This Creation a Black Mark Against Him

At the rate he’s going, fashion designer Alexander Julian will have done North Carolina’s colors by the turn of the century.

Not the university, the whole state.

Julian, who designed the Charlotte Hornets’ uniforms and recently agreed to redesign the outfits for Dean Smith’s University of North Carolina basketball team, also lists the Charlotte Knights of baseball’s double-A Southern League among his credits.

But the Knights’ parent club, the Chicago Cubs, is about to junk its farm team’s Julian-designed black uniforms, described by one sportswriter as “Knightmarish.” The new outfits will retain the Knights’ blue and green colors but will follow the Cubs’ uniform design.

Add uniforms: Julian designed the Knights’ ballpark around the black uniforms, using black, blue and green seats. The Cubs say the stadium colors will stay.

Of the Cubs’ decision to change the Knights’ uniforms, Julian said: “I’m very disappointed. I did the best I could.”

Of the sportswriter’s fashion review, he said: “I’m tracing the way this guy dresses. Let me just say this. It’s like having an illiterate criticize Hemingway.”

Trivia time: Which member of the New York Knicks plays with his wedding band attached to his left shoelace?

Terribly sorry: Simon Njikam, president of Cameroon’s soccer federation, was put off when British soccer officials failed to meet the Cameroon team on its arrival in London Tuesday.

Said Njikam: “We came to learn from the English Federation, which is the mother of football. We’ve been invited here to play, and I cannot understand why they would leave their guests without any attention.”

Said David Barber of the Football Assn. press office: “The procedure is that the leading officials of the FA do not meet the officials from the other side until a luncheon on the day of the match. This is the same procedure no matter what the opposition--Brazil, Germany or Cameroon--even though it is Cameroon’s first visit.”

Add Cameroon: Today’s game is a rematch of a World Cup quarterfinal last June, won by England, 3-2.

Sir Roger Milla, the Lions’ 38-year-old World Cup star, has chosen tonight’s game at Wembley Stadium as his last international appearance.

Conversely, English captain Bryan Robson, the 34-year-old midfielder who left the World Cup with an Achilles’ tendon injury, will be making his first international appearance since the tournament.

Trivia answer: Mark Jackson.

Quotebook: Lou Duva, trainer for heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield, on boxing: “You can sum up this sport in two words: You never know.”