Horse Doesn’t Silence Critics on East Coast

Sunday Silence will carry high weight in today’s Hollywood Gold Cup, but the 1989 horse of the year may be saddled forever with the doubts of East Coast racing fans and reporters.

Take Sharon Smith, the former ESPN commentator, who closed her essay in “The 1990 Information Please Sports Almanac” this way: “In thoroughbred racing, 1989 will be remembered as the year of Easy Goer, who rose, and fell, and then rose again.”

Granted, Smith’s “Almanac” deadline might have fallen before Sunday Silence defeated Easy Goer in the Breeders’ Cup Classic late in November, but talk about taking chances . . .

Trivia time: How many father-son combinations has Nolan Ryan struck out?

One down, 27 to go: Can a 6-foot 3 1/2-inch power lifter with a 68-inch chest, 25-inch biceps, 24-inch calves and a 24-inch neck find happiness as an NFL lineman?

Paul Makdisi, 28, of Houston tried out recently with the Atlanta Falcons. The result?

“My suggestion would be that he pursue a career in pro wrestling,” Falcon personnel director Ken Herock told Glenn Sheeley of the Atlanta Constitution. “I ain’t got time for projects. I’ve got to win games.”

But Makdisi, who bench-presses more than 600 pounds, squats 1,000 and swears that his longtime steroid use ended a year and a half ago, is undaunted.

“If I can lose another 25 pounds and get my 40 time down to five seconds, I’m going to be a coach’s dream,” he said.

Bear necessity: Jack Nicklaus told Golf World last week why he recently carried a five-wood in his bag for the first time.

“I never liked a four-wood or a five-wood, even when I was a kid,” Nicklaus said. “When I played Medinah (site of this year’s U.S. Open) a few weeks ago, I saw the par-5s were not reachable. I felt if the rough was wet and heavy, a five-wood would be a good club.”

Nicklaus recalled a shot the week before the Open at the Senior Tournament Players Championship at Dearborn, Mich.

“I got to the sixth hole, 218 yards,” he said. “I told my caddy, ‘I don’t think I can stop a one-iron on that ledge, and I can’t get a three-iron to the ledge. My two-iron is in the trunk.

“My caddy said, ‘Why’d you bring the five-wood?’ So I hit it and knocked it 20 feet from the hole.”

Washington confidential: A recent meeting in Washington among Dave Gavitt, Red Auerbach and Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski was supposed to have been a secret.

But Gavitt told Bill Parrillo of the Providence Journal: “We were looking for a restaurant to have lunch. Just some little hole in the wall with a back room or something. So what does Red do? He takes us to a place--there must have been a thousand people in there.”

Afterward, when Gavitt’s and Krzyzewski’s limo failed to arrive, Auerbach offered them a ride to the airport in his new convertible.

“With a license plate that said ‘Celtics’ on it,” Gavitt said. “So Red puts the top down, pulls out a cigar and there we are. Red and me sitting in the front, Mike sitting in the back and we’re riding through the streets of Washington, D.C.”

Not surprisingly, people recognized them and began waving and honking their horns.

“Some secret,” Gavitt said.

Trivia answer: Six--Sandy Alomar and Sandy Alomar Jr.; Bobby and Barry Bonds; Tito and Terry Francona; Ken Griffey and Ken Griffey Jr.; Dick Schofield and Dick Schofield Jr.; Maury and Bump Wills.

Quotebook: Heavyweight Jerry Quarry, trying to make a comeback at 45: “The money is totally different today. It’s so crazy, my dad is thinking about coming back.”