When It Comes to New Tricks, This Old Dog Has Seen It All

San Jose Sharks Coach Kevin Constantine, who is six months younger than his oldest player, 35-year-old Sergei Makarov, was asked if he had any advice for the veteran right wing. “I don’t say anything to Sergei,” Constantine said. “Number one, there’s nothing that I can tell him that could do any good, and number two, he doesn’t listen to anything I say, anyway.”

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Trivia time: Who holds the Masters record for the lowest 72-hole score?

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Warning: Dennis Rodman of the San Antonio Spurs, on the Seattle SuperSonics, who have the best record in the NBA:

“Seattle is cruising right now, but down the road, they’re going to have a letdown. They’re going to fall at the wrong time.”

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Is that all? The Quebec Nordiques are in fifth place in the Northeast Division of the NHL’s Eastern Conference, and Coach Pierre Page summed up the team:

“No chemistry, no hitting, no board contact, no back-checking, nobody comes to play.”

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Early hype: It’s only April, but college spring football media guides already are identifying Heisman Trophy candidates on their covers.

Examples: UCLA’s J.J Stokes, USC’s Rob Johnson and Stanford’s Steve Stenstrom. Stokes, who placed seventh in the Heisman balloting last year, is the leading returning vote-getter.

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Looking back: The Dallas Cowboys aren’t the only NFL team to lose their coach after a championship season. In 1952, Joe Stydahar was dismissed as Ram coach after one league game.

The L.A. Rams had won their only NFL title in 1951, beating the Cleveland Browns, 24-17, at the Coliseum.

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Biting remark: Boston Red Sox third base coach Gary Allenson, on his impressions of Cleveland:

“On one of our trips to Cleveland last year, I broke one of my teeth biting into a hamburger. We got the Indians to hook me with their team dentist, and the guy filled the wrong tooth.

“What else do you need to know?”

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Augusta anguish: Ian Woosnam of Wales, the 1991 Masters winner, theorizing on why foreign players have won the tournament five of the past six years:

“Every American wants to win the Masters. It’s their ambition. When they come to the stretch, they’re so nervous they tense up.”

Tom Kite disagrees, saying: “I have no clue. Anyone who say they do is blowing smoke.”

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So close: Abe Lemons, former Texas basketball coach, said he came within two strokes of winning a car in a golf tournament:

“It was a hole-in-one contest, and I had a three.”

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Trivia answer: Jack Nicklaus, in 1965, and Raymond Floyd, in 1976, at 271.

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Quotebook: Bob Knight, on the “Coaching Techniques” class he teaches at Indiana: “I have about 80 to 100 kids. I’d say about one-third are girls. I think most of the rest are boys. You can never be sure on a college campus.”