‘Schenectady’ Pat Is Probably Closer to the Real Riley

Detroit Piston Coach Doug Collins told USA Today that Pat Riley, who has coached the Miami Heat to the second-best record in the NBA, is more a blue-collar type than Showtime:

“He’s from Schenectady [N.Y.], and everybody bought that stuff he was glamour,” Collins said. “He’s more blue-collar than any coach in the league.

“His teams are tough, mentally and physically. That’s Pat’s personality. That’s the way he played. He’s a relentless worker. It consumes him. It’s his passion, his love.”

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Trivia time: Which school holds the NCAA Division I record for most consecutive defeats in a basketball season?

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Good choice: After being knocked dizzy by Detroit’s Brendan Shanahan, Vancouver left wing Martin Gelinas returned to action and scored a hat trick.

Referring to a candy bar commercial, Gelinas said, “The doctor talked to me and said, ‘If you tell me you’re Batman, you’re not going back in.’ So I decided to be Mario Lemieux instead.”

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He’d better produce: Scott Rolen, a rookie expected to be the starting third baseman, got royal treatment from his Philadelphia Phillie teammates: A carpet of red mats, bats standing upright as a gateway, and a sign, ‘Rookie of the Year camp starts whenever you decide to show up!’

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Trashing Tonya: From Jay Leno: “Does anybody believe that stupid story about Tonya Harding being kidnapped? Who would pay to get her back? Other than those companies that make that blue eye shadow?”

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If he’s still there: Texas Tech’s 6-foot-11 Tony Battie does a wicked impersonation of Coach James Dickey. “I have too much respect for him to mock him to his face,” Battie told USA Today. “I’ll break down and do it for him after my senior year.”

Battie is a junior.

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Natural instinct: Geno Auriemma, University of Connecticut women’s basketball coach on fans booing: “I never booed at a sports event in my life. And I grew up in Philadelphia, so you know how hard that was.”

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A big squeak: Vancouver Coach Stu Jackson explaining a loss to a Dallas Maverick team with only eight players:

“Even the smallest mouse, when backed into a corner, will come out fighting for his life.”

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Take cover: Joe Sakic of the Colorado Avalanche on what it was like to return to the ice after missing 17 games because of an injury: “The puck was like a grenade out there.”

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Trivia answer: Prairie View A&M; of Prairie View, Tex., with 28 in 1991-92.

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And finally: Oakland slugger Mark McGwire is seemingly miffed over the attention Jose Canseco is getting since returning to the Athletics.

“It’s funny,” McGwire said. “When they sign him, the ticket sales go through the roof. They didn’t call it my team when they were talking about ticket sales. Why weren’t they going through the roof in the first place?”

It’s called charisma, Mark.