Someone’s Wondering Why Dean’s Dome Has Few Flakes

The San Francisco Chronicle’s C.W. Nevius, evaluating North Carolina in the Final Four, wrote:

” . . . Well, it’s Tom Landry’s Cowboys in shorts, isn’t it? Still the only man who consistently held Michael Jordan to fewer than 20 points a game, when the superstar was a Tar Heel, Coach Dean Smith can’t drop the reins.

“It’s a wonderful system. It must be, because everyone cribs from it constantly, but when do they play? Mostly when they reach the NBA. Good coaches can draw on the blackboard until dawn, but the inspired ones have the touch of the flake. In Smith’s case, it was just dandruff.”

*

Trivia time: How many West Coast teams have won the National Invitation Tournament?

*

Court comedians: From Ross Atkin of the Christian Science Monitor: “The almost laughably loose shorts worn by the University of Michigan players may be the worst current fashion statement in men’s college basketball.

“The Wolverines have taken the roomy look popularized by Michael Jordan to new lows--the shorts sometimes appear ready to fall off.”

*

Spring bore: Columnist Joan Ryan of the San Francisco Examiner, on baseball spring training: “Spring training is the ‘Seinfeld’ show of sports. It’s about nothing. A show about nothing. The games mean nothing.”

*

Ring outlet: Actor Mickey Rourke, who has starred in such films as “9 1/2 Weeks” and “Wild Orchid,” is a part-time boxer.

“Boxing is wholesome, whereas Hollywood has a way of spoiling you,” Rourke said. “People treat you like you’re something special. You become plastic; you lose your spirit.

“I had a lot of anger about acting. I wanted to channel that anger. I needed to humble myself, to do something I wasn’t good at. And boxing was the answer.”

*

Bullheaded? Horace Grant of the Chicago Bulls was asked by Paul Ladewski of Inside Sports if stardom has changed teammate Scottie Pippen.

“Some people can handle it, and some people can’t,” Grant said. “To be honest, Scottie has become arrogant and cocky, but that’s to be expected of people who can’t handle fame and fortune.”

*

Growing pain: From Shaun Powell of the Miami Herald: “Minnesota rookie Christian Laettner doesn’t understand why people make such a big deal over his tendency to be a pain in the lower anatomy.

“ ‘I was this way at Duke,’ he said. ‘People got used to it.’ ”

*

Countdown: From Detroit Manager Sparky Anderson, on the Tigers’ progress in spring training: “We’re getting close to opening day. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.”

*

Role reversal: Jay Leno, on the retirement of Supreme Court Justice Byron White: “That’s kind of ironic, don’t you think? Here’s a guy who was an All-American football star in college. Then when he gets a job, he spends 30 years sitting on a bench.”

*

Trivia answer: Four--University of San Francisco, 1949; Fresno State, 1983; UCLA, 1985, and Stanford, 1991.

*

Quotebook: Danny Ainge of the Phoenix Suns, on Greg Anthony of the New York Knicks: “There’s one guy I wouldn’t want on my team. He’s not even good enough to be dirty.”