Hall of Fame Is a Longshot, Says Laimbeer

Is Bill Laimbeer a viable candidate for the NBA Hall of Fame?

Maybe so. Only 19 players have scored more than 10,000 points and had more than 10,000 rebounds, and he’s one of them.

The former Detroit Pistons’ bad boy from Palos Verdes is philosophical about his chances.

“I always tell everybody that my chances are probably slim because of my personality,” he said. “But I also understand that a lot of people in the league absolutely respect the way I competed. . . . They’re going to look back at that and say, ‘He was a winner and he competed his butt off.’ ”

Trivia time: What major sporting event will occur one month from today?

The Black look: Teal may be a popular marketing color, as the San Jose Sharks have proved, but black is the predominant uniform color in the NHL these days.

Seven teams use black as their primary color: the Kings, Dallas Stars, Vancouver Canucks, Ottawa Senators, Boston Bruins, Pittsburgh Penguins and Tampa Bay Lightning.

Long distance: Calvin Curry has made so many three-point shots from long range for Oklahoma this season that Sooner Coach Billy Tubbs has invented a statistic for him.

“We’re going to go with total footage,” Tubbs said.

Change of scenery: Rather than the hardwood court for a Knick game or ice for a Ranger game, there was an unusual surface covering the floor at Madison Square Garden last weekend--sand. The Garden was the site of the Indoor Beach Volleyball Championships.

Wrong sport? Maybe the Philadelphia Phillies should switch to basketball. They have 11 players 6 feet 4 or taller in spring training. One of them is a basketball player--Bobby Munoz, who played on Puerto Rico’s Olympic team.

Charlie Versatile: If Michael Jordan can do it, why not Charlie Ward?

Ward, winner of last season’s Heisman Trophy as the nation’s outstanding college football player and now a starter for Florida State’s basketball team, will take a shot at playing baseball.

Ward plans to make a cameo appearance for the Seminoles during a home game against North Carolina Asheville later this month. “I’ll be fine,” Ward said, “as long as they don’t throw a curveball.”

Tough times: The 1994 British Milk Race, once considered one of bicycle racing’s most prestigious road racing events, has been canceled after the sport’s national governing body said it was unable to find a sponsor.

Trivia answer: The major league baseball season will start with the St. Louis Cardinals playing the Reds at Cincinnati.

Quotebook: Ilie Nastase, on the current state of tennis: “Everyone today plays the same way, very dull. It is a pity there are no characters like John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors or, maybe, Ilie Nastase today.”