Big East May Get Its Chance to Put Tubbs, Sooners to Sleep

Oklahoma basketball Coach Billy Tubbs recently was quoted as saying that doctors prescribed watching Big East Conference games as a cure for insomnia.

“Oh, no,” Tubbs said. “What I meant to say was that on videotapes of Big East games, they have a disclaimer that says, ‘Caution. May cause drowsiness.’ ”

Not necessarily so: When 6-foot-9 Brian Williams went to the line for Arizona against UCLA Sunday, Channel 2’s Dan Belluomini said, “Normally, big guys have a lot of trouble with free throws.”

Could be, but of the top nine free throwers in the NBA, four are 6-9 or taller--Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, Jack Sikma and Magic Johnson.

Trivia time: True or false? Lou Holtz has made appearances on the Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan shows.

Flight plan: Former NHL star Derek Sanderson, a recovering alcoholic, told the Sporting News how he used to combat his fear of flying.

“I used to sit in a bar at the airport and I’d have a little system all worked out,” he said. “I’d line up seven shots of whiskey, with a glass of Coke, a glass of 7-Up, a stick of gum and a cigarette. I’d fire down the shots, chase them with the Coke and 7-Up, pop the gum in my mouth and take a big haul on the cigarette. I wouldn’t even take a breath.

“I had it all worked out. I knew how many drinks I had to take depending on how long the flight was so I’d sleep through it.”

Overmatched: When heavyweight champion Buster Douglas, a former junior college basketball player, showed up at the Ohio State-Illinois game in his native Columbus, they arranged a free-throw contest between him and ESPN’s Dick Vitale.

It was no contest. Vitale went 10 for 10, Douglas four for 10.

For what it’s worth: From Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal: “While Danny Ferry is moving along at a lovely pace, averaging 22 points a game, he is far behind scoring leaders in Italy, the Brazilian Oscar Schmidt averaging 33, and the former Hawk, Mike McGee, at 34.”

Numbers game: When Joe Barry Carroll went to the Denver Nuggets from the New Jersey Nets, he requested No. 44. He was told the number had been retired. It belonged to Dan Issel, whose jersey hangs from the rafters in McNichols Arena.

Said Issel: “Tell him if he wants it, he’s going to have to jump up there and get it.”

Carroll settled for No. 11.

Trivia answer: True, but it was not the Lou Holtz who coaches the football team at Notre Dame. This one was a New York comic who rose to popularity before World War II.

Add Holtz: He was virtually retired at 50, living off the stock investments he made while a $6,000-a-week headliner at the Palace Theater in New York. He wasn’t idle, however. When his youngest son was born, he was 72.

Quotebook: Frank Layden, former Utah Jazz coach, on the multimillion-dollar raise awarded NBA Commissioner David Stern: “The head of the Colombian cartel doesn’t make that much money.”