Riley Pins Knick Playoff Hopes on Truly Bamboozling Theory

Some philosophy from New York Knick Coach Pat Riley on his team’s goal to win the NBA championship:

“You know how it works with the old Chinese bamboo tree. You plant the seed and it doesn’t grow above ground for 10 years because it’s laying on all its roots.

“Then, all of a sudden it grows 100 feet in the next year.”

Hmm, the old bamboo theory.

Trivia time: What active coach has won the most NCAA championships in a single sport?

Return of the rabbit: Don Baylor, manager of the Colorado Rockies, has his own theory on the juiced ball controversy in the major leagues. Baylor says the game balls are similar to ones used when he played in the Texas League and International League in the late 1960s and early ‘70s.

“They’re rabbit balls,” he said. “I think they might have outlawed those things.”

A new high: Mike Cofer, former San Francisco 49er kicker, after his first major stock car race at Stockton:

“Winning (the NASCAR Southwest Tour race) was a bigger high than kicking any field goal in the NFL.”

Perspective: Buzzie Bavasi, retired Angel executive, told Gordon Edes of the Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel about the time an Angel player made the final out of an inning at third trying to take an extra base.

“What a terrible mistake,” Bavasi said.

A friend beside him replied: “It wasn’t as bad as the one I made.”

The friend was Richard Nixon.

FYI: The USC-UCLA track and field meet, which will be held Saturday at Drake Stadium and include Washington and Brigham Young, has been a streaky series.

The Trojans won the first 33 meets and the Bruins have won the last 15. USC leads in the overall series, 38-22.

Close decision: Michael Moorer, the new heavyweight champion, also excelled in football at Monessen (Pa.) High School. In 1986, he kicked the winning extra point to beat archrival Charleroi High and was also an outstanding linebacker.

News flash: A KFWB report Wednesday, detailing the likelihood that Bruce McNall’s ownership of the Kings will end in the next few days, said the new owners would be “Jeffrey Sudikoff and Joseph Cotten.”

Actor Cotten died Feb. 6. The new owners, should the deal take place, will be Sudikoff and Joseph Cohen.

Nowhere to go: Tom FitzGerald of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that a player for the Rancho Cucamonga team in the California League might be doomed to be a minor leaguer.

His name? Homer Bush.

No charge: Sign in a Chicago gas station: “Cubs Bumper-stickers Removed Here.’

Trivia answer: Al Scates, UCLA men’s volleyball coach, with 14.

Quotebook: Kevin Duckworth, on being traded before the season from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Washington Bullets: “It’s like going from Toys R Us to the little toy store on the corner.”