He’s Definitely Not Neutral on Series Idea

George Vecsey in the New York Times: “The worst sports idea of the year, so far, has been proposed by Jerry Colangelo, the new owner of the future team in the new baseball state of Arizona.

“Colangelo is suggesting the sport move its nearly century-old World Series to a warm-weather neutral site, where corporate weasels, with little allegiance to either team, could play golf and party hard on expense accounts.”

Just like the Super Bowl, huh?

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Trivia time: Name the six coaches who guided their teams to the NCAA Final Four in their first season as head coach.

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Irony: Bill Walton’s basketball-playing son Nathan, 6 feet 8 and still growing, is headed for Princeton, the team that upset UCLA in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

As for UCLA’s defeat, the former Bruin All-American said, “What can I say? Princeton just outplayed them.”

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Same guy? Lonn Reisman, basketball coach and athletic director at Tarleton State in Texas, talking about Dennis Rodman, whom he recruited to Southeastern Oklahoma State when he was an assistant coach:

“Dennis was a very respectful young man. I don’t even remember him getting a technical foul in the three years that he played for me.”

Well, the worm has certainly turned.

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Who goofed? The official major league baseball calendar states that Richie Ashburn of the Philadelphia Phillies hit the first regular-season home run in the Astrodome in 1965. Actually, it was Richie Allen who hit it. Ashburn retired in 1962--from the New York Mets.

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Great exodus? New York Islander forward Pat Conacher, a former King, says Wayne Gretzky’s departure from Los Angeles ultimately could lead to the team leaving too.

“They lost two NFL teams. You’d have to be pretty naive to think they couldn’t lose a hockey team.”

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Crib mystery: Cleveland Indian outfielder Jeromy Burnitz, whose first name is often misspelled, has asked his mother why the “o” isn’t an “e.”

“I think she may have been sedated right after I was born,” he said. “When I ask her, she says she doesn’t know.”

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Bulletin: Did you know there’s an NBA rule that if five or more players leave the bench during an altercation, the players will serve their suspensions alphabetically, according to last names?

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Dis-oriented: New Boston Red Sox slugger Kevin Mitchell on what he learned while playing in Japan: “I didn’t learn nothing. I’ll never take that long of a flight again.”

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FYI: North Carolina holds the NCAA tournament record for fewest points scored, losing to Pittsburgh, 26-20, in an East Regional final game in 1941.

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Trivia answer: Ray Meyer, DePaul, 1943; Gary Thompson, Wichita State, 1965; Denny Crum, Louisville, 1972; Bill Hodges, Indiana State, 1979; Larry Brown, UCLA, 1980, and Steve Fisher, Michigan, 1989.