Dinnertime Is Anytime for Lasorda

During a series in Philadelphia last summer, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda was invited by Villanova basketball Coach Rollie Massimino to come over to the house for a late dinner.

“He really loves to eat,” Massimino told Frank Dolson of the Philadelphia Inquirer. “My wife, Mary Jane, made him some macaroni. Tommy was supposed to come over after the game, but there was a rain delay, and it was 12:30 in the morning before it was over. I was ready to tell him we’ll make it another time, but Tommy said, ‘We can’t disappoint Mary Jane. Let’s go.’

“By the time he talked to all his guys, this and that, and we get to the house, it was 2 in the morning. At 4 we were still eating. I’m telling you, he’s a pip.”

One reason Steve Alford has managed to survive the heavy hand of Bobby Knight for four years is that he was coached in high school by his father.

Wrote John Feinstein of the Washington Post: “At the start of his junior year, after Knight twice threw him out of practice, Alford just laughed and said, ‘Dad’s still ahead of him on kickouts, 7-5.’ ”

Trivia Time: Who is the only catcher in National League history to lead the league in triples for a season? (Answer below.)

Does George Foreman really need the money? When Joe Hamelin of the Sacramento Bee suggested that the former champion wasn’t really hurting, Foreman said: “Prove it. Offer me $10, see if I push it back. Try it. C’mon. This is the chance of your life, to see if George needs the money.”

Hamelin demurred, and Foreman laughed.

Where did all the money go?

Hamelin: “He had a $250,000 house in Houston, a $250,000 ranch in Livermore, a mobile home and nine cars. He bought cars for his relatives, too. According to a Sports Illustrated piece by Gary Smith a few years ago, he bought a lion and tiger for his ranch and had special food flown in from the St. Louis Zoo.”

Foreman: “It embarrasses me to think of all those years I was buying silk suits and alligator shoes that was hurtin’ my feet. Cars that I just parked, and the dust would just build up on ‘em.”

Add Lookalikes: Syracuse center Rony Seikaly and Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde. Monday night, Seikaly will try to do what Testaverde couldn’t do in the Fiesta Bowl, help his team win a national championship.

Now-it-can-be-told Dept.: Remember when Charles Barkley called his Philadelphia 76ers teammates a bunch of wimps and complainers?

“I didn’t do it to fire anybody up,” he says. “I said it because it needed to be said, because it was the truth. We could have gotten beat in the first round of the playoffs, and we need to do something in the playoffs because I’ve already spent my playoff money.”

From Dallas quarterback Danny White, who is negotiating a new contract: “The Cowboys are raising the price of hot dogs from $1.50 to $1.60 to pay me. They’ve raised ticket prices from $19 to $23 to pay Herschel Walker.”

Trivia Answer: Tim McCarver of the St. Louis Cardinals with 13 in 1966.

Quotebook

Baltimore third baseman Ray Knight, who turned down $800,000 from the New York Mets to sign with the Orioles for $500,000: “You ought to see my mail. I didn’t know there were so many ways to call somebody stupid.”