Hey, Nobody’s Perfect--With One Exception

Six coaches have come and five have gone at UCLA since John Wooden retired in 1975 after his 10th NCAA championship in 12 years, but the pressure remains in Westwood. Even though Jim Harrick’s current Bruins are Pacific 10 champions and were the first team to qualify for the NCAA tournament, he feels he can’t rest easy.

“There’s been 30-0 teams here, so 23-2 teams don’t mean much,” Harrick said of the season.

Wooden had four 30-0 season.

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Add UCLA: Arizona’s Lute Olson, who coached one season at Long Beach State, said he has a lot of empathy for Harrick.

“I was coaching in the Los Angeles area for 12 years when John Wooden was winning at UCLA, and even then the fans and the media were complaining that the Bruins weren’t winning big enough. It’s a tough market to please.”

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Trivia time: What was UCLA’s record in John Wooden’s first year as head coach?

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The name game: Jeff Gillooly, notorious former husband of figure skater Tonya Harding, probably didn’t expect such a ruckus when he decided to change his name to attain at least some level of anonymity.

According to Bob Baum of the Associated Press, Mayor Jeff Stone of Temecula didn’t like Gillooly’s plan. Neither did the Jeff Stone who works for NASA’s Mission Control.

Even Paul Peterson, who played Jeff Stone on the old “Donna Reed Show” on television, showed up to fight Gillooly’s attempt to change his name to Jeff Stone.

In the end, though, Portland District Judge Dale Koch decided that Gillooly could become Jeff Stone.

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Replacement baseball: Milwaukee Brewer first baseman Bo Dodson, who was conspicuous in his absence from Monday’s game against the Seattle Mariners, had three hits Tuesday. Seems Dodson thought Monday’s game was rained out, so he went and got a haircut.

Heavy thinking: Is Riddick Bowe looking past his title fight with World Boxing Organization heavyweight champion Herbie Hide on Saturday in Las Vegas to a confrontation with Mike Tyson? Hide thinks so.

“I think Bowe is overlooking me,” Hide said. “I think he feels there is no other place to go. He needs a belt. He says, ‘I’ll just go get Herbie’s belt.’ ”

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Men at the top: Last year, the Birmingham Barons had Michael Jordan in the outfield. This season they might have Bobby Knight and Bill Parcells in the ownership box.

Baron President Bill Hardekopf said Knight, the Indiana basketball coach, and Parcells, the coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots, are part of a group interested in purchasing the double-A affiliate of the Chicago White Sox.

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Looking ahead: Tired of baseball already, football fans? Take heart, the Pro Football Hall of Fame game is less than five months away. The Carolina Panthers will face the Jacksonville Jaguars in the first game for the expansion teams on July 29.

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Trivia answer: 22-7 in 1948-49.

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Quotebook: Hall of Fame slugger Ted Williams: “I think Willie Mays is the greatest athlete who ever lived. You have to play more than one sport to be great, and I think he could have been a great football player.”