No Love Song, but They Sang Hearts Out

Duke students, known for harassing visiting basketball teams with their own satirical style, were at it again Saturday at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.--and Michigan was the target.

Sheets of paper were passed throughout the lower stands two hours before game time with the words to Michigan’s famed fight song “Hail to the Victors” changed to suit the “Cameron Crazies.”

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Only one word in the last line had to be changed for publication. The Duke version:

“Hail, to the state school choosers

Hail, to the sophomore losers

Hail, Hail, to Michigan

The cesspool of the West

Hail, to the slam - dunk payers

Hail, to the two-year players

Hail, Hail, to Michigan

We’re not finished yet

Hail, to the Fab Five criers

Hail, to the champions . . . NOT!

Hail, Hail, to Michigan

The bad boys of the West.”

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Trivia time: When did UCLA make its first appearance in the NCAA postseason basketball tournament?

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Mixed senses: Pregame conversation between radio announcers of Saturday’s Alabama-Florida football game for the Southeastern Conference championship:

Announcer No. 1: “Florida will have to take the crowd (predominantly pro-Alabama) out of the game.” Announcer No. 2: “We’ll keep our eye on that.”

How about your ear?

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F.Y.I.: The Gold Sheet reported that the huddle in football was originated at Gallaudet University in Washington, a school for the deaf. By closing in a circle, the deaf players could sign to one another in private.

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Silly statistic: The PGA Tour News has come up with a new golf category: longest driver pound-for-pound. The winner is Jeff Sluman, who weighs 140 pounds, averages 259.4 yards, or 1.85 yards per pound.

John Daly, who averages a tour-leading 283.4 yards, weighs 175 pounds, and averages only 1.62 yards per pound.

Fascinating.

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Axed: A popular T-shirt on Pittsburgh’s campus before football Coach Paul Hackett was fired: “I Can’t Hackett.”

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Age crisis: Golfing great Sam Snead, 80, explained a few years ago why he didn’t play on the senior tour: “When you get this old, you wake up with a different pain every day. Besides, it’s a grind trying to beat 60-year-old kids out there.”

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Worth a try: Monday Night Football analyst Dan Dierdorf, appalled by the incompetence of Seattle’s offense, commented: “I wonder what would happen if you brought out the Seahawks’ defense and gave them a couple of plays? Could it be any worse?”

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Trivia answer: In 1950, when the Bruins lost to Bradley, 73-59, in an NCAA West Regional game in Kansas City, Mo.

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Add trivia: Starting in 1964, UCLA won 10 NCAA titles in the next 12 seasons.

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Quotebook: Miami Heat Coach Kevin Loughery, on a reduced traveling squad because of injuries: “We’re just traveling light. We left $12 million at home.”