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Grand Slam Now Merely Breakfast at Denny’s

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Sweden’s Stefan Edberg, who has won nine Grand Slam tennis titles, is retiring at the ripe old age of 31.

So what’s he going to do?

For the record:

12:00 a.m. Feb. 19, 1997 THE INSIDE TRACK MORNING BRIEFING By MAL FLORENCE
Los Angeles Times Wednesday February 19, 1997 Home Edition Sports Part C Page 2 Sports Desk 1 inches; 24 words Type of Material: Column; Correction
For the record: Kevin McHale was given an inadvertent promotion in Monday’s Morning Briefing. He is a vice president with the Minnesota Timberwolves, not the president.
--MAL FLORENCE

“I can just be at home,” he said. “There’s always things to do around the house. I can sit down in the afternoon and have coffee and cake. I might take up golf and try to get better.

“I can walk out of my house every day, and just do whatever I want.”

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Trivia time: Who was the first boxer to simultaneously hold three world titles?

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Frustration: Seattle SuperSonic guard Craig Ehlo didn’t fare any better as a movie critic against Michael Jordan, his longtime nemesis, in a recent game against the Chicago Bulls.

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“I told him I didn’t like his movie [Space Jam], wanted my money back and wasn’t going to buy his cologne,” Ehlo said. “Jordan just laughed and then went down and drilled another jump shot.”

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Come again? Nate Archibald, former NBA standout player, talking about Utah Jazz guard John Stockton: ‘It’s amazing that such a good player could come from Gondola State.”

No boat ride for Stockton. He played at Gonzaga.

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Bad old days: Iowa State basketball Coach Tim Floyd on his first coaching job--as an unpaid graduate assistant under new Hall of Famer Don Haskins at Texas El Paso:

“My wife, Beverly, taught school. We ate a lot of beanie weenies and Spam. It was a tough year.”

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Revelation: Minnesota Timberwolf President Kevin McHale, former Boston Celtic standout player, said of an interview session during All-Star weekend:

“This reminds me of all those sessions in the finals. One guy asked me if my arms had always been this long. I told him that, no, They had grown, just like the rest of me.”

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No destination: Phoenix forward Keith Tkachuk, on the mediocre Coyotes: “We’re going nowhere.”

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High-tech harassment: Steve Rosenbloom in the Chicago Tribune: “European soccer fans have unveiled a dangerous new problem: aiming hand-held lasers at players and officials. Seems they shine in their eyes and try to create collisions and accidents.

“Nice to see hooliganism keeping up with technology.”

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Trivia answer: Henry Armstrong, who held the featherweight, lightweight and welterweight titles in the late 1930s.

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And finally: From the Sporting News: “After winning back-to-back NBA titles, the [Houston] Rockets changed their uniforms in 1995 from the red and white with ‘Rockets’ on the chest to futuristic, funky script with pinstripes. The team also put the new sci-fi Rockets logo on their home court.

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“The result: Last season, the Rockets failed to make it to the NBA finals and the ghost of Buck Rogers appeared and asked for his uniform back.”

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