Behind the Wheel, Macho Isn’t Mucho

“I think I’m going to retire,” said Hector (Macho) Camacho.

No, not from the ring. From the highways.

Camacho, unbeaten in 36 fights, lost another decision behind the wheel in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., two weeks ago when he overturned his customized Jeep, escaping with minor cuts, bumps and bruises.

“ ‘You know how many cars I crashed up already? Nine,’ ” he told Wallace Matthews of Newsday.

“He then rattled them off: The Lotus, two Ferraris, a Caddy, a ‘Vette, a couple of rentals, and now the Jeep that he had just put $16,000 of customizing into, including a cellular phone and stereo system.

“ ‘This has cost me a fortune,’ ” he said. “ ‘I always had to have my cars to be cocky and all, but I think I’m going to take limos from here on. This is getting too dangerous.’ ”

She had to ask: Said Ashley Marie Knight, 5, when mother Nancy Lopez asked her who her favorite golfer was: “Ayako Okamoto, but you’re second, Mom.”

It gets wild: It was surprising enough that NBC took on Bill Walsh as its top pro football analyst, but Will McDonough of the Boston Globe wrote: “Supposedly, Walsh was not NBC’s first choice. The network had tested the waters with both Raider owner Al Davis and Chicago Bears Coach Mike Ditka. For a while, some people in Chicago thought Ditka might take the NBC offer and pack it in as Bear coach.”

Trivia time: Name the only two major league players who hit 50 or more home runs while winning the batting title.

Hog heaven: They called the offensive linemen of the Washington Redskins the Hogs, and the wife of Russ Grimm says they ate like it before the club instituted a caloric crackdown this year.

Recalling her visits to see Grimm before they were married, when he was rooming with Joe Jacoby, she told Tom Friend of the Washington Post:

“Pizza and spaghetti--when I wasn’t coming over to cook, that’s all they had. I’d visit them, and there were empty pizza boxes everywhere and a big pot of spaghetti on the stove. They’d leave it there for days, and keep reheating it. I said, ‘Can’t you get sick from leaving it out?’ They said heating it up killed all the germs.”

On the brink: Baltimore Orioles Manager Frank Robinson, on the adventurous pitching of reliever Gregg Olson: “He does it intentionally. He wants to get me in a Rolaids commercial.”

On the spot: If Vlade Divac makes good with the Lakers this year, Denver Nuggets scout Rob Babcock will wonder why he ever said before the draft:

“Wherever he winds up going, I think it would be safe to say you should give him a two-year adjustment time before you can expect consistent results.

“He’ll be able to show flashes of great play--have a great game here or there. But before he proves himself as a solid player, you’re going to be looking at two years.”

Trivia answer: Jimmie Foxx of the Boston Red Sox in 1938 and Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees in 1956. Foxx hit .349 with 50 homers; Mantle hit .353 with 52 homers.

Quotebook: Patrick Flannery, adviser and confidant of Hector (Macho) Camacho, on their 10-year relationship: “I was a schizophrenic when I met him. I soon found out he was a schizophrenic, too. The four of us have gotten along fine ever since.”