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Extra! Extra! Boston Writer Likes Celtics Best!

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Bob Ryan isn’t ready to declare the Chicago Bulls the greatest NBA team of all time. In fact, he ranks them only fifth.

“The best basketball I’ve ever seen in my life was played by the 1985-86 Celtics at their best. No team ever had more weapons, which is why they would win any seven-game series against anyone.”

By the way, Ryan writes for the Boston Globe, so his opinion could be slightly slanted.

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Trivia time: Who are the only men’s tennis players to win NCAA and U.S. Open singles titles in the same year?

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Hold the catsup: Mark McDonald in the Dallas Morning News: “Let’s hope the caldron at the Olympic Stadium, the one that will hold the Olympic flame, is a work in progress. Right now, it has a kind of Erector-set base; the caldron itself looks like a McDonald’s French fries cup.”

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Penny pincher: Phil Collier in the San Diego Union-Tribune: “Honest to goodness, the Sporting News claims that [Marge] Schott effected a savings of $5 a month by having three pay phones removed from the Riverfront Stadium press box before baseball forced her into exile.”

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Rationalization: Scott Ostler in the San Francisco Chronicle: “If Ted Kaczynski had been a baseball player, the Players Association would cry out for his release. ‘OK, he sent a few little bombs, but he always used the proper ZIP code.’ ”

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Out of sight: Cincinnati Red outfielder Eric Davis after collecting his 1,000th career hit: “Only 2,000 more to catch Pete Rose. To do that, I’d have to limp to the plate and hit with a cane.”

Actually, Davis is more than 3,000 hits behind Rose, who had 4,256.

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Double analysis: John Godina, former UCLA weightman, on qualifying for the Olympics in the shotput and discus:

“They are two completely different events. The discus is more artistic. There’s a lot more to it, a lot that can go wrong. The shot is power and fun. Just turn and rip it.”

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Lively fish: Sparky Anderson, former Detroit Tiger manager, on volatile Chicago White Sox outfielder Tony Phillips:

“He gets carried away sometimes. But to me, that’s good. . . . I’ve seen too many dead fish in my career. I’d rather see [a player like him] than a dead fish.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1948, Joe Louis knocked out Jersey Joe Walcott in the 11th round in New York to successfully defend his heavyweight title.

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Trivia answer: Don McNeill of Kenyon College in 1940, and Ted Schroeder of Stanford in 1942.

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And finally: John Russell, Buster Douglas’ trainer, commenting on the fighter’s comeback:

“I think if we fought Mike Tyson 10 times, we’d beat him 10 times. I want to see him [Douglas] knock Mike Tyson on his butt again.”

Where do you get that “we” stuff, John?

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