Odds Put Trojans at a Loss

The record for losses by a USC basketball team is 20. That figure was reached in 1976-77, when Bob Boyd’s Trojans went 6-20.

This season’s Trojans, under George Raveling, are 7-20. So how can they avoid becoming the losingest team in USC history?

Simple. Just win the National Collegiate Athletic Assn. championship.

The Trojans can qualify for the NCAA playoffs by winning four straight games in the Pacific 10 tournament, which starts Thursday in Tucson. If they follow that with six straight wins, they will be crowned NCAA champions April 4 in Kansas City with a record of 17-20.

Go get ‘em, George.

Loyola Marymount Coach Paul Westhead, who started his coaching career at La Salle College in Philadelphia, says of his fire-and-don’t-fall-back philosophy: “I decided not to follow the advice of Ben Franklin, another Philadelphian, who said, ‘Don’t put all thy eggs in one basket.’ Instead, I’m following the advice of Mark Twain, who said, ‘Put all your eggs in one basket and watch that basket. ‘ “

Relief pitcher Lee Smith, talking about the adjustment to the American League after going to the Boston Red Sox from the Chicago Cubs, told the Providence Journal Bulletin: “I’ve never faced Don Mattingly, and I’d just as soon pass on having to face Dave Winfield. Now I see where my old friend Jack Clark has joined me in this league. I wouldn’t mind passing there, too.”

That’s not exactly what Yankee haters wanted to hear.

Bill Musselman, who has coached teams to three straight titles in the Continental Basketball Assn., said he deserves another shot in the National Basketball Assn. He claims he never had a chance at Cleveland, where he served under the comical stewardship of Ted Stepien.

He told the Boston Globe that in 1981 he told Stepien he wanted to sign free agent Maurice Lucas.

“He put me on the speaker phone,” Musselman said. “He was in the office with his advertising guy. His advertising guy! And the advertising guy says, ‘Maurice Lucas is too old.’ His advertising guy! Maurice Lucas is still playing.”

Trivia Time: Joe Louis was knocked down 10 times in his career by what six boxers? (Answer below.)

From St. Louis Manager Whitey Herzog: “Since I’ve been watching baseball, and that’s after John McGraw and Connie Mack and those guys, there are only two managers that fans came out to see. Fans came out to see Leo Durocher and Casey Stengel. Nobody comes out to see a manager anymore. Those were the only guys who could sell tickets.”

Stengel, of course, drew more people with the New York Yankees than he did with the woeful Boston Braves. In 1942, the Braves drew 285,332 fans, an average of 3,706 a game.

Warren Spahn, a member of that team, rejoined Stengel 23 years later with the equally woeful New York Mets.

Says Spahn: “I’m probably the only guy who worked for Stengel before and after he became a genius.”

Asked how they say, “Have a nice day,” in his native tongue, Czech defector Petr Klima of the Detroit Red Wings said, “We didn’t ever say that there.”

Trivia Answer: Max Schmeling, twice; James J. Braddock, Tony Galento, Buddy Baer, Jersey Joe Walcott, three times, and Rocky Marciano, twice.

Quotebook

Ron Guidry, on life with the New York Yankees: “If you stay around here long enough, you either go zany or become a monk. And monks aren’t having too much fun these days.”