They Went to Great Lengths and Found Birth of a Record

Boston Globe pro basketball reporters Jackie MacMullan and Steve Richards thought they had knocked stat freaks on their collective ear when they recently published the fact that nine years and 360 days elapsed between Washington Bullet forward Bernard King’s first and last 50-point games.

It didn’t take long for David Moore, their counterpart at the Dallas Morning News, to top that one.

Moore called MacMullan and Richards to remind them that 29 years and 250 days had elapsed between the births of Dallas Maverick Coach Richie Adubato’s first and last child.

Add Adubato: The Dallas coach said of his newborn son, Adam: “He was only 4 1/2 hours old and he watched his first game. He made some good comments. He said, ‘We’ve got to do something about that guy Malone.’ ”

January to January: On this day in 1973, UCLA set an NCAA record, defeating Notre Dame, 82-63, for its 61st consecutive basketball victory.

The Bruins, led by center Bill Walton’s 16 points, 15 rebounds and 10 blocked shots, broke the record set by the University of San Francisco in 1956. The Bruins eventually extended the record to 88.

This Wednesday marks the 20th anniversary of the beginning of UCLA’s streak, a 74-61 victory over UC Santa Barbara.

Trivia time: On Jan. 19, 1974, which team defeated UCLA, ending its record at 88 consecutive basketball victories?

The Tartan Tide: Inspired by Coach Wimp Sanderson’s taste in sport jackets, the University of Alabama has painted the Memorial Coliseum center circle red plaid.

Ice, ice baby: It’s not too early to start planning that dream trip to Minneapolis for Super Bowl XXVI.

True, the game will be played in the Metrodome, but just think of the outdoor fun you can have during the week before the game.

Nobody’s saying it will be this way a year from now, but today’s forecast for Minneapolis-St. Paul calls for cloudy skies, with a low of 13 and a high of 22.

Never one to rave: In a story on Drake University guard Mark Raveling, Randy Peterson of the Des Moines Register quoted Raveling’s father, USC basketball coach George, as saying:

“I’ve told every coach who has ever coached him never to worry about me saying a word about how they’re coaching him, and I never have. I leave that up to the coach. I know what they’re going through, so I certainly wouldn’t want to put them through being a typical parent and complaining about how their kids are being coached.”

A loss for words: The NBA recently fined the Boston Celtics $2,000 because a ceremony honoring retired broadcaster Johnny Most ran too long.

Trivia answer: Notre Dame, 71-70.

Quotebook: Golfer Hale Irwin, on being paired with Mark Calcavecchia: “It’s sort of fun watching how far a golf ball can go.”