With This Kind of Role Model, He Has a Tough Act to Follow

Nick Nolte has been visiting Indiana University to prepare for his role as a college basketball coach in the movie “ Blue Chips.” The actor has sat in on team meetings with Coach Bob Knight and watched his team practice. It is not known whether Knight has taught Nolte how to throw a chair. * Trivia time: What team holds the NBA record for turnovers in a game? * Wrong nickname?From Phil Jackman of the Baltimore Sun: “There are two ways to look at the new Anaheim franchise in the NHL being given permission to use the nickname ‘Mighty Ducks.’ “First, the league is plumbing new depths in embarrassment. Two, just think, the team could have been called ‘101 Dalmatians,’ which is probably the way it will perform for a couple of seasons.” * Go see Cal: Columnist Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, commenting on the Lakers: “The Lakers used to be Camelot. Now they’re a used-car lot, with units moving in and out, mufflers dragging, fenders dented, prices slashed. EZ credit.” * Not impressed: Columnist Mike Royko of the Chicago Tribune commenting on Michael Jackson’s dancing: “While I’m no expert on dancing, I watched Jackson perform during halftime of the Super Bowl, and I saw little that reminded me of (Fred) Astaire, other than being skinny.” * Net result: When Stefan Edberg was younger, he tried to to smash his tennis racket after a frustrating loss. “The one time I tried to break a racket, I couldn’t do it,” Edberg told Tennis magazine. “There was nothing noble about it. But since then, I’ve had the attitude that it’s better to give a racket to a kid than it is to smash it up.” * Take-out order: The new guidelines and stiffer penalties involving slow play on the PGA Tour--instituted in the Doral Open that ended on Sunday--caught Nick Faldo’s attention. The famed English player, wearing a completely blank expression, solemnly inquired of a tour official: “How much time do I have for breakfast?” * FYI: Volleyball for boys and soccer for girls are the two fastest-growing high school participation sports in California, according to the California Interscholastic Federation. * Ace holdup: Steve Beuerlein became the first Cowboy to “rob” Wells Fargo in more than 100 years. Beuerlein, a backup quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys, got a hole in one on the par-three, 154-yard 17th hole Friday at the Frank Sinatra celebrity golf tournament at Marriott’s Desert Springs Resort course in Palm Desert. His prize was $25,000 donated by Wells Fargo Bank. * Trivia answer: The Lakers, with 43 against Seattle on Feb. 15, 1974. * Quotebook: President Clinton, while hosting the Dallas Cowboys at the White House: “Four years ago they were about 1-15 and this year they won the Super Bowl. In the parlance of Washington, we call that deficit reduction.”