This Valley Guy Totally Down on L.A., for Sure

In an interview in the Denver Post, it was suggested to Colorado Rocky pitcher Bret Saberhagen, a former Met, that he has become a New Yorker even though he’s a native Californian.

“I like New York. I’ve got a home out on Long Island. That’s where I’m going to be when I quit playing,” said Saberhagen, who commented on the changes in Los Angeles since his days at Cleveland High in Reseda.

“It’s not the same as when I was growing up. If it fell into the ocean, I wouldn’t care.”

No doubt about it. Saberhagen is a New Yorker.

Trivia time: Which is the only school to win the NCAA men’s basketball championship one season and not play basketball the next?

Coping: Asked by New York cable television interviewer Ann Liguori if he hates New York because of the negative press there, former Met Bobby Bonilla, now with the Baltimore Orioles, said:

“There’s this mystique with the New York media--sort of like they’re going to do whatever they want because everyone believes it’s the toughest city as far as the media goes--if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. They try to live off that reputation at all costs. Once you understand them, it’s really no big deal.”

Don’t hold back: Some thoughts from the Washington Post’s Tony Kornheiser on the first weekend of the NCAA tournament:

“Purdue is the biggest choking dog team in the worst choking dog conference. Every year Purdue goes paws up early. Purdue couldn’t have been a shakier No. 1 seed if it played its home games on the San Andreas fault.”

Power position: Gov. Christine Todd Whitman is being courted by such Republican leaders as Bob Dole and Newt Gingrich--not for her political clout as New Jersey’s chief executive, but for her stash of tickets to the NCAA’s Final Four games.

As usual, tickets to the popular event in East Rutherford have been nearly impossible to obtain.

Long-road games: When the third-place Pacific 10 Conference team plays in the Haka Bowl in Auckland, New Zealand, on Dec. 27, it won’t be the first time a Pac-10 team has crossed the international dateline to play a football game.

The Mirage Bowl in Tokyo in the 1980s involved Pac-10 teams, including USC and UCLA.

Sink or swim: Charles Barkley on the New York Knicks’ hiring of Coach Jeff Van Gundy: “They told him, ‘We’ve got good news for you, Van Gundy. We’re giving you a boat. It’s called the Titanic.’ ”

Familiar scenario: Headline in the Indianapolis Star after top-seeded Purdue lost to Georgia in the second round of the NCAA West Regional tournament: “Curses! Boiled Again.”

FYI: Kansas City, Mo., has been the site of 98 NCAA tournament games, the most of any city.

Trivia answer: Wyoming. After winning the 1943 national championship, the Cowboys dropped basketball for a season because of World War II.