Journeyman Goes Psycho Over Taunt

In his book “Calling the Shots,” former referee Earl Strom recalls the antics of Wendell Ladner, who played for Memphis, among other teams, in the old American Basketball Assn.

“Wendell loved to pound on Rick Barry,” Strom writes. “One night, Barry called him a psycho. When Babe (Coach McCarthy) took Wendell out of a game, he asked the ball boy, ‘What’s a psycho?’

“The ball boy told him to forget it, it wasn’t important. Wendell got upset and ordered the ball boy to go get a dictionary from one of the writers.

“He tried to look it up under C and S and was getting hotter all the while. Finally the ball boy found it and read it to him. Wendell leaped off the bench, ran out onto the court and punched Barry right on the button.”

Trivia time: What is the largest crowd ever to see a Ram home game?

Scolding: Don Cherry, Canada’s outspoken NHL television analyst: “I say what is right. Even when I give the players heck, they know they deserve heck. There’s no ill feelings towards me because they know they deserve it.”

Don’t count on it, Don.

Clip and save: Purdue’s Glenn Robinson is destined to be a franchise player in the NBA, according to Indiana Pacer General Manager Donnie Walsh.

“No one will be able to stop him,” Walsh said. “When Shaquille O’Neal was in college, I said the league wasn’t ready for him. I feel the same way about Robinson.”

FYI: When the Rams moved to Los Angeles from Cleveland in 1946, they shared the Coliseum with the Dons of the newly formed All-America Football Conference.

The Rams averaged 38,700 in attendance in 1946.

Excavation job: George Foreman, on Mike Tyson: “He’s not all that bad. If you dig deep--dig real deep, dig, dig, dig, dig, go all the way to China--I’m sure you’ll find there’s a nice guy in there.”

Logic?Abe Lemons, former University of Texas basketball coach, on why he hated to set rules:

“If I make a set of rules, then a guy goes out and steals an airplane. He comes back and says, ‘It wasn’t on the list of rules.’ ”

Time for a tune-up?Dusty Baker, San Francisco Giant manager, on Barry Bonds, who had been in a hitting slump before he was injured on Wednesday:

“Part of it is his timing is off. If you have a Volkswagen and the timing is off, it still runs OK. If it’s a Ferrari and the timing is off, it runs like a tractor.”

Trivia answer: A 1957 game against the San Francisco 49ers drew 102,368 at the Coliseum.

Quotebook: Hall of Famer Ernie Banks: “My ultimate dream is to have my own bank, maybe in Paris. I’d call it Banks’ Bank on the Left Bank.”