Holmes Takes Tour of Country Courtesy of CBA Trade Winds

Continental Basketball Assn. player Kermit Holmes was certainly a man on the move Thursday as he was traded four times.

It all started when Holmes was traded from the Columbus Horizon to the Rochester Renegade for a third-round draft pick and future considerations.

Then the Renegades sent the 6-foot-7 forward from the University of Oklahoma to the Hartford Hellcats for guard James Martin. Hartford got into the act by trading him to the Rapid City Thrillers for a fourth-round draft pick. The Thrillers then dealt him to the Oklahoma City Cavalry for guard Dell Demps and a sixth-round pick.

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Vice squad: Dan Quayle almost rode sidesaddle to the richest race horse of all time.

The owners of Alysheba, inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Thursday, said the star thoroughbred caught the eye of former President George Bush in 1988.

At the Breeders’ Cup on Nov. 5, 1988, a fan hung a banner reading, “Alysheba For President,” which was discovered by television cameras and flashed across the country.

A few days later, thoroughbred owners Clarence and Dorothy Scharbauer decided to stand Alysheba at Land’s End Farm in Versailles, Ky. When they called Land’s End owner Will Farish to let him know, who should be visiting Farish but President-elect Bush.

Bush got on the phone, Scharbauer said, and told him, “ ‘By the way, Clarence, I saw that banner on television the other night. He sure would have made a good running mate, wouldn’t he?’ ”

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Trivia time: Who are the six former No. 1 draft picks in the Miami Dolphins’ offense?

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Hard-core fans: Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News has come up with his own word for fans who panic when the San Francisco Giants lose. He calls them Giantaholics, people who take one defeat and mentally intoxicate their brain into an irrational state. “You automatically qualify if you are a Bay Area resident who can’t watch the Giants lose a game without picking up a phone and yelling to a friend and/or radio talk show: ‘The sky is falling! The foghorn is choking! The lead is only eight games.’ ”

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No questions asked: Holdouts are nothing new to NFL training camps, and Frank Luksa of the Dallas Morning News said the media should view this as part of the game. Tired of the controversy surrounding Dallas Cowboy running back Emmitt Smith, who is seeking a richer contract, Luksa thinks a news blackout should be enforced.

He wrote: “No more of he said, they say, they’re talking, no they aren’t, a settlement is near, he’s dug in, they won’t budge, who’ll replace him and the gloomy sense there’ll never be peace in our time.”

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Communication breakdown: The Phoenix Cardinals thought they had a real find in Eduardo Gonzalez, a 28-year-old rookie quarterback from Mexico. After hearing about this versatile player, team officials extended him an invitation to training camp through the Mexican Consulate. “He could throw, and he could run around,” said Cardinal General Manager Larry Wilson.

The only problem is he doesn’t speak English, and they can’t put an interpreter in the huddle with him to call plays.

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Trivia answer: Quarterback Dan Marino, running back Bobby Humphrey, wide receivers Irving Fryar and Mark Ingram, tight end Keith Jackson and tackle Richmond Webb.

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Quotebook: Jim Irsay, general manager of the Indianapolis Colts, on the likelihood of trading quarterback Jeff George: “There will be no trade, he will not be traded, a trade’s not a possibility, we won’t consider that, no way in hell. Find me another way, and I’ll say it that way, too.”