This Guy From French Lick Has a Pretty Good Shtick

The Louisville Courier-Journal passes along some one-liners from Coach Jerry Reynolds of the Sacramento Kings, who hails from French Lick, Ind., the same town that produced Larry Bird:

--”My main goal in coaching is to get a five-year contract and to get fired in the first year. I’ll be the easiest guy they ever fired.”

--”Happiness is not having what you want, it’s wanting what you have. I try to explain that to my wife periodically.”

--”When people hear I’m from French Lick, they ask if I know Larry Bird. I tell them I didn’t know Larry because he was from West French Lick and I was from East French Lick.”

For the birds: When Manager Nick Leyva of the Philadelphia Phillies returned home from a trip, he found a couple of unwanted bills in the mail.

“I got a double fine last week,” Leyva told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “I got fined $100 by the league for getting thrown out of that game in San Francisco. And I got fined 25 bucks by my condo association for having a birdbath.”

Trivia time: Antonio Inoki is the answer to what trivia question?

Greek tragedy? From Larry Guest of the Orlando Sentinel: “Little wonder that Pete Rose supposedly lost so much money gambling. Now comes word that Pete got many of his hot tips from Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder.”

Add Rose: Remember that fight he had with Bud Harrelson when the Cincinnati Reds faced the New York Mets in the 1973 National League playoffs? Rose told Newsday that six years later, when he and Harrelson were teammates at Philadelphia, their sons, Pete Jr. and Buddy Jr., got into it one day, trading punches in the batting cage.

The joker: Gregg Jefferies of the Mets claims he was only kidding when he said he intended to break Pete Rose’s record for hits, but he has been taking a razzing nonetheless.

Met Manager Davey Johnson saw nothing wrong with Jefferies’ remark, serious or not. He told USA Today: “Why not aim high? Should he have said he was aiming for Rod Gaspar’s hit record?”

We’re waiting: From a column May 21 by Peter Pascarelli of the Philadelphia Inquirer: “Despite their image, the Dodgers never have been one big happy family. Especially not now.

“Pitcher Tim Belcher screamed at his teammates at the Vet last weekend, ‘Don’t be afraid to get me some runs.’

“Later in the week, outfielder Mike Davis turned on broadcaster Vin Scully for negative comments Scully had made about the Dodgers. Scully is nothing less than a Los Angeles icon, so look for the unhappy Davis to be sent packing soon.”

Trivia answer: He was the Japanese wrestler who faced Muhammad Ali in 1976 in Tokyo. The 15-round exhibition was declared a draw.

Quotebook: Lee Trevino, who once was struck by lightning, on why he vacates the golf course as soon as a storm approaches: “When God wants to play through, you let him play through.”