It’s Always Darkest Before the Storm

Here are some more gems from Henry Beard’s “Mulligan’s Laws,” purportedly promulgated by the man who invented golf’s do-over shot:

--It’s often necessary to hit a second drive to really appreciate the first one.

--Your straightest iron shot of the day will be exactly one club short.

--If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a much earlier age.

--It’s as easy to lower your handicap as it is to lower your hat size.

--Golfers who claim they never cheat also lie.

--The only way to find a ball sliced deep into the woods is to hit a provisional, 260 yards down the middle of the fairway.

--The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas about the golf swing.

--No matter how badly you’re playing, it’s always possible to play worse.

Trivia time: Who was the pitcher when Robin Yount hit his last home run?

Last call: In his book, “Calling The Shots, My Five Decades in the NBA,” Earl Strom recalls Pat Kennedy, a colorful referee in the early days of the league.

“In those days,” writes Strom in collaboration with Blaine Johnson, “games were absolute rodeos, impossible to control. But Kennedy was so outlandish, he stole the show.

“There was a time, though, when Kennedy was left speechless. Lester Harrison was coach and owner of the Rochester Royals. A Royal hit a jumper and was fouled. As Kennedy blew his whistle, he was bumped, breaking off a piece of the whistle. It got stuck in Kennedy’s throat and he collapsed on the floor, fighting for air. Lester ran out onto the court, got down on his hands and knees right over the stricken Kennedy and said, ‘Pat, Pat, before you die, tell ‘em the basket counted.’ ”

Add Strom: Now 66, Strom, one of the best and most colorful referees, recently underwent four hours of surgery for a malignant brain tumor, and is taking radiation treatments.

“He pulled through the surgery probably better than anyone his age could’ve hoped to come through it,” said his wife, Yvonne.

Along for the ride: Carlos Leon, who presses shirts for a North Miami dry cleaners, needed to get off work, so he said he had a doctor’s appointment.

The “appointment” was to ride a horse at Gulfstream Park last Monday. He climbed aboard 25-1 shot Stormy Lord and won the race--his first victory as a jockey.

“I just started learning to ride last year,” the 30-year-old Peruvian said. “It’s a nice feeling.”

A first-time rider can’t carry a whip, but Stormy Lord won by 1 1/2 lengths.

Was his boss angry? “No, I think it’s fantastic,” the boss replied.

In his two previous races, Stormy Lord had lost by a combined 40 lengths.

Hair-owing: Sterling Marlin ended a victory drought of 17 years by winning the Daytona 500 last Sunday, prompting an Atlanta Constitution reporter to write:

“We won’t ever mention the day in Bristol, Tenn., a couple of years ago when Sterling was contending, got in a fiery wreck, suffered some painful burns and ended another frustrating day by having to stomp out his smoldering toupee.”

Trivia answer: Mark Langston of the Angels, on Aug. 19, 1993.

Quotebook: Kevin Johnson of the Phoenix Suns: “It must be scary to the rest of the league for us to have our players returning, especially a fresh Charles Barkley.”