N.Y. Race Caller Is Inspired to Sink His Teeth Into Work

It was bound to happen. Yielding to obvious temptation, New York Racing Assn. announcer Tom Durkin made the most of Hannibal Lecter’s victory in the seventh race at Aqueduct on Monday.

Borrowing from “Silence of the Lambs,” Durkin rose to heights of comic, or absurd, eloquence as the favorite widened his lead through the stretch of the allowance race.

“Hannibal Lecter devoured this field. . . . He just ate ‘em up,” Durkin said. “I mean, he absolutely had ‘em for lunch.”

Durkin received a call from the racing secretary’s office later and was advised that NYRA employees were having trouble “swallowing” his description.

Trivia time: The sites for 24 of the 27 Super Bowls have been in California, Florida and Louisiana. Can you name the other three states that have played host to a Super Bowl?

Habit-forming: From columnist Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Examiner: “Mike McGee’s last act as athletic director at USC (Southern California) was to fire his football coach. Mike McGee’s first act as athletic director at USC (South Carolina) was to fire his basketball coach. I guess it’s like potato chips--you can’t eat just one.”

Add Ratto: “After Kansas guard Rex Walters got hit in the head with a coin leaving the floor after the Jayhawks won at Kansas State, his mates gave him a new nickname, ‘Tollbooth.’ ”

Easily excitable: Lou Campanelli, California basketball coach, on his team shooting only 26.7% during the second half of a 67-65 loss to USC on Thursday night: “That’s part of the excitement (Cal) got caught up in--the road, the crowd and all that stuff.”

The attendance was an announced 5,543 in the 15,925-capacity Sports Arena.

Clip this: From CBS-TV announcer Jim Nantz: “I’m not into hyping guys, but Duke’s Grant Hill could succeed Michael Jordan as the next true superstar in the NBA.”

Clip this, too: Gar Heard, interim coach of the Dallas Mavericks, who are seriously challenging the Philadelphia 76ers’ NBA record for futility--9-73, in 1972-73--has vowed that the Mavericks will not break it.

“If we do, I will perform 100 hours of community service,” Heard said.

Vanishing act: Chicago Bull forward Horace Grant, fearing that his offensive skills are being squandered, commented on the prospect of unrestricted free agency in 1994:

“I’m not going to stay and be this rebounder and play defense and let my offensive skills diminish right in front of me.”

Trivia answer: Texas (1974), Michigan (1982) and Minnesota (1992).

Quotebook: When someone suggested that the Bills face a “must-win” situation in the Super Bowl Sunday because of two previous defeats, Buffalo Coach Marv Levy said: “World War II was a must-win.”