He Blew the Whistle on Everyone in League

He may be the Earl of Hoops. This is the last season for NBA referee Earl Strom, 61, who has grown into the role of the most beloved whistle-toter in the league, outlasting a somewhat cantankerous past. Like the time Downtown Freddy Brown’s wife slugged him with her purse as he came off the court after a game. Strom wrested the purse from Mrs. Brown and hit her right back.

Now that Strom’s career is winding down, he says one of the things he will miss most is his give-and-take with the fans. The fans gave him heck and Strom took it.

“I love that stuff and I really will miss it,” Strom said. “It’s always fun. My last trip to Indiana was fun. A fan threw a beer at me.”

So?

“He missed,” Strom said. “He hit Isiah Thomas instead.”

A word, please?: Chris Evert and Jimmy Connors are trading their rackets for NBC-TV microphones during the French Open and Wimbledon, and Evert is wondering if they’ll get turned down asking players for interviews.

“When we played, we’d say ‘no’ every so often,” Evert said. “Now, we’ll have to pick the right ones, so we won’t be jilted.”

Trivia Question: Who is “The Dunkin’ Dutchman”?

What do you really think? Rick Bozich of the Louisville Courier-Journal doesn’t sound as though he is a big fan of former Florida center Dwayne Schintzius, who showed up at an NBA tryout camp 30 pounds overweight. Said Bozich: “Schintzius is fat, lazy, inconsistent and a chronic complainer.” Yeah, but maybe he’s consistently lazy.

Tall story: How tall is 7-foot-6 Shawn Bradley of Castle Dale, Utah, a Brigham Young recruit? Bradley can mount a horse by merely stepping aboard.

Said the world’s tallest cowboy: “We don’t have any saddles long enough.”

Get Cronkite on the phone: From Monte Poole of the Oakland Tribune, speculating on who will succeed Brent Musburger at CBS:

“Jim Nantz? CBS Sports President Neal Pilson evidently likes Nantz, who is a nice man though a bit simple. Greg Gumbel? He takes himself half as seriously as his driven brother but is about half as talented.”

Trivia answer: Rik Smits of the Indiana Pacers, who was born in the Netherlands.

Money matters: From Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe on Michael Jordan: “Jordan this year will earn approximately $15 million from residuals off Nike. That’s apart from his Nike salary and stock. And let’s not forget his NBA salary (about $2.3 million).”

Remember this quote: The Cavaliers’ John (Hot Rod) Williams is in his free-agent year and he says he isn’t worried about what Danny Ferry might make next year: “If Danny Ferry gets more than me, it won’t bother me.”

4 BR W VU: In Denver, they’re talking about rebuilding the Nuggets after they didn’t pan out against San Antonio. The Nuggets were swept in the first round by San Antonio. Alex English is almost certainly gone at age 35, so too may be Joe Barry Carroll.

Even Fat Lever is deemed expendable, but trade talks do not seem to upset him. Lever told Ailene Voisin of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution that there is a bright spot if he actually is traded from Denver. “It might be a blessing because the house we’re living in is too small,” Lever said.

Quotebook: From pro golfer Bryan Tennyson, explaining why his wife, Jeanne, no longer caddies for him: “In the U.S. Open in 1987, I was grinding to make the cut and turned an easy par into a bogey. She glared at me and said, ‘You’re choking, you’re choking.’ So I fired her.”