The Fast-Talking CBA Moves Into Rapid City

They’re dancing in the streets of Rapid City.

The Tampa Bay Thrillers of the Continental Basketball Assn. announced they will move to Rapid City, S.D., on March 16 and become the Black Hills Thrillers.

Said Thriller owner John Tuschmann: “Only 35 cities in the country have either NBA or CBA teams, and now Rapid City is one of them. Ten of the greatest athletes in the world are coming to Rapid City.”

He didn’t name any.

Said CBA Commissioner Carl Scheer: “It is a delight to have a CBA team in Rapid City. I am sorry I cannot be there, but I look for Rapid City to be one of the shining lights of the CBA.”

Scheer, former general manager of the Clippers, didn’t say why he couldn’t be there.

Add CBA: Milt Wagner, star guard on Louisville’s NCAA champions last year, is playing for the La Crosse (Wis.) Catbirds.

Wagner, who was cut by the Dallas Mavericks, told Patrick Reusse of the St. Paul Pioneer Press: “I have a tape of the Duke game. When I get down, I find a VCR, pop in that tape and enjoy life for 2 1/2 hours. Beating Duke, when the media and everyone was in their corner, that was the best. The basketball players beat the talkers.”

Cedric Maxwell of the Houston Rockets, on former teammate Benoit Benjamin of the Clippers. “I think Ben will be a real good player, no matter what people say. I just hope my children are still alive when he gets around to it.”

Trivia Time: Name the only two major leaguers who have hit 50 or more home runs in a season and not won the league title. (Answer below.)

From Bill Conlin in The Sporting News: “The Dodgers continue to offer Alejandro Pena or Tom Niedenfuer for Phillie outfielder Gary Redus. They also continue to act as if there is nobody in the world named Tim Raines. If they ever plunge a dagger into the heart of the collusion issue, there is a chance the blood will be Dodger Blue.”

Cincinnati Red Manager Pete Rose, on the results of Dave Parker’s off-season weightlifting program: “I was at a World Wrestling Federation match in Cincinnati and had my picture taken with Hulk Hogan and Billy Jack Haynes--some really big guys. They ain’t got arms no bigger than Parker. Those arms have got to be the biggest in baseball.”

Win or lose, today’s championship game between Louisiana State and Alabama in the Southeastern Conference tournament figures to be a yawner for LSU Coach Dale Brown.

Brown said he knew his players would be fatigued after playing two games in two nights, so he decided to set an example.

“I did not go to bed last night and I told them that I would not sleep until we win the championship,” he said Saturday. “I won’t go to bed again tonight.”

From Reggie Jackson of the Oakland A’s: “I can still get the bat through the strike zone, but if you run into a Roger Clemens or a Dave Righetti, you wish you had retired. If they throw in the 80s, I can still hit it, but when they get in the 90s, they’ll put a stat on you.”

Trivia Answer: In 1938, Jimmy Foxx of Boston, with 50, was second to Hank Greenberg of Detroit, with 58. In 1961, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees, with 54, was second to teammate Roger Maris, with 61.

Quotebook

Outfielder Steve Lyons of the Chicago White Sox, on his nickname of Psycho: “If I get famous, I might get some endorsements for chain saws.”