joseph’s Coach Jim Boyle said. “They’re one of the best teams I’ve coached against ever.”

The Owls are 28-2. Their only losses are 78-76 to No. 1 Nevada Las Vegas in the preseason NIT and 67-64 to Kansas at Lawrence, Kan., site of the nation’s longest home-court winning streak.

Trivia Answer: He was the last left-handed throwing catcher in the major leagues. He caught two games for the Chicago White Sox in 1980.

Quotebook

North Carolina State basketball Coach Jim Valvano, on Sunday’s loss to Virginia, the 10th loss in 12 games for the Wolfpack: “I did everything possible for this game. I had a priest sit on the bench for inspiration, but it may have been for the last rites.”