Do You Think He May Regret This Later?

Grant Hill didn’t enjoy his Olympic Games experience in Atlanta this summer.

“At times, I felt like I was the most mature guy there,” said the 24-year-old Detroit Piston star. “Every last one of the guys on the Dream Team felt they were the best players in the world. I came away from that more grown up, with less respect for them as players and as people.”

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Trivia time: How many former Los Angeles Ram players are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

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Catchy: While researching for a book, journalist Roy McHugh discovered some interesting 1909 sports-page headlines in the Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh. A sampling:

--Harvard and Cornell Have Not Played for Years.

--Fred Clarke and Leach Are Wonderful Hitters.

--(Babe) Adams’ Record During Season Was a Good One.

Now why can’t newspapers today come up with such clever headlines?

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Perspective: Tom Lehman won the Vardon Trophy on the PGA Tour this year with a scoring average of 69.32. Ben Hogan was the Vardon winner in 1948 with an average of 69.30, while not benefiting from vastly improved clubs and playing on courses that aren’t as well manicured as they are today.

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Makes sense: From David Letterman: “So I’m watching the [World Series] game last night and they’re talking about the New York Yankees having one of the strongest benches in baseball. And I’m thinking, well, they’d have to have a strong bench to support Don Zimmer and Cecil Fielder.”

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Quick with a lip: Brendan Shanahan, who was recently traded by the St. Louis Blues to the Detroit Red Wings, has claimed to be an accomplished saxophonist.

An ESPN crew once brought a saxophone to a game in St. Louis, but Shanahan--who couldn’t really play the instrument--begged off by saying: “No sax on game days.”

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Return of the jerk: Brett Hull of the Blues is fed up with his early-season performance and intends to do something about it.

“I’m going back to playing the way I always have--it’s kind of important to be a jerk out there.”

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Looking back: On this day in 1948, Sammy Baugh of Washington passed for 446 yards and four touchdowns and Dan Sandifer had four interceptions as the Redskins defeated the Boston Yanks, 56-21.

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Trivia answer: Ten--Tom Fears, Elroy Hirsch, Deacon Jones, Dick “Night Train” Lane, Ollie Matson, Joe Namath, Merlin Olsen, Andy Robustelli, Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield.

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And finally: A remark in an earlier exhibition game may have led to the altercation that got the New York Knicks’ Charles Oakley suspended for two league games and the Houston Rockets’ Charles Barkley suspended for one.

As he ran by the press table at Madison Square Garden in that game, Barkley shouted that he couldn’t believe the Knicks had “59-year-old Charles Oakley” guarding him.