For Baltimore, There’s Nothing in Its Nickname

It doesn’t matter to the players on Baltimore’s first-year Canadian Football League franchise that the team doesn’t have a nickname.

“To be the team with no name, that sounds pretty good,” nose tackle Jerald Baylis said. “Maybe we’ll go through the whole season with no name and get more recognition for the city of Baltimore.”

The former NFL Baltimore Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984. A lawsuit charging trademark infringement was filed against the new CFL team by the NFL, NFL Properties, Inc., and the Indianapolis Colts, when the new CFL team announced it, too, would be the Colts.

But a federal judge in Indianapolis last month stripped the Baltimore team of the moniker “CFL Colts.”

Baltimore opens its season tonight at Toronto.

Trivia time: Who is the only running back in NCAA history to average more than 10 yards every carry for an entire season with more than 75 carries?

Tough Torrey: Most professional golfers will tell you that one of the most difficult holes in the country is the sixth on the North Course of the Torrey Pines complex in San Diego. Statistically, it was the most difficult for the 1993 PGA Tour season. The 190-yard, par-three hole played to a scoring average of 3.576.

Overall, the South Course at Torrey Pines was the toughest 18 on the tour last year.

Musical team: There was a musical touch to the men’s and women’s basketball teams at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pa.

Before each home game for the women’s team, forward Kelly Mazza led the audience in “The Star Spangled Banner.” Before each men’s game, guard David Masciola played the national anthem on his trumpet.

Message received: Professional motorcycle racer Carlos Giro crashed 32 times during the 1993 world championship season and the early part of this one. Last week the Spanish rider decided to call it quits, citing “mental problems.”

Refreshing outlook: Some players say they would rather have three days off than play in the All-Star game, but not Carlos Garcia of Pittsburgh, one of two backup second basemen on the National League squad.

“I almost started crying when Jim (Leyland, the Pirates’ manager) told me I’m an all-star,” Garcia said. “I can’t tell you how special it is.”

Confident kid: Point guard Jason Kidd, who left California after his sophomore year and was drafted No. 2 by Dallas, has high expectations for his NBA debut.

“I want to be in the top five in the league in steals and assists and for the team to double its number of victories,” he said. “I think we can be a playoff team. That’s a bold prediction, but I’m going to stick with it.”

Trivia answer: Glenn Davis, Army, 1945, with 944 yards in 82 carries for an 11.5 average.

Quotebook: Mookie Wilson, on the troubled careers of former New York Met teammates Darryl Strawberry and Doc Gooden: “I see both of them coming back, but coming back to what? None of us come back to what we were. And in the case of these two guys, they weren’t where they were when they left.”