COMMENTARY : Don King, Bob Arum--Would They Be Missed?

Impertinent questions:

If promoters Don King and Bob Arum disappeared from the fight scene, would anybody even bother dragging the river?

With an average of 36,000 no-shows at their last two home games, how soon will it dawn on New York Jets owner Leon Hess that his is one sorry operation?

Because 225 million homes throughout Europe and Asia have access to National Hockey League games already, how soon will it be before the league goes hemispheric?

Considering the football season Occidental College had -- whipping up on rival Whittier, 7-0, and finishing 7-2 -- isn’t it now apparent that Dr. John B. Slaughter left the chancellor’s job at Maryland to be with a winner?

And, in the light of subsequent events, can you believe Slaughter still won’t admit the hiring of basketball coach Bob Wade might have been a mistake?

Is it possible a gent won $3 million playing baccarat at The Mirage in Las Vegas the night before the Sugar Ray Leonard-Roberto Duran snooze?

Do any of those dudes looking for a football coach at Navy -- admirals, commanders, captains and a guy from the math department -- have a say, or are they yes-men to the athletic director?

With Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, Wake Forest, Clemson and Maryland down in the rankings from No. 20 to No. 90, is this the weakest ACC basketball season in decades?

Can anyone think of a bigger sacrifice than the one Kent Hrbek just made, accepting a third-best offer of $14 million for five seasons so he could play ball in his native Minnesota? That’s at least worth a statue outside the ballpark when he’s gone.

Do I remember right or are the contracts free-agent ballplayers are dragging down these days outstripping what the Orioles and Yankees were purchased for in the ‘70s?

Does anyone seriously believe that of the 300 or so Division I college teams playing hoops only 11 deserve to be on probation at the present time?

You mean it took a gang of archeologists digging for a couple of months to discover Babe Ruth’s old man ran a saloon where the center field fence of Camden Follies will stand? John Steadman, a Baltimore Evening Sun columnist, told me that at least a year ago.

With news that the Suns are going to toss in about $15 million toward the construction of a new arena in Phoenix, Ariz., can we now expect the Orioles to let us know how much they’re tossing into the pot for the new ballpark?

With a strike war chest well in excess of $100 million, is there any doubt the baseball owners plan a hard-line approach in basic agreement talks with the players? Of course, they’ll cave in as usual.

The Pac-10 is dropping its season-ending conference basketball tourney, which is staged over a long weekend, because the players are losing too much class time. Believe it? Now the NCAA tourney, that’s a different story. It only goes for three weeks.

Has any tennis player ever pulled a bigger fade than Mats Wilander, dropping from three Grand Slam titles in ’88 to just one quarterfinal appearance in the big four this year?

Has anyone noticed ol’ Spunky (Earl Weaver) has his Gold Coast Suns up to within nine games of first place in the Southern Division of the Seniors Baseball League? What do you mean, no?

Isn’t the reason John Thompson schedules games against Hawaii-Loa, Florida International, St. Leo’s and Shenandoah Conservatory of Music to prove that he does what he damn well pleases at Georgetown?