It’s Another Chance to Hold Court

Tom Lasorda, who a few weeks ago was analyzing the Super Bowl on television, has turned to basketball.

Last weekend, the Dodger manager sat on the bench with Coach Rollie Massimino and his Villanova team during its game against Georgetown.

Massimino, who last summer served as a Dodger bat boy, had invited Lasorda to the game.

But, according to Newsday’s Sandy Kennan, Lasorda might have gotten his friend into trouble.

A preseason memo, sent to the coaches by Big East Commissioner Dave Gavitt, stated that non-university personnel--such as boosters, car dealers and celebrities--were not to sit with the team during conference games.

Georgetown Coach John Thompson, asked if it bothered him when Villanova fans chanted “S-A-T, S-A-T, S-A-T” when his players were at the free-throw line, said:

“Not when my shooter is valedictorian of his high school class.”

Senior Jaren Jackson, who led the Hoyas to a 69-55 victory, was valedictorian at Walter Cohen High in New Orleans.

How do you stop all the fighting in pro basketball?

Brad Daugherty of the Cleveland Cavaliers says stiffer penalties may be an answer. He and Detroit’s Bill Laimbeer were each suspended a game and fined $5,000 for fighting Jan. 27.

But Daugherty thinks Laimbeer, who has a history of fighting, got off too lightly.

“When it’s a repeat offense, you have to do something, like start suspending somebody, for five games, 10 games,” Daugherty told the Delaware County Daily Times. “Things like that.”

Before Wednesday night’s game against the Houston Rockets, a professional hypnotherapist, Gil Boyne, appeared on Channel 4’s early news to hypnotize any Clippers who might have been watching.

Maybe it worked, since the Clippers won, 114-111.

You might have seen that recent clip of Detroit’s Isiah Thomas, strangling one of the Pistons’ assistant coaches.

The assistant, Brendan Malone, told David Aldridge of the Washington Post, what happened.

Chicago’s Bill Cartwright had just sent Thomas flying with an elbow, resulting in a cut near Thomas’ eyebrow.

When Malone came out on court to calm Thomas down, Thomas had a few choice words about Cartwright and then said words to the effect of “he makes me so mad I could . . . choke him.”

And that’s what Thomas acted out on Malone, who never flinched.

Malone said he knew he was in no danger, and that Thomas thanked him later for keeping him from getting ejected from of the game.

Thrift Rift: Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Jeff Robinson says that Syd Thrift, the team’s general manager who was fired in October, was continually phoning Manager Jim Leyland in the dugout last season, second-guessing strategic moves.

“This season is when you will get to see how good a manager Jim Leyland is,” Robinson told the Washington (Pa.) Observer-Reporter. “He won’t have Syd looking over his shoulder or calling him on the phone about why he bunted a man over in a certain situation.”

Asked if Leyland had resented Thrift’s suggestions, Robinson said, “I know how I’d feel.”

Quotebook

John McEnroe, on finding the proper intensity level: “I’m getting closer to the right door. There are 10 doors and I’ve tried about eight. Not one of them has opened, but I feel so close.”