He Was Called Ernie ‘No D’ for a Reason

Phil Jackman in the Baltimore Sun: “Good guy Bob Weiss, who has spent a generation as a player, coach and assistant coach in the NBA, told the New York Post: ‘John Stockton’s great, but the most exciting passer I’ve ever seen is Ernie DiGregorio.’

“ ‘I don’t know if I could call him the best, but for sheer entertainment, no one could touch him. He could back-door you from 40 feet away with a behind-the-back pass.’ ”

At the other end of the court, however, he was known as Ernie No-D.

Trivia time: Who holds the NBA All-Star game record for most points in a game?

Back to basics: Don Nelson, Golden State Warrior coach, on Dominique Wilkins, who has said he didn’t enjoy playing for Nelson on Dream Team II:

“I asked him to do some things that were difficult for him to do--like run back on defense and pass.”

Hear ye, hear ye: Mike Royko in the Chicago Tribune on the baseball strike: “This is a fine opportunity for President Clinton to demonstrate strong leadership. He can tell the nation and the world that if other countries can survive famine, devastating earthquakes, terrible civil wars and revolution, this nation, under God, of the people, by the people and for the people, can endure a few months without spitting and crotch scratching.”

Medical marvel: Dick Motta, veteran NBA coach, in Inside Sports on Elvin Hayes: “He loved the game. If you cut his head open and looked in it, there would be little basketballs bouncing all over.”

Financial note: Tom Weir in USA Today: “Contrary to popular opinion, baseball players aren’t the most overpaid people in sports.

“Or didn’t you notice that mediator Bill Usery was getting a hefty $120,000 a month to bat .000 while advancing the talks absolutely nowhere?”

Come again?Charles Barkley, sounding like an NBA version of Yogi Berra, while commenting on sports-talk radio:

“I don’t like shows where one guy says something positive and one says something negative. You can’t win if you have one saying something stupid and the other saying something stupid.”

Viewpoint: Peter Gammons in the Boston Globe: “When H.L. Mencken said, ‘You’ll never go broke underestimating the American public,’ little did we realize that it would become the official motto of the baseball owners.”

Check it out: From “Great Moments & Dubious Achievements in Golf History”: Dr. Alcorn of Wentworth Falls, Australia, was playing the ninth hole of the Leura Golf Club in Wentworth in 1928.

He hit his second shot just as a player on the other side of the fairway hit his approach shot. The two balls collided in the air and both fell into the cup for the only double birdie in golf history.

Trivia answer: Wilt Chamberlain, with 42 points in the 1962 game.

Quotebook: Greg Kite, seldom-used backup center for the New York Knicks: “I’m like the Maytag repairman--always ready but never called.”