When the Jaws of Victory Stay Clenched, Emotion Is No Friend

The San Jose Sharks, who rode a wave of emotion to a better-than-expected 17-58-5 record during their first season in the NHL, have struggled this season, losing 17 games in a row recently and winning only once between Thanksgiving and Valentine’s Day.

“Emotion carries you a long way,” Tom McVie, a Boston Bruin assistant who once endured a 30-game winless streak with the Winnipeg Jets, told the Boston Globe. “But it’s a short-term friend. What you need is a long-term companion--like talent.”

Trivia time: Who is the NCAA basketball tournament’s all-time scoring leader?

Pour another round: Said William Wirtz, owner of the Chicago Blackhawks, when asked by the Sporting News if the NHL would eliminate fighting: “If the whiskey’s good in the bottle as it is, you don’t mess with it.

“People think we’ll get a national TV contract if we eliminate fighting. That’s just not true. Our attendance is good and that’s because we give what the people want. They don’t want European hockey. That’s a yawn.”

What a dish: In the March issue of Bon Appetit magazine, former New York Giant linebacker Lawrence Taylor is featured in an advertisement for “Grid,” a china designed by Swid Powell that is, according to the ad, “classically designed and capable of dropping you in your tracks.”

Attention, Jerry West: Filmmaker Roger Corman created a 17-foot dinosaur for use in his latest movie, “Carnosaur.” Although it weighs 1 1/2 tons, Corman reports that it is extremely mobile and flexible and can be manipulated by remote control.

For a price, he said, it would be available to the Lakers.

Hail, Arthur: From Frank Deford of Newsweek magazine, on the outpouring of affection for the late Arthur Ashe: “Has any athlete--not to mention former athlete--ever been lionized so at his death? It wasn’t as if Arthur was the best player ever; why, he wasn’t even the best of his time.

“Rather, he was just a very good tennis player who had come to be recognized as an altogether exceptional human being.”

Ya-ba-da-ba-do: From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun: “In the TV Guide feature ‘What I Watch,’ Isiah Thomas, an avid watcher of soaps, said: ‘Sure, NBA players watch the soaps, but I don’t think they’d admit it. My mother got me hooked. I watched them every day in college. I used to schedule my classes around them.’ ”

Added Jackman: “During the season and on the road, baseball players are huge soaps fans--that’s when ‘The Flintstones’ aren’t available, of course.”

Et tu , Chuck?Reports the Sporting News, which is of the opinion that Clipper Coach Larry Brown is not headed back to Westwood, as has been rumored: “UCLA Chancellor Charles Young is like Danny Manning. He’s had his fill of Larry.”

Trivia answer: Christian Laettner, formerly of Duke.

Quotebook: Chuck Tanner, former major league manager: “You can have money stacked to the ceiling, but the size of your funeral is still going to depend upon the weather.”