Soccer Game Sounds Like Kick in Head

French soccer star Eric Cantona was sentenced to 120 hours of community service by a British court and suspended by soccer authorities for going into the stands during a league game in Great Britain and attacking a taunting fan with a martial arts kick.

Now a company is producing a video game based on that episode. It is called “Fever Pitch Soccer” and subtitled “Bringing the Game Into Disrepute.”

The game involves players fouling each other, with advertising billboards showing a Cantona look-alike jumping over a barrier and threatening a fan with the words: “Parlez-vous kung fu?”

The game’s slogan: “You’re going home in an ambulance.”

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Trivia time: What is the average cost of a single berry in the traditional strawberries and cream served at Wimbledon?

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Fashion report: The Houston Rockets won their second consecutive NBA championship wearing red and yellow uniforms designed 23 years ago, but they will have a new look next season. The Rockets recently unveiled their futuristic-looking midnight blue, red and silver outfits.

They even have a revamped logo--a rocket ship with teeth orbiting a basketball that has the word Rockets in bold lettering extended across it.

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Add new uniforms: Russian cosmonaut Anatoly Solovyev was given a T-shirt with the new Rocket logo by Commander Robert L. (Hoot) Gibson of space shuttle Atlantis during a ceremony to mark the end of the docked flight of Atlantis and Mir.

“It turns out he’s a very big fan of the Rockets,” Gibson said.

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Some pitch: Bret Saberhagen of the New York Mets might be one of the best pitchers in baseball, but he is not much as a salesman for the game. This is how he assesses his team:

“I keep wondering why there are no people in the stands. But with the way we’re playing, I wouldn’t want to come to the ballpark. If I were going to pay to see a baseball game, I’d pay to watch a good team.”

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Another man’s view: Columnist Furman Bisher of the Atlanta Journal writes about the current state of the game:

“I’m doing my darndest to like, or rather, be tolerant of the baseball season we have upon us. It isn’t the same, and don’t let any feather merchant try to convince you it is. It’s not the same, from clubhouse to field manners.

“Players are treading softly. Fans are viewing warily. They aren’t softening up. If anything, what comes through the mail and over the air tells me that they’re as bitter as ever. Players haven’t yet wised up to the damage their walkout has done.”

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What good will? What was advertised as a goodwill all-star football game between high school teams from Hawaii and Nevada came to an early end when it turned into a bench-clearing brawl at Las Vegas High stadium.

It took the combined efforts of police, security officers, coaches and others to stop the fighting that erupted when a Hawaii player made a late hit. The game was called off with 10:43 to play in the half and Hawaii leading, 14-0.

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Trivia answer: 28 cents.

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Quotebook: Florida Marlin Terry Pendleton on pressure in the batter’s box: “When the game’s on the line, I don’t want anyone at bat but me. I live for situations like that.”