Bob Arum: Tough Guy, Slim Guy

Wallace Matthews of Newsday, reporting that promoter Bob Arum checked into La Costa to lose 20 pounds, said he’s guessed the reason why.

“He probably wants to resume his movie career,” said Matthews. “Unbeknownst to all but the most dedicated Arum-watchers, about 10 years ago the Top Rank boss played a featured role in the major motion picture, ‘The Marijuana Affair,’ appearing as a drug-dealing character named Stokes.

“The film was produced by Arum’s pal, Lucien Chen, a Jamaican boxing promoter who once tried to manage Trevor Berbick, if such a thing is possible.

“The press kit, which includes a hilarious still of Arum apparently trying to bargain for his life against a pair of gun-wielding thugs, provides this description of the future promoter of Hagler-Leonard: ‘Whip-leather tough and as clever as the smallest of night animals has to be, Arum is . . . a fringe presence grating on the old soldiers.’

“Presumably, that was meant to be complimentary.”

Chicago Cubs announcer Steve Stone, giving high marks to all the announcers who have been filling in for Harry Caray, said nobody yet has topped actor Bill Murray, who blatantly insulted the rest of the league during his stint.

One line: “I hate the Mets more than the Communists. At least, the Communists don’t have off-season problems.”

Would-you-believe-it Dept.: When the 1961-62 Lakers, led by Elgin Baylor and Jerry West, set an NBA playoff record by scoring 51 points in a quarter, they lost the game.

It was the fifth game of a series against the Detroit Pistons at the Sports Arena. In the final seconds of the third quarter, Detroit took a 30-point lead, 102-72. The Lakers made it close with their 51 points in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons prevailed, 132-125.

That trimmed the Lakers’ series lead to 3-2, but they wrapped it up by winning the next game at Detroit.

Trivia Time: When Bob Horner tied a major league record by hitting four home runs in a game for Atlanta last year, what made his performance unique? (Answer below.)

Vin Scully, who more than once has called the game-winning-RBI statistic ridiculous, has an ally in Brian Downing.

“One of the most stupid things ever conceived,” said Downing after they credited him with one in the Angels’ 2-0 win at Milwaukee Tuesday night.

Coach Doug Collins of the Chicago Bulls, on Larry Bird: “I don’t know if there’s ever been a player with his knowledge of the game. You can’t appreciate him until you coach. When you’re playing against him, the game goes too fast. Watch him on film--he’s a clinic on the way to play basketball.”

Trivia Answer: Of the nine players who have done it since 1900, he was the first in a losing cause. Atlanta lost to Montreal, 11-8.

Quotebook

Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals manager, on why pitchers are getting so many more strikeouts: “Because more hitters are striking out.”