Purists Complain They Are Turning It Into Ice Capades

Don Cherry, former Boston Bruin coach and now commentator for Hockey Night in Canada, isn’t happy about the new NHL rules restricting rough play. His complaint:

“There are more no-hitters in the NHL now than if Nolan Ryan was here. I understand that the players are going to (wear) dresses. All I hear from the fans is, ‘What the hell is going on in hockey?’ People are walking out of games. Hockey is losing the die-hard fans.”

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Trivia time: Who is the only golfer to win two 90-hole PGA tournaments in the same year?

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Know thyself: Mario Andretti was recently voted driver of the quarter-century by a panel including journalists and drivers of the year from the past 25 years. The drivers couldn’t vote for themselves.

“I know race drivers, and we’re all a selfish group, and if we could have, every one of us would have voted for himself,” Andretti said in accepting the award.

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It’s definite: Gao Min of China, Olympic women’s diving champion, nearly guaranteed that she will stay retired by getting married.

Gao, 22, announced her retirement after the Barcelona Games, but she put the capper on it by marrying Su Dong. Chinese sports authorities generally require athletes to be single.

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Athletes galore: California, with 461,794 participants, had more high school students playing sports last year than any other state except Texas, which had 479,750, according to a survey by the National Federation of State High School Assns.

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Two careers: Bob Charles has earned more than $4 million as the world’s finest left-handed golfer. He is also one of the finest shepherds in New Zealand. Charles conservatively estimates that he has 3,000 woolies on his ranch.

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Fair warning: Lettering on the window of professional drag racer Jerry Caminito’s self-financed 275 m.p.h. Oldsmobile funny car: DRIVER CARRIES NO CASH.

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What’s in a name: Idaho, one of the nation’s top Division I-AA teams, has a starting wide receiver named Yo Murphy. Can’t you just hear the quarterback when he breaks into the clear, yelling, “Yo, Murphy!”

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Trivia answer: John Cook, who won the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the Las Vegas Invitational this year.

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Quick on the draw: Mike Tyson recently passed his sixth month in the Indiana Youth Center, which prompted Newsday’s Wallace Matthews to recall a conversation between the former heavyweight champion and a boxing writer.

Reporter: “Overall, are you happy with your life?”

Tyson: “Oh, yeah. Things could be worse. I could be you.”

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Quotebook: Cornerback Everson Walls (who was later released by the New York Giants) on Coach Ray Handley’s decision to bench him: “Handley’s the man, you have to go with the decision, no matter how ludicrous it is.”