How Wilkins Pulled Reverse on Dunk-off

Dominique Wilkins, claiming he was jobbed by the judges in Chicago, said he won’t compete in another National Basketball Assn. slam dunk contest unless the All-Star game comes to Atlanta.

With that, Dominique completed a 180.

Here’s what he said last Saturday after losing to Michael Jordan: “It was a great show. If anybody was going to beat me it was him. I didn’t care who won. I just wanted to give the fans a good show.”

Glenn Dickey of the San Francisco Chronicle, while not subscribing to the theories of Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, said: “But let’s remember the good things. He made Phyllis George cry and he punched Brent Musburger.”

Would-you-believe it dept.: When Calgary had a high of 50 degrees and a low of 28 Thursday, it was 33 and 19 in Shreveport, La.

Trivia Time: In recent baseball history, what was the Mendoza Line? (Answer below.)

Said Don Zimmer, new Chicago Cubs manager, after the dismissal of strength coach Bill Claussen: “We’re not looking for wrestlers or pulling guards, we’re looking for baseball players.”

The way Owen Canfield of the Hartford Courant tells it, Michael Dukakis’ devotion to the Democratic party goes back a long way.

Canfield uncovered a yearbook at Swarthmore (Pa.) College, where Dukakis ran on the cross- country team in the 1950s.

A picture of the team had this identifying caption: “Swarthmore harriers Charles Loukes, Frank Irish, captain George Hastings and Michael Dukakis, who runs as if he was being chased by a Republican.”

Just Asking: In team tryout camps for Arena Football, which is played on 50-yard fields, will they time the players in the 20?

John Chaney is beginning to think life was better before his Temple Owls were voted the No. 1 team in college basketball. For sure, it was simpler.

“I’m allergic to something and I went for a checkup,” Chaney said. “But the doctor wouldn’t examine me. He wanted to take me all around and introduce me.”

Now-it-can-be-told dept.: From Stan Isle of the Sporting News: “Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, who prefers casual attire such as jeans and sneakers, did not accompany Coach Dan Reeves and the Broncos on their Super Bowl charter trip to San Diego. ‘I didn’t want to wear a shirt and tie,’ said Bowlen, ‘and that’s Dan’s rule.’ ”

Trivia Answer: It was a line by which slumping batters measured the depths of their slumps, and it was named for Mario Mendoza, an infielder who had a lifetime average of .214, playing with Pittsburgh, Seattle and Texas in 1974-82.

A player would search through the Sunday averages until he found Mendoza’s name. Comparing the figures with his own, he might say, “I finally broke through the Mendoza Line.”

Quotebook

Jerry Sullivan of Newsday, on the announcement that Nancy Lieberman has been signed to play for the Washington Generals, perennial patsies to the Harlem Globetrotters: “The Generals have lost more than 6,000 consecutive games, so no one is going to accuse her of hurting the team.”