To the Victors, and the Losers, Go the TV-VCRs

The ACC basketball tournament has always been a financial success, so the conference decided to reward the participants. Each of the nine teams received 25 TV-VCRs for players, coaches, managers, trainers, athletic directors, faculty athletic representatives and school presidents.

The NCAA said the gift is acceptable under its rule permitting leagues to reward participants in conference championship events with gifts worth up to $300.

The 225 combination television-video cassette recorders were distributed at an estimated cost of $67,500.

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Trivia time: Who is the only pitcher to have pitched against the Boston Braves, Milwaukee Braves and Atlanta Braves?

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Modern anatomy: Power forward Jayson Williams of the New Jersey Nets suffered a broken thumb when the Seattle SuperSonics’ Shawn Kemp slapped at the ball several times while Williams was holding it.

“The referee said the hand is part of the ball,” Williams said. “But the ball wasn’t hurt. I was.”

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Sounds logical: The Padres’ Trevor Hoffman was a hard-hitting infielder at Cypress College and Arizona, but became a relief pitcher in the major leagues.

“I was a decent hitter in college,” he said. “I could always swing the aluminum bat, but then you put that wood bat in my hand and the sweet spot shrunk and I was unable to make the play at short anymore. So it was a situation where I tried to learn how to throw the slider rather than hit the slider.”

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Worse yet: In Monday’s Morning Briefing, world Grand Prix champion Damon Hill revealed his most embarrassing moment. That, however, was before Sunday’s Formula One season opener in Australia.

When Hill’s No. 1 Arrows-Yamaha quit on the warmup lap, he became the first defending champion to fail to start the first race the following season.

Now that’s embarrassing.

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Name game: Sugar Ray and Joe Frazier showed up together when the Amsterdam Admirals opened practice for the World League of American Football. Not to worry, though, they aren’t old fighters changing sports.

Sugar Ray is Leonard Ray, a defensive tackle who played three years at Louisville, and not Sugar Ray Leonard. Joe Frazier is a running back from Auburn, not the former heavyweight champion.

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Easy to call: Chicago Cub relief pitcher Bob Patterson, on a home-run pitch: “It was a cross between a screwball and a change-up: a screw-up.”

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Trivia answer: Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies.

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And finally: In an article in a Philadelphia magazine, Wilt Chamberlain takes some shots at Michael Jordan:

“Listen, I’m not a big fan of Michael Jordan’s, because he never led the league in field-goal percentage. If you take the dunk out of his game, his percentage would be even lower.

“Oscar Robertson shot 48% and he never dunked the ball. When Jordan goes to the basket, the waters part. Did you ever see Jordan get knocked to the floor?”