Next on His Reading List Is Long Day’s Journey Into Night

Tony Kornheiser of the Washington Post says that the six-foul rule in the Big East Conference enables him to catch up on his reading.

“In just two minutes of a Georgetown-Miami game (52 fouls overall), I read ‘War and Peace’. In Russian.

“You thought ‘Dances With Wolves’ was long? A Big East game is the only athletic event where you give a lunch and dinner order to the usher when he shows you to your seat.”

Trivia time: Name the player who posed for the Heisman Trophy?

How about Hawaii?: Among major league players born in California, Ted Williams is the all-time career home run leader with 521, according to the book “BASEBALLISTICS.” Hank Aaron, with his record 755 home runs, puts an Alabama native on top of the state list. New York checks in with 493 home runs by Lou Gehrig.

Alaska? Only two by Steve Staggs.

Sure he did: Kirk Gibson, who was traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Pittsburgh Pirates, was once a record-breaking wide receiver at Michigan State.

“Football was definitely the easier of the two sports for me, considering my makeup,” he told Bob Hertzel of the Pittsburgh Press. “I was 6-3, 230. I ran a 4.2 40. I didn’t drop the ball. I could read defenses.”

If Gibson ever ran 40 yards in 4.2 seconds, then he would have easily beaten former Olympic champion Bob Hayes, who once said he never ran the football 40 faster than 4.3.

Add Gibson: Before he was traded to the Pirates, Gibson became angry when told he would play a backup role with the Royals.

“They say happy cows give more milk, but they’ve basically told me I’m dog meat,” Gibson said.

Older and richer: Shirley Povich of the Washington Post said 42-year-old Larry Holmes is trying to recycle himself in the image of George Foreman, “at 43 a born-again heavyweight who is now many times a millionaire.”

Holmes will fight Evander Holyfield on June 19 in Las Vegas for the heavyweight championship.

“Holmes’ share of the loot: $7 million; Holyfield’s: $18 million, numbers that are probably causing Joe Louis to blink in his mausoleum,” Povich said. “The biggest payday for Joe’s long, shining career was the $625,000 he got for knocking out Billy Conn a second time.”

Let it alone: A rule change proposed by the International Tennis Federation that would eliminate let calls on service has tennis players at the Lipton International Players Championships in Key Biscayne, Fla., unimpressed and wondering why bother?

Under the proposed change, a serve that clips the net but falls in would count as a good serve, and the ball would be in play.

“It sounds stupid,” Steffi Graf said. “I think it sounds silly.”

Jimmy Connors was more emphatic when told of the proposal. After uttering an expletive, Connors said: “Let’s do something that really has a concern for the game instead of nit-picking around here.”

Trivia answer: Running back William Mulrey of Fordham in 1935.

Quotebook: Woody Hayes, the late Ohio State football coach, on recruiting a Czech kicker: “During the eye examination, the doc asked if he could read the bottom line. The Czech kicker said, ‘Read it! I know him.’ ”