In the CBA, Men Are Men, and Porters Too

Matt Fish, a Continental Basketball Assn. veteran who is on a 10-day contract with the Denver Nuggets, believes that most NBA players are spoiled.

“The CBA is kind of the man’s league, the way I look at it, because these [NBA] guys are babies,” Fish said. “They’re pampered.

“These guys couldn’t believe, when we went to Canada, they actually had to get their own bags and check through an airport. It blew these guys away.

“We always carried our own bags in the CBA. We’re flying coach. A lot of times they’re completely packed and you have no room at all. Here, your uniforms are clean all the time. I had to buy my own socks in the CBA.”

*

Trivia time: Who holds the record for most points in an NCAA basketball championship game?

*

True believer: Goran Ivanisevic, who has made some insulting remarks about women’s tennis, has changed his mind after playing against Martina Hingis and Chanda Rubin.

“They returned my serve like a piece of cake,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. I couldn’t hit an ace. They were returning better than the guys. It was impressive.”

*

On the bubble: Sam Smith of the Chicago Tribune speculating on some NBA coaches whose jobs could be in jeopardy:

Jeff Van Gundy, New York: “Don’t expect the glamour Knicks to keep the guy who looks like the substitute science teacher.”

John Lucas, Philadelphia 76ers: “New ownership means he’s back in the drug-rehab business full time.”

Mike Dunleavy, Milwaukee Bucks: “Could hold on to GM job, but gone as coach.”

*

Don’t be fooled: Greg Maddux has won an unprecedented four consecutive Cy Young Awards, but the Atlanta pitcher is unassuming.

“I don’t look like a baseball player, I look like your average Joe,” he told Ben Walker of the Associated Press. “The only time I look like a baseball player is when I’m on the mound.”

Hitters would agree.

*

Crude club: Scott McCarron, who won his first PGA Tour tournament Sunday in New Orleans, uses a long putter.

He says he made his first one in his garage, sticking it together with chewing gum and weighting it with sand.

*

Anyone for golf? According to figures of the National Golf Foundation in the April edition of Golf Digest, roughly 11.4% of the U.S. population plays the game.

Moreover, according to the NGF, $16 billion is spent on golf every year.

*

Trivia answer: Bill Walton of UCLA, with 44 against Memphis in 1973.

*

Rodman defense: Kevin Paul DuPont in the Boston Globe: “Just think. If NBA refs smartened up and wore helmets, like their NHL brethren, then the head butt Dennis Rodman recently delivered to referee Ted Bernhardt wouldn’t have been the butt heard ‘round the world.”