All He Really Needs Is Right Tempura-Ment for the Game

Forward Terry Yake of the Hartford Whalers doesn’t know why some people mispronounce his name. But he’s tired of being associated with a Japanese entree.

Twice this season--in Ottawa and Los Angeles--he has been introduced as Terry Yaki, instead of Terry Yake, as in shake.

The mispronunciation went national after a game Wednesday with the Washington Capitals, when “CNN Headline News” showed a highlight of the first of Yake’s two goals in a 6-3 victory. Every half-hour, when sports came on and the goal was shown, he was referred to as Terry Yaki.

“Let’s go through the alphabet,” Yake said. “There’s bake, there’s cake, there’s drake, there’s lake. There’s make, there’s snake, there’s take. To me, it’s simple English.”

*

Trivia time: Name the PGA Tour player who was the leader in total driving in 1992, but last in sand saves.

*

Uphill battle: When Bob Keisser of the Long Beach Press-Telegram and Al LoCasale, Raider executive assistant, got into a shouting match recently, a Raider player advised LoCasale against fighting because Keisser was a foot taller.

Said LoCasale: “The last time I got into a fight with someone who was my height I was 8 years old.”

*

Right wing: Raider bashing seems to be popular nowadays. Jim Quinn, an attorney for the National Football League Players Assn., recently ridiculed Raider owner Al Davis.

“Al is the ultimate chucklehead,” he said. “Other than (Cincinnati General Manager) Mike Brown, who still lives in the 16th Century, Al is the farthest to the right among the owners on the (NFL bargaining) committee.”

*

FYI: On this day in 1972, the Raiders beat the Denver Broncos, 37-20, in Denver on their way to winning the AFC’s Western Division title.

*

Final ruling: The Rose Bowl queen and her court were honored Thursday at a Sportscasters’ luncheon. The princesses favored Washington over Michigan in the Jan. 1 Rose Bowl game by a 4-2 vote.

Queen Liana Yamasaki was more cautious, saying, “I want to meet both teams before I decide who’ll win.”

*

Jordan rules: Michael Jordan of the Chicago Bulls is the favorite athlete and the athlete most youngsters would like to be for a day, according to a poll in Sports Illustrated For Kids.

Behind Jordan in the most-favorite-athlete voting were, in order, Magic Johnson, Scottie Pippen, Bo Jackson, Joe Montana, Mark McGwire, Larry Bird, Kim Zmeskal, Charles Barkley and Nolan Ryan.

*

With sticks? Joe LaPointe, of the New York Times, writing on premeditated fistfighting in the NHL, has a unique proposal.

“When the league gathers for its All-Star game in Montreal in February, add a new event to the skills competition that so far includes boring things like skating and shooting.

“Why not stage a fighting tournament? Since every team has two or three fighting specialists, select the best from every club. Let them meet over a two-day series of elimination bouts.”

*

Painful process: Dan Barreiro, of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, writing on Rich Gannon, the Minnesota Vikings’ scatter-armed quarterback: “People pass kidney stones with less pain.”

*

Trivia answer: Bruce Lietzke.

*

Quotebook: Miami Dolphin Coach Don Shula, on how he doesn’t let stress affect his health: “I’ve never had an ulcer; I give ulcers.”