This Surface Required Many Ball Changes

The United States will play in India in next year’s opening round of the Davis Cup, which prompted American captain Tom Gullikson to remember what it was like when he played in India years ago.

They didn’t play on grass or concrete or clay. They played on cow dung.

“I’m from Wisconsin, so there was a little bit of that in the pastures, but we never played tennis on it,” Gullikson said.

So what were those tournaments like in India?

“There was a cow sitting in the back in case they needed to fill in the low spots,” Gullikson joked.

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Trivia time: Who was Notre Dame’s first consensus All-American in football?

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Recommended reading: A. R. Tays of the Atlanta Constitution, after reviewing the book, “Talkin’ Trash: Basketball’s Greatest Insults,” (paperback, Fireside Books, $10), wrote: “I think I’d rather spend the 10 bucks on toilet paper.”

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You talkin’ to me? Said Notre Dame defensive end Jim Flanigan, asked his favorite pregame ritual: “To watch ‘Taxi Driver.’ ”

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Overpriced? Barry Melrose, the Kings’ coach, says $10 is too much for the duck calls being sold at the Mighty Ducks’ games in Anaheim.

“You can get the same duck call at Beaton’s hardware in Kelvington, Saskatchewan, for 89 cents, and they work just as well,” he said.

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The big time: Dino Radja, a Boston Celtic rookie from Yugoslavia, on playing in his first NBA exhibition game: “I felt like a little kid in a cage of lions.”

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Just kidding: Mario Andretti, on his Newman-Haas teammate, Nigel Mansell, a lifetime road racer on the Formula One circuit: “When Nigel gets the hang of the oval tracks, he’ll be a pretty decent Indy car driver.”

Mansell won the last four oval races en route to the Indy car championship.

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Different strokes: Philadelphia fans, infamous for their abusive behavior--they once booed Santa Claus and later chastised the Easter Bunny at Veterans Stadium--still are much better than San Diego fans, according to Phillie relief pitcher Larry Andersen, who has pitched in both cities.

“That’s definitely not a baseball town,” Andersen said of San Diego. “It’s more of a beach ball town. They use more beach balls during a game in San Diego than baseballs.”

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Like father . . . : “I had nothing to lose,” Damon Hill said after a Formula One race in which he finished toward the rear. “I knew I had no chance of catching the leaders, but I had a nice race from the back. My father once told me you meet a nicer class of people at the back of the pack.”

Hill’s father, the late Graham Hill, won the world driving title twice.

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All in the family: There are 28 players named Williams on NFL rosters. Jim Jenkins of the Sacramento Bee notes that if you fudge a little and include 49er quarterback Bill (William) Musgrave, there is at least one Williams for every position on the field, offense and defense.

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Trivia answer: Quarterback Gus Dorais, 1913.

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Quotebook: Charles Barkley, in Germany for an exhibition game, after trying unsuccessfully most of the night to find the World Series on TV: “It shouldn’t be called the World Series if everybody can’t watch it. Maybe they should call it the almost World Series.”