They Never Got the Seal of Approval

The debut this season of the expansion San Jose Sharks has revived memories of the NHL’s previous attempt to place an expansion team in Northern California, the California Golden Seals.

Tony Cooper of the San Francisco Chronicle recalls that the Seals, who entered the league in 1967, had seven owners and eight coaches in the nine years they spent in the Bay Area.

The most memorable Seal owner undoubtedly was Charles O. Finley, who had the players wearing white skates.

The Seals never finished above .500 and made the playoffs only twice. Their best average attendance in a season was 6,944 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena, which had a capacity of 12,000 for hockey.

How bad was life as a Seal?

According to Cooper, Seal center Walt McKechnie once responded to a question about the team’s attitude on a pregame radio show by saying: “I don’t give a damn. Nobody gives a damn. I don’t care. Nobody cares. I’d just as soon go home and play golf. Finley has made a mockery of the team. All the good guys have left. The sooner this season is over, the better.”

Add Seals: During one game in St. Louis, the Seals were outshot by the Blues in a period, 20-1. When that fact was announced to the crowd, Cooper writes, one Seal cracked: “OK, who was the wise guy who took the shot?”

Trivia time: Where did the California Golden Seals move in 1976?

Video games: For those who think they have witnessed all the crazy scenes boxing has to offer, consider the media event that was staged by Mike Tyson’s handlers Wednesday in Las Vegas.

Tyson, training for his Nov. 8 fight against Evander Holyfield, sat in a hotel ballroom and answered questions that had been submitted by reporters the day before by fax. Reporters--even those in Las Vegas--could watch the “news conference” only on closed-circuit television.

“We think he is in Las Vegas,” Newsday’s Wallace Matthews writes of Tyson, “because the telecast opened with exterior shots of Caesars Palace, and Tyson and company were seated before some Caesars Palace drapery.

“As to how he is doing, it’s tough to say, because most of his answers were monosyllabic mumbles. He never cracked a smile, even when one of his lackeys said that Tyson, at 25, was better than Muhammad Ali at the same age. That one did, however, draw guffaws from the half-dozen fight writers who watched the proceedings in a conference room at the HBO production studio on (New York’s) East 23rd Street.”

Add boxing: Matthews reports that Larry Holmes’ comeback will continue Nov. 12 with a bout in Albany, N.Y.--that is, if the 41-year-old Holmes can pass his physical examination and come up with an opponent acceptable to the New York State Athletic Commission.

According to Matthews, Holmes is being guided by Rob Correa of USA Network, who led George Foreman through the early stages of his comeback.

“It’s a little easier to find opponents with Larry than with George,” Correa told Matthews. “(Holmes) doesn’t knock anybody out.”

Trivia answer: Cleveland, where they were known as the Barons. Two years later, the Barons folded and were merged with the Minnesota North Stars.

Quotebook: Sam Wyche, coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, on living with an 0-5 record: “I don’t even go to self-serve gasoline stations anymore because I don’t want to have to walk in and pay for it.”