His Formula for Living Is No Mere Croc

Chi Chi Rodriguez listened carefully last week as Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Ray Floyd talked about their physical fitness programs.

“It’s an hour or two a day, and it isn’t any fun,” Floyd said, glancing at Palmer and Nicklaus. “Any of us can tell you it’s not something we look forward to. But if we’re to be competitive with men much younger, it’s something we have to do.”

Finally, someone asked Rodriguez about his routine.

“I look at the animals,” he said. “The alligator sleeps almost all the time. The turtle, when it moves, it moves very, very slow. You know what? The turtle and the alligator, they live longer than any other animals.”

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Trivia time: On March 2, 1962, when Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points for the Philadelphia Warriors during a 169-147 victory over the New York Knicks at Hershey, Pa., how many of his teammates scored in double figures?

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Formula for success?The Green Bay Packers, 1-10-1 in 1958, won five NFL championships--and the first two Super Bowls--during the 1960s.

The Pittsburgh Steelers, 1-13 in 1969, won three Super Bowls during the 1970s and another in 1980.

The San Francisco 49ers, 2-14 in 1979, won three Super Bowls during the 1980s and one in 1990.

The Dallas Cowboys, 1-15 in 1989, won Super Bowl XXVII last week.

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Fender bender: Richie Adubato, fired last month as coach of the Dallas Mavericks, didn’t get much respect in Dallas during his final days on the job, reported Tim Povtak of the Orlando Sentinel.

Wrote Povtak: “A call to Dallas-area directory assistance in search of his telephone number drew this response from an operator: ‘Sorry, but we don’t have a listing for Richie’s Auto Body.’ ”

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Easier said than done: Joe Kleine of the Boston Celtics says the best way to guard rookie center Shaquille O’Neal of the Orlando Magic is to keep him away from the basket.

“But that’s sort of like saying that the key to stopping Kareem (Abdul-Jabbar) is to guard his hook shot,” Kleine said.

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Add Shaq: One of the NBA’s more aggressive players, Rick Mahorn of the New Jersey Nets, was asked if O’Neal needed to get any meaner to succeed in the league.

Said Mahorn: “If he got any meaner, there wouldn’t be a league.”

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High school confidential: Neil Best of Newsday reports that the Jackson, Miss., affiliate that owns the rights to the Southeastern Conference game of the week on Wednesdays won’t show the games because they conflict with “Beverly Hills, 90210.”

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Traveling light: Playing as partners against a pair of low-handicap CEOs during a practice round before the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am last week, Mark O’Meara and former Vice President Dan Quayle came up a little short--$12 each--when play was completed.

Said O’Meara: “Let me get this, Dan. You’re unemployed now.”

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Trivia answer: Four--Al Attles (17 points), Paul Arizin (16), Tom Meschery (16) and Guy Rodgers (11).

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Quotebook: Mark Eaton of the Utah Jazz, after making 10 consecutive shots during a six-game stretch: “When they’re all dunks, you should make most of them.”