Pitt Forward Finally Is Able to Get Rid of His Nom de <i> Boom!</i>

A bullet lodged in Pitt forward Orlando Antigua’s head has been surgically removed, and with it the nickname Antigua answered to in his first two years at the Big East school.

Antigua’s teammates called him “Bullethead,” referring to the .22-caliber bullet lodged in his head since he was shot in New York on Halloween in 1988.

The bullet entered Antigua’s head at the temple and lodged near his ear. Doctors had declined to operate then because they thought it was too risky.

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Trivia time: Florida State’s Charlie Ward is favored to win the Heisman Trophy this season. How many players from Florida have been selected in the past?

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The lean look: Hungarian soccer referee Sandor Puhl, on the play of Argentine star Diego Maradona during Sunday’s 1-1 tie with Australia: “He looked completely unfit for a match of this caliber. He never broke out of a mere jog, and when he did, he took a long time to recover. I think he was fitter when he was fatter.”

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Name game: Jake Vinci, one of trainer Bob Baffert’s right-hand men, knew the late owner Col. E.R. Bradley very well. All Bradley’s horses’ names began with the letter B, including one named Bad News.

“Someone asked Bradley why he gave the horse a name with such a negative connotation,” Vinci said. “ ‘Because,’ Bradley answered, ‘bad news travels fast.’ ”

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Last blue line: Before becoming a professional golfer, Bruce Lietzke worked as a security guard after leaving the University of Houston.

“I had a gun in one drawer and bullets in another,” he recalls. “I was Beaumont’s answer to Barney Fife.”

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Father knows best: After Michael Andretti returned home from a disappointing season in Formula One, his father, Mario, called the season “character building.” To which Michael replied: “Then I must be turning into quite a character.”

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What’s in a name? Tampa Bay tight end Tyji Armstrong is named after his mother’s favorite perfume.

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Sun stroke: From columnist Bob Smizik of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: “It’s hard to believe the Angels are thinking of signing Vince Coleman. But any team that would sign (Joe) Magrane for the kind of money the Angels did is capable of anything. Maybe someone should get Angel GM Whitey Herzog out of the sun.”

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All in timing: Pat Riley had the Knicks on the practice floor one minute after midnight the day NBA practice officially began. Asked why, he said: “We want to be the first team on the floor in ’93 and the last one to leave it in ’94.”

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A full plate: Wallace Matthews of Newsday on why heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe might not be as “hungry” as he once was:

“He has socked away more than $11 million, not including the $7-million home he is having built on a $1-million, five-acre plot overlooking the Potomac, on his own street, Riddick Bowe Court.

“He has five luxury cars, his own movie theater, a bed bigger than the room he grew up in. Kitchens all over the place, even in the master bedroom. No wonder the guy goes up to 300 pounds between fights.”

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Trivia answer: Three, Steve Spurrier of Florida in 1966, Vinny Testaverde of Miami in 1986 and Gino Torretta of Miami in 1992.

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Quotebook: Michael Jordan, after practicing with the Chicago Bulls on Monday: “I was out of shape. It felt good, but I didn’t miss it.”