Father Usually Knows Best, Sometimes He’s First to Know

Tracy Murray’s father said last week that he knew long ago that his oldest son, the former UCLA forward, had the ability to make it in the NBA.

“I thought Tracy was ready in this picture right here,” said Bob Murray, pulling from his pocket a photo of his son shooting a sponge ball at an indoor hoop. “Look at the form on his shot. That’s what told me he was going to be ready.”

The photo was taken in 1973. Tracy was 2 years old.

Trivia time: Before this season, when was the last time Wayne Gretzky was not among the top three vote-getters in balloting for the Hart Trophy, which is presented annually to the NHL’s most valuable player?

Sunshine Superman: Rookie pitcher Donovan Osborne of the St. Louis Cardinals was named for one of the original flower children.

Reported the Associated Press: “Osborne was born in 1969 at the height of the hippie craze and his parents are California laid-back types. His father plays 12-string guitar and writes his own songs. That and the timing of his birth had a lot to do with Osborne ending up with former pop star Donovan Leitch as his namesake.”

Osborne recently saw a picture of Leitch.

“I went to the tape shop the other day and looked at him and it was funny,” he said. “I think he made it big in the late ‘60s. Acid, baby.”

Time flies: On this date in 1963, Sandy Koufax pitched the second of his four career no-hitters as the Dodgers defeated the San Francisco Giants, 8-0.

Lowering the boom: Boomer Esiason wasn’t thrilled when the Cincinnati Bengals used their first-round pick in the NFL draft to take quarterback David Klingler of Houston.

“I’m concerned about the whole draft because it doesn’t seem we hit our primary need areas too well,” the Bengal quarterback said. “I’m concerned about, ‘Do we really have an opportunity to win here?’ ”

Lean to the left: With Kyle Abbott going 0-4 and Terry Mulholland 0-3, the Philadelphia Phillies finished April without a victory from a left-handed starter.

Ten years ago: On May 11, 1982, Big Ten athletic directors voted unanimously to implement the three-point field goal on an experimental basis during the 1982-83 basketball season.

Said Purdue Athletic Director George King: “Like many directors and many coaches around the country, I was getting to the point of being very concerned about what seemed to be a national trend to a slowdown game.”

The NCAA implemented the rule before the 1986-87 season.

He doesn’t ride, either: Dave Johnson, considered one of the favorites to win the gold medal in the Olympic decathlon this summer, said that most people don’t understand what his event entails.

“They either say, ‘Isn’t that the one where you swim and bike?’ or, ‘Isn’t that where you ski and shoot,’ ” Johnson told the Christian Science Monitor.

Trivia answer: In 1990, when he finished fourth in the voting. Gretzky won the award after each of his first eight NHL seasons, was third in the voting in 1988, won the award again in 1989 and was runner-up in the voting last season to Brett Hull of the St. Louis Blues.

Quotebook: Columnist Steve Hummer of the Atlanta Journal and Constitution, on America’s Cup competition: “You’ll know it’s finished when the rich folk pour the champagne and begin suing each other.”