Much of the Time It Turns Out to Be a Lose-Lose Situation

After being ejected from his team’s 106-103 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers at Richfield, Ohio, on Tuesday, Coach Chuck Daly of the Detroit Pistons spoke a universal truth, in no way limited to the NBA:

“It’s a matter of who sees what out there. The officials always win, and you always lose.”

Trivia time: Name the last pitcher to beat Sandy Koufax.

Bench-to-bench: Cincinnati reliever Randy Myers was late in reporting to the Reds’ spring training headquarters at Plant City, Fla., Wednesday, but he had an excuse: The women’s basketball team at Clark Community College in Vancouver, Wash., was playing in a postseason tournament.

Myers coaches the team, which extended its record to 28-2.

What will he do about this weekend’s tournament games?

Said Myers: “They’re putting a cellular phone on the bench, and I’ll be in charge from here.”

Better yet, Frankfurt: Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post reacted this week to the suggestion that the New York Knicks might trade Patrick Ewing to the Washington Bullets:

“Not to burst the bubble, but it would be completely insane to trade Ewing here, within the division. Are you nuts? Risk having one of the three best big men in basketball go back to the Garden several times each year and prove how unbelievably stupid management was to trade him? Wasn’t it embarrassing enough last month when Bernard King went back to New York and lit up the Knicks for 49 (points)? If you’re the Knicks, and you feel compelled to trade Ewing for fear he’ll leave you hanging with nothing to show for it, then you trade him as far away as possible. You try to trade him to London in the WLAF before trading him here.”

Add Ewing: Kornheiser joined the chorus of NBA pundits predicting that Knick General Manager Al Bianchi and Coach John McLeod are as good as gone at the end of the season, and added:

“Then, the Knicks’ management will bring in a GM whose first priority will be to persuade Ewing to stay--whatever it takes: flowers, candy, many millions of dollars . . . some players with a pulse. I can think of a man who had some pretty fair success with Ewing, a coach who was recently rather tempted to become a GM. Call Georgetown. Ask for Big John.”

Nobody’s sure yet: The Anderson (S.C.) Independent-Mail reported Tuesday that during last weekend’s Atlantic Coast Conference track championships at Johnson City, Tenn., Kevin Braunskill of North Carolina State allegedly hit James Trapp of Clemson in the head with the championship trophy.

Clemson Coach Bob Pollock told the paper that Trapp, who finished third in the 200 meters, came away from the incident, which was alleged to have taken place on the award stand, with (an alleged?) mild concussion and (an alleged?) wound that required (an alleged?) three stitches.

Trivia answer: Jim Palmer of the Baltimore Orioles, who defeated the Dodgers, 6-0, in Game 2 of the 1966 World Series.

Quotebook: Rollie Fingers, on the evolution of the relief pitcher’s role: “In 1971, I had 17 saves and got a raise. In 1985, I had 17 saves and got released.”