British Sportswriters Take Stick to Old Hickory and the Colonies

There will always be an England.

Members of the international press corps at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials in New Orleans, 125 strong, have been watching in wonder the week’s worth of legal hoop-jumping. Some European reporters have abandoned reporting the many court rulings involving suspended athletes and their possible court-ordered eligibility, and vow to continue to ignore any further legal high jinks.

But members of the British Athletics Writers Assn., taking a humorous look at the process, issued this declaration Tuesday, regarding the U.S. victory over crack British troops in the Battle of New Orleans, Jan. 14, 1815:

“We believe that a number of the soldiers in (Gen.) Andrew Jackson’s army were not eligible to represent the U.S. in competition under Rule 53,” said spokesman Cliff Temple of the London Sunday Times.

“Under the contamination rule, we suspect that not only were U.S. soldiers theoretically ineligible, but also the Mississippi (River) at that time may have been highly suspect. As there was no drug testing afterward--another serious lapse--we cannot be sure.”

The British journalists threatened to leave New Orleans on Thursday if the official result of the battle is not reversed by the courts.

Trivia time: Identify the only domed stadium in which a baseball game has been called because of rain.

Bigotry at bat: 8.5 In his recently published autobiography, “You Can’t Hit the Ball with the Bat on Your Shoulder,” Bobby Bragan, former backup catcher for the Brooklyn Dodgers, recalls his opposition to Jackie Robinson joining the team in 1947.

“Growing up in Birmingham, Ala., I never mixed much with blacks,” Bragan writes. “I had never really had much conversation with a black person, much less eaten a meal or shared a train compartment with one. That’s what I would have to do if Jackie joined the Dodgers, and I just wasn’t going to stand for it.”

Last add Bragan: Bragan was so concerned about Robinson’s presence that he told Branch Rickey, the Dodgers’ club president, that he wanted to be traded. But Rickey, apparently impressed with Bragan’s frankness, refused, and, in the end, Bragan and Robinson became close friends.

“I always say that, of all the people I’ve known in baseball, I respect Branch Rickey the most,” Bragan writes. “I’d have to put Jackie up there on top with him. Mr. Rickey was a genius, and Jackie Robinson is the best proof of that genius. Thanks to the two of them, I was able to overcome my racial prejudice.”

Capturing the mood: Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Bill Lyon, on the 76ers’ trade of Charles Barkley to the Phoenix Suns: “Has Philadelphia ever had a more enchanting, exasperating, confounding, inspiring, combustible, caring and controversial mercenary than Charles Wade Barkley? In a word, no. And now he is gone. Traded, at last, to Phoenix.

“Charles Barkley and the desert. What a perfect fit. Fry you to a crisp in the day, freeze you stiff at night. And the desert has wild swings, too.”

Add Barkley: Already on sale at the America West Arena in Phoenix: a T-shirt bearing the words, “All Bark and All Bite.”

Trivia answer: The Astrodome in Houston. Severe street flooding after a storm on June 16, 1976, prevented fans from reaching the stadium and caused the postponement of a game between the Astros and Pittsburgh Pirates.

Quotebook: Pat Williams, general manager of the Orlando Magic, on the possibility of Gary Bettman, NBA senior vice president and general counsel, becoming commissioner of the NHL: “I gave Gary a hockey puck once, and he spent the rest of the day trying to open it.”