As Foot Soldiers Go, CBA’s Pearl Is No Gem to Sponsor

Don’t expect to see Air Dwayne advertisements on television anytime soon.

Former first-round NBA draft pick Dwayne (Pearl) Washington is in the fourth and final year of a contract with Avia shoes that will pay him $125,000. But Avia isn’t receiving quite the exposure it bargained for.

Rather than becoming an NBA star after playing at Syracuse, Washington bombed with the New Jersey Nets. After being cut by several other teams, an overweight Washington has ended up with the San Jose Jammers of the Continental Basketball Assn. But his contract says that as long as he is being paid to play, he gets his money from Avia.

Trivia time: The Philadelphia 76ers’ Charles Barkley has been assessed 114 technical fouls in his career. In the past 20 years, only two NBA players had more. Who were they?

Pie in the sky: The American meal of choice for Yugoslav forward Zarko Paspalj of the San Antonio Spurs is pizza, which he says he eats five times a week. “Pizza not for everybody,” Paspalj says. “But for me, it’s great.”

Add NBA: The Lakers’ Michael Cooper, Barkley, the Boston Celtics’ Larry Bird, the Indiana Pacers’ Chuck Person and the Detroit Pistons’ Bill Laimbeer compose USA Today’s All-Trash-Talking team.

Last add NBA: George Shinn, owner of the Charlotte Hornets, on why he insists his coach wear a suit, tie and white shirt: “Look at Doug Moe and Frank Layden. They’ve been consistently the worst-dressed, and how many championships have they won?”

Leap of faith: Rick Pitino, University of Kentucky basketball coach, is among those who favor having the rim raised to 10 feet 5 inches. “Now, you see 5-7 guards dunking,” Pitino said. “It’s too easy to dunk.”

Waiting in the wings: Sydney Maree, the South African-born runner who had to become an American citizen before he could be an Olympian, is the American 1,500-meter record-holder (3:29.77).

Of the possibility that apartheid will end and South Africa will rejoin the Olympic family, Maree said: “People think I was a fast runner in high school. I was just one of many in South Africa. I was probably about No. 100. I think if things work out, the excitement will really carry over. We’ll see the young seizing the moment and showing the world we can have tremendous performances.”

No Big A, please: If the Raiders return to Oakland, the Coliseum--home of the World Series champion Athletics--would undergo renovation. Are the Athletics worried? General Manager Sandy Alderson told Art Spander of the San Francisco Examiner: “One of the things we don’t want to create is another Riverfront Stadium or Three Rivers Stadium. They’re the sort where one seems destined to sit behind home plate for football and on the 50-yard line for baseball.

“Nor do we want to create an Anaheim Stadium, where a crowd of 40,000 gets lost in 65,000 seats.”

Add Athletics: Club executive Bill Rigney on slugger Jose Canseco: “Canseco is still pretty much a kid. But hopefully, he’s growing up.”

Clutch situation: Philadelphia goalie Pete Peeters said of the struggling Flyers: “I’ve been on worse teams that have been in this situation. I’ve already seen guys going for each other’s throats. This is a team where we just have to pull together.”

Trivia answer: Sam Lacey (148) and Norm Van Lier (136).

Quotebook: The San Diego Padres’ Tony Gwynn, on the six-year, $4.6-million contract he signed in 1986: “These are days I wince when I read the sports section. Believe me.”