Superman May Be Fiction, but His Contract Is Fact

Not surprisingly, Shaquille O’Neal’s recent blast at former Orlando Magic teammate Nick Anderson did not go over too well in Florida.

“I don’t expect him to apologize, because he’s not a man,” said Anderson, whom O’Neal had characterized as a whiner. “Not only did the Magic cater to him, the league catered to Shaq. They made a monster. Superman is fiction, not fact.”

*

Date to remember: Friday, Dec. 6, when the Magic comes to the Forum.

*

Add Shaq: Wrote Brian Schmitz of the Orlando Sentinel: “ ‘Team’ is a foreign concept to O’Neal, who thought his role began and ended if he led the NBA in scoring. . . . Shaq wouldn’t change his me-first mentality.”

*

Trivia time: The Green Bay Packers have won 11 NFL titles, more than any other team. What is the Wisconsin city’s other claim to fame?

*

Mass in motion: Cecil Fielder weighs 275 pounds, give or take a gram, but when he raced to first base to prevent a double play against the Baltimore Orioles last week, he impressed New York Yankee Manager Joe Torre.

“When he gets that [weight] going in the same direction,” Torre said, “he moves pretty good.”

*

Moving around: When Cardinal pitcher Danny Jackson faced the Atlanta Braves in relief, he joined Colorado Rocky Manager Don Baylor as the only players to appear in the playoffs with five teams. Jackson has played with Kansas City, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. Baylor played with Baltimore, the Angels, Boston, Minnesota and Oakland.

When Jackson was with the Cubs in 1991, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Bob Verdi, “He was injured so often that they dubbed the Wrigley Field whirlpool the ‘USS Jackson.’ ”

*

Jackson’s response: “I’ve been to the playoffs with five different teams. That’s every one I’ve played with except Chicago. What does that mean?”

*

Generation gap: Sharing the tailback position at Michigan State are Duane Goulbourne, a sixth-year player who has already graduated with a degree in food industry management, and Sedrick Irvin, a true freshman.

In 1991, when Goulbourne was a freshman, Irvin was a 13-year-old attending junior high in Miami.

*

Think again: Mark Blaudschun of the Boston Globe on the Atlanta Falcons:

“Maybe Jeff George is smarter than a lot of people think. After all, who wants to play for a team that not only has to play in the same city as the best team in baseball, but also for a football coach [June Jones] named after Beaver Cleaver’s mother?”

*

Trivia answer: It is the toilet-paper capital of the world.

*

And finally: Wayne Fontes takes a lot of heat as coach of the Detroit Lions, but he apparently doesn’t take himself seriously. In talking about a proposed new downtown stadium, Fontes told the Detroit Free Press: “They’re going to call it Fontes Field, but they’re going to put it up with Velcro so they can tear it right down.”