If This Sailor Makes the Cut, Husband Will Have to Baby-Sit

Bill Koch, who spent $60 million to shake up the staid yachting world with his 1992 America’s Cup victory, plans a new twist for his title defense in San Diego next year: the first all-women team in the 142-year history of the race.

Koch said the women don’t need to be experienced sailors. He said he wants good athletes with the right attitude who can be trained to handle a boat. Lynne J. Shore is one who will make an effort. If she is chosen, it will bring another little twist to the team. Her husband worked with Koch on the 1992 effort while she stayed home with the kids in Newport, R.I.

“This time, there’s a little role reversal,” she said. “He’ll appreciate me a little more.”

Add America’s Cup: PACT 95 syndicate skipper Kevin Mahaney, commenting on Koch’s lavish press conference at the New York Plaza: “He spent more on that than we’ll spend on our entire compound.”

Trivia time: Gene Tunney was Ring magazine’s first fighter of the year in 1928. Who has been selected the most times?

Does Bo hold a grudge? : Bo Schembechler, who was fired when Mike Ilitch bought the Detroit Tigers, showed up at Port Charlotte, Fla., for the Tigers’ exhibition against the Texas Rangers. After visiting with old friends before the game, Bo sat in the Rangers’ dugout.

“No! I’m not mad at anybody. It’s just shady over here, that’s all,” Schembechler said.

Worse than a shank: PGA Tour golfers would do better sticking to the fairways and staying away from the snow.

Mark Wiebe will be sidelined at least six weeks recovering from a broken shoulder suffered in a Colorado skiing accident.

Last week, Phil Mickelson broke a leg skiing in Arizona.

Hometown hero: When Tony Smith scored a career-high 25 points and had 10 rebounds in a 106-84 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, it was doubly pleasing to the Laker guard. He had played at Milwaukee’s Wauwatosa East High and Marquette.

Babe’s memorabilia: The bat Babe Ruth used to hit his 56th home run in 1921 will be auctioned by Sotheby’s April 9 in New York. The auction house estimates the bat’s worth at $40,000 to $50,000. Ruth sent the bat to a Boston booking agent and it was displayed for years in B.F. Keith’s Theater.

Late bloomer: Merle Ball didn’t take up golf until he was 65 and retired, but once he got the bug he played so much he was named Golf Nut of the Year by the Golf Nut Society of America.

Now 74, he earned the accolade by playing golf in all 50 states in 51 days, plus playing 220 holes in one day at the Sun ‘N Lake course in Sebring, Fla.--110 holes right-handed and 110 as a lefty.

Overheated: Ball Night at Miami Arena for a Heat-Boston Celtic game ended up a fiasco in the fourth quarter when fans showered the court with several dozen palm-sized souvenir basketballs given out before the game.

Said Boston’s Sherman Douglas: “I guess they won’t have Ball Night anymore. Lord knows they won’t have Bat Night.”

Trivia answer: Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, once as Clay, four times as Ali. Joe Louis was named four times.

Quotebook: The Philadelphia Phillies’ Lenny Dykstra: “I always did know I was different from everybody else. I just was. Still am.”